A 5.4-magnitude earthquake struck Texas, the fourth-strongest earthquake the state has ever seen

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A 5.4-magnitude earthquake struck Midland, Texas, at about 5:35 p.m. local time Friday night, the fourth-strongest earthquake ever to occur in Texas.

“It’s a major earthquake for that region. Such an event would be felt in that region hundreds of miles away,” Jana Pursley, a geologist with the US Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center, told the Associated Press.

The tremors, which occurred about five miles underground, are considered an internal earthquake; There are no tectonic faults nearby. The area has seen frequent seismic activity in recent years, including aftershocks from Friday’s quake.

Since 2018, about 120 earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 and larger have struck within 31 miles of the last quake. Larger earthquakes hit the wider region. 4 earthquake struck on November 16, 2022 124 miles to the west,” the USGS noted in an analysis of the earthquake.

The USGS also noted more earthquakes in the central and eastern United States, areas not known for the tectonic faults that usually cause seismic tremors.

Instead, authorities suggested that human activity in the oil industry, including injection of wastewater into deep disposal wells as well as fluid extraction, oil extraction and hydraulic fracturing, had contributed to the rise in seismic activity.

An example of a human-caused earthquake is the March 2020 earthquake that occurred 124 miles west of Friday’s quake in Midland, according to the USGS.

The Midland earthquake is the fourth most powerful earthquake to hit Texas in the historical record, according to EarthquakeTrack. The three most powerful earthquakes in Texas are:

– M6.5 earthquake in Fort Davis, Texas, August 16, 1931.

– M5.7 earthquake in Alpine, Texas on April 14, 1995.

– The aforementioned M5.4 earthquake in Menton, Texas on November 16, 2022.

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