QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.5ml

15 km NNW of Midland, Texas

· 7.2 km deep · released about 2.7 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Martin County 28 kmMidland County 37 kmEctor County 46 kmAndrews County 50 kmGlasscock County 66 kmHoward County 71 kmDawson County 72 kmGaines County 82 kmCrane County 84 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 3.5 (ml)
Depth
7.2 km below the surface
Felt
42 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Measured shaking
intensity III (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Martin County, 28 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1709 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 42 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 2.7 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 63,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.5 about 2.7 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 5.6× more

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, -102.1578. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Martin County, TX 28 km (17 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Martin County
Midland County, TX 37 km (23 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Midland County
Ector County, TX 46 km (29 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Ector County
Andrews County, TX 50 km (31 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Andrews County
Glasscock County, TX 66 km (41 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Glasscock County
Howard County, TX 71 km (44 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Howard County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 10 km NNE of Odessa, Texas
  2. 2.3 34 km WSW of Ackerly, Texas
  3. 1.7 34 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  4. 1.5 9 km NNE of Odessa, Texas
  5. 2.0 10 km NNE of Odessa, Texas
  6. 1.6 9 km NNE of Odessa, Texas
  7. 3.0 10 km NNE of Odessa, Texas
  8. 1.5 11 km SE of Midland, Texas
  9. 2.5 9 km SE of Gardendale, Texas
  10. 2.7 6 km SE of Gardendale, Texas
  11. 2.5 10 km SSE of Gardendale, Texas
  12. 2.3 9 km NNE of Odessa, Texas
  13. 3.1 9 km SSE of Gardendale, Texas
  14. 2.3 38 km SSW of Los Ybanez, Texas
  15. 2.6 9 km SSE of Gardendale, 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 5.6 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.