QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

8 km E of Balmorhea, Texas

· 6.2 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Reeves County 36 kmJeff Davis County 65 kmWard County 78 kmPecos County 92 kmLoving County 96 kmCulberson County 97 kmWinkler County 110 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 1.5 (ml)
Depth
6.2 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Reeves County, 36 km N
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 278 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 5.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 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 30.9880, -103.6540. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Reeves County, TX 36 km (22 mi) S of here earthquakes near Reeves County
Jeff Davis County, TX 65 km (41 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Jeff Davis County
Ward County, TX 78 km (49 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Ward County
Pecos County, TX 92 km (57 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Pecos County
Loving County, TX 96 km (59 mi) S of here earthquakes near Loving County
Culberson County, TX 97 km (61 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Culberson 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. 1.8 9 km S of Toyah, Texas
  2. 1.5 9 km NE of Balmorhea, Texas
  3. 1.8 35 km E of Balmorhea, Texas
  4. 1.7 26 km SW of Coyanosa, Texas
  5. 1.6 26 km W of Fort Stockton, Texas
  6. 2.5 13 km E of Balmorhea, Texas
  7. 1.8 14 km ESE of Balmorhea, Texas
  8. 1.5 26 km ESE of Balmorhea, Texas
  9. 1.6 21 km SSE of Lindsay, Texas
  10. 1.5 35 km E of Balmorhea, Texas
  11. 1.6 37 km E of Balmorhea, Texas
  12. 2.0 17 km WSW of Coyanosa, Texas
  13. 1.6 5 km E of Toyah, Texas
  14. 1.7 11 km E of Balmorhea, Texas
  15. 2.2 10 km E of Balmorhea, 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

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