QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1ml

5 km SSE of Midland, Texas

· 9.7 km deep · released about 43 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Midland County 16 kmMartin County 41 kmEctor County 47 kmGlasscock County 51 kmUpton County 67 kmAndrews County 68 kmHoward County 70 kmCrane County 72 kmReagan County 82 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 2.1 (ml)
Depth
9.7 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Midland County, 16 km SSE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 754 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 43 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 350,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 250,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 22× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 43 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 31.9530, -102.0550. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Midland County, TX 16 km (10 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Midland County
Martin County, TX 41 km (25 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Martin County
Ector County, TX 47 km (29 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Ector County
Glasscock County, TX 51 km (32 mi) W of here earthquakes near Glasscock County
Upton County, TX 67 km (41 mi) N of here earthquakes near Upton County
Andrews County, TX 68 km (42 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Andrews County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 14 km SSE of Stanton, Texas
  2. 1.6 8 km SE of Midland, Texas
  3. 1.6 1 km SE of Gardendale, Texas
  4. 1.5 16 km SE of Stanton, Texas
  5. 1.5 36 km WSW of Ackerly, Texas
  6. 1.6 5 km SE of Midland, Texas
  7. 1.7 20 km NW of Stanton, Texas
  8. 1.5 29 km SE of Midland, Texas
  9. 1.9 28 km ESE of Midland, Texas
  10. 1.8 13 km NNW of Garden City, Texas
  11. 1.6 8 km SE of Gardendale, Texas
  12. 1.6 35 km WSW of Ackerly, Texas
  13. 2.0 16 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  14. 2.1 15 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  15. 2.2 26 km SW of Garden City, 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 45,000 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.