Things to know about series of earthquakes near Midland

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Where: All earthquakes are reported to occur 8.7 miles east-northeast of Gardendale

Here they are in chronological order

9:30 a.m. Wednesday: 2.9 degrees, 5 miles deep

4:21 p.m. Wednesday: 3.6 degrees, depth of 5.6 miles

10:33 p.m. Wednesday: 3.7 degrees, depth of 6.2 miles

4:01 a.m. Thursday morning: 3.3 degrees, 6.2 miles deep

The number of earthquakes in and around the Midland area

In the past seven days: six

In the last 30 days: 20

In the last 365 days: 240

Source: EarthquakeTrack.com

What is very important in the Gardendale area

TexNet officials previously told the Reporter-Telegram that two major groups were developing in and around Midland. The first is near Gardendale (northeast of Odessa). The second – and most recently active – group is located about 9-10 miles north of Midland in Martin County.

From Jason Gennaro in Breakwater Energy

(which was monitoring injection wells and earthquakes)

Earthquakes in the recent “focus area” of the Gardendale Railroad Commission that led to the disposal of seven brine disposal wells were on top of previous SRA restrictions.

Other things to consider, according to Jennaro:

“When three earthquakes measuring 3.3 on the Richter scale hit the Midland region in the space of 24 hours, this is a public safety issue. This fully confirms the prudent regulatory action the Texas Railroad has taken against regional saltwater dumping. Disposal water should be recycled or keep them away from seismically active areas.” “Where there are earthquakes, there are fault lines. Now it is clear that there are a lot of active fault lines around Midland-Odessa.” “The Railroad Commission has been quick to reduce the disposal of these seismic pools and the industry should be quick to respond as commercial water recycling activity increases.”

Reply from TexNet Seismology

TexNet researchers and the Bureau’s Center for Integrated Earthquake Research will continue to study these events to determine possible causation.

TexNet officials previously told the Reporter-Telegram that TexNet began analyzing around Midland in 2017. At that point, an earthquake with a magnitude above 3.0 on the Richter scale was reached. It wasn’t until the first quarter of 2020, that seismologists recorded an earthquake around Midland above 3.5. On December 31 last year, a 4.2-magnitude earthquake occurred near Stanton.

TexNet officials also mentioned that the number of earthquakes around Midland and Odessa is not as large as the west.

Other earthquakes in West Texas

The US Geological Survey reported a 4.4-magnitude earthquake about 21 miles northwest of Toyah (Toyah is 22 miles southwest of the Pecos).

Why is earthquake depth important?

(according to USGS)

Earthquakes occur in the crust or upper mantle, which range from the Earth’s surface to about 800 kilometers (about 500 miles) deep. The vibration force of an earthquake diminishes with increasing distance from the earthquake source, so the surface vibration force of an earthquake that occurs at a depth of 500 km is much less than if the same earthquake occurred at a depth of 20 km.

Also, earthquake depths give us important information about the Earth’s structure and the tectonic setting where earthquakes occur.

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