QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7ml

16 km NW of Midland, Texas

· 7.6 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Martin County 30 kmMidland County 38 kmEctor County 44 kmAndrews County 48 kmGlasscock County 69 kmDawson County 73 kmHoward County 73 kmGaines County 81 kmCrane County 83 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 1.7 (ml)
Depth
7.6 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Martin County, 30 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1942 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 11 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 89× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 11 lb of TNT

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

Where

Epicentre 32.1194, -102.1857. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Martin County, TX 30 km (19 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Martin County
Midland County, TX 38 km (24 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Midland County
Ector County, TX 44 km (27 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Ector County
Andrews County, TX 48 km (30 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Andrews County
Glasscock County, TX 69 km (43 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Glasscock County
Dawson County, TX 73 km (45 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Dawson County

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

53 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 2.3 17 km N of Stanton, Texas
  2. 1.6 8 km SE of Midland, Texas
  3. 2.8 15 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  4. 2.7 14 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  5. 1.6 9 km SSE of Gardendale, Texas
  6. 2.0 15 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  7. 2.2 18 km NNE of Goldsmith, Texas
  8. 1.8 9 km SE of Midland, Texas
  9. 2.7 12 km N of Midland, Texas
  10. 2.0 12 km N of Midland, Texas
  11. 1.8 12 km N of Midland, Texas
  12. 2.7 12 km N of Midland, Texas
  13. 1.5 12 km N of Midland, Texas
  14. 1.9 11 km N of Midland, Texas
  15. 2.3 western Texas

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.0 on 2020-12-31 — it released about 2,800 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.