QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5ml

4 km SE of Midland, Texas

· 8.3 km deep · released about 5.4 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Midland County 18 kmMartin County 38 kmEctor County 48 kmGlasscock County 51 kmAndrews County 68 kmHoward County 68 kmUpton County 69 kmCrane County 74 kmReagan County 83 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
8.3 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Midland County, 18 km SSE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 244 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 31.9720, -102.0450. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Midland County, TX 18 km (11 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Midland County
Martin County, TX 38 km (24 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Martin County
Ector County, TX 48 km (30 mi) ENE of here earthquakes near Ector County
Glasscock County, TX 51 km (32 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Glasscock County
Andrews County, TX 68 km (42 mi) SE of here earthquakes near Andrews County
Howard County, TX 68 km (42 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Howard County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.0 17 km NNE of Midland, Texas
  2. 2.4 30 km WSW of Ackerly, Texas
  3. 2.1 13 km NNW of Midland, Texas
  4. 2.3 13 km ENE of Stanton, Texas
  5. 1.5 30 km WSW of Ackerly, Texas
  6. 3.2 13 km N of Stanton, Texas
  7. 1.6 6 km SSW of Midland, Texas
  8. 2.7 12 km WSW of Stanton, Texas
  9. 2.9 12 km WSW of Stanton, Texas
  10. 1.5 40 km ENE of McKinney Acres, Texas
  11. 1.9 15 km E of Stanton, Texas
  12. 1.7 8 km SE of Gardendale, Texas
  13. 2.3 17 km ENE of Gardendale, Texas
  14. 2.5 5 km NW of Odessa, Texas
  15. 1.7 18 km N of Stanton, 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 350,000 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.