QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.5ml

10 km SSE of Gardendale, Texas

· 7.8 km deep · released about 2.7 tons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Ector County 20 kmMidland County 35 kmAndrews County 50 kmMartin County 55 kmCrane County 58 kmWinkler County 68 kmUpton County 71 kmGlasscock County 78 kmWard County 86 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
7.8 km below the surface
Felt
133 reports · strongest reported intensity IV
Nearest
Ector County, 20 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1095 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 133 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 31.9345, -102.3465. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Ector County, TX 20 km (12 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Ector County
Midland County, TX 35 km (22 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Midland County
Andrews County, TX 50 km (31 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Andrews County
Martin County, TX 55 km (34 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Martin County
Crane County, TX 58 km (36 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Crane County
Winkler County, TX 68 km (42 mi) E of here earthquakes near Winkler County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.6 17 km NW of Midland, Texas
  2. 1.9 23 km WNW of Stanton, Texas
  3. 1.6 23 km WNW of Stanton, Texas
  4. 2.0 22 km WNW of Stanton, Texas
  5. 1.5 23 km WNW of Stanton, Texas
  6. 1.5 28 km SSE of Midland, Texas
  7. 1.7 22 km WNW of Stanton, Texas
  8. 1.5 23 km WNW of Stanton, Texas
  9. 1.8 23 km WNW of Stanton, Texas
  10. 3.5 22 km WNW of Stanton, Texas
  11. 1.8 western Texas
  12. 2.0 22 km WNW of Stanton, Texas
  13. 3.3 22 km WNW of Stanton, Texas
  14. 2.9 23 km WNW of Stanton, Texas
  15. 1.6 17 km NW of Midland, 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 5.2 on 2022-12-16 — it released about 350 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.