Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.6ml
Earthquake near Midland, TX
No earthquake was likely felt in Midland in the 24 hours to 1:49 am CST (07:49 UTC). The last one was M 2.5, 35 km (22 mi) ESE, at 4:17 am CST on 4 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Midland
This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 40 km (25 mi) north of Midland, TX, at 8:58 pm CDT on 29 July 2023 (01:58 UTC), 7.5 km deep.
USGS: 37 km NW of Stanton, Texas
37 km (23 mi) N of Midland, TX
- When
- 8:58 pm CDT on 29 July 2023 ()
- Where
- 40 km (25 mi) north of Midland, TX · earthquakes near Midland
- Texas today
- every earthquake in Texas in the last 24 hours
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (ml)
- Depth
- 7.5 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Martin County, 12 km ESE
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 559 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Midland, TX
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Midland, TX. No account or email needed.
Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 2 km (1 mi) from the epicentre. In Midland, 40 km away, the estimate is intensity I (not felt). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 7.6 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,000,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.6 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.
For this area
The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 5.2 on 2022-12-16 — about 250,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record since 1900 lists no earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km.
Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.
Where
Epicentre 32.3570, -102.0800. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Martin County, TX | 12 km (8 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Martin County |
| Dawson County, TX | 45 km (28 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Dawson County |
| Andrews County, TX | 53 km (33 mi) | W | earthquakes near Andrews County |
| Howard County, TX | 61 km (38 mi) | E | earthquakes near Howard County |
| Midland County, TX | 61 km (38 mi) | S | earthquakes near Midland County |
| Gaines County, TX | 67 km (42 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Gaines County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
56 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 3.3 18 km SE of Ackerly, Texas
- 3.3 22 km WNW of Stanton, Texas
- 2.9 23 km WNW of Stanton, Texas
- 1.5 32 km WSW of Ackerly, Texas
- 2.0 28 km SSW of Los Ybanez, Texas
- 1.9 39 km N of Midland, Texas
- 2.1 32 km SSW of Los Ybanez, Texas
- 1.6 19 km N of Stanton, Texas
- 2.7 32 km WSW of Ackerly, Texas
- 1.6 17 km NW of Midland, Texas
- 2.2 13 km NNE of Midland, Texas
- 2.3 22 km NNW of Midland, Texas
- 3.3 31 km WSW of Ackerly, Texas
- 1.5 western Texas
- 1.9 38 km ENE of McKinney Acres, 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.
On USGS
- The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
- Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
- ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one
QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.