QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.2ml

Earthquake near Big Spring, TX

USGS: 14 km S of Ackerly, Texas

56 km (35 mi) NE of Midland, TX

1:48 am CDT, Oct 1, 2026 · · 8.3 km deep · released about 1.9 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Martin County 26 kmHoward County 27 kmDawson County 45 kmBorden County 46 kmGlasscock County 61 kmMidland County 70 kmMitchell County 74 kmScurry County 84 kmSterling County 87 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
1:48 am CDT on 1 October 2026 ()
Where
27 km (17 mi) NW of Big Spring, TX · earthquakes near Big Spring
Magnitude
M 1.2 (ml)
Depth
8.3 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Martin County, 26 km WSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 35 hours ago

A magnitude 1.2 earthquake was recorded 27 km (17 mi) NW of Big Spring, TX, at 1:48 am CDT on 1 October 2026 (06:48 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.9 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 7,900,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 5,600,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 500× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.2 about 1.9 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 1,000,000 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 32.3930, -101.7070. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Martin County, TX 26 km (16 mi) WSW earthquakes near Martin County
Howard County, TX 27 km (17 mi) ESE earthquakes near Howard County
Dawson County, TX 45 km (28 mi) NNW earthquakes near Dawson County
Borden County, TX 46 km (29 mi) NNE earthquakes near Borden County
Glasscock County, TX 61 km (38 mi) SSE earthquakes near Glasscock County
Midland County, TX 70 km (44 mi) SSW earthquakes near Midland County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 0.8 18 km SE of Ackerly, Texas
  2. 0.6 17 km SSE of Ackerly, 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

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.