QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.6ml

5 km SE of Gardendale, Texas

· 7.8 km deep · released about 7.6 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Ector County 22 kmMidland County 38 kmAndrews County 46 kmMartin County 52 kmCrane County 64 kmWinkler County 69 kmUpton County 76 kmGlasscock County 79 kmWard County 88 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 1.6 (ml)
Depth
7.8 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Ector County, 22 km SW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 643 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 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.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
  4. 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.

Where

Epicentre 31.9820, -102.3490. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Ector County, TX 22 km (14 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Ector County
Midland County, TX 38 km (23 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Midland County
Andrews County, TX 46 km (28 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Andrews County
Martin County, TX 52 km (32 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Martin County
Crane County, TX 64 km (39 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near Crane County
Winkler County, TX 69 km (43 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Winkler County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.5 25 km SSE of Midland, Texas
  2. 2.0 27 km NE of Crane, Texas
  3. 1.5 19 km NE of Gardendale, Texas
  4. 2.1 22 km WNW of Stanton, Texas
  5. 1.7 20 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  6. 1.6 19 km NE of Gardendale, Texas
  7. 2.3 9 km NNE of West Odessa, Texas
  8. 1.5 8 km NNE of West Odessa, Texas
  9. 1.6 36 km NW of Stanton, Texas
  10. 1.8 2 km WSW of Odessa, Texas
  11. 2.0 22 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  12. 1.5 22 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  13. 1.8 7 km WNW of Midland, Texas
  14. 1.8 20 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  15. 2.3 21 km ESE 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 250,000 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.