A Monday earthquake at 7:55 p.m. shook from the origin of the quake in Martin County near Stanton all the way down to Odessa near 17th Street and Golder Avenue.
The 4.5 magnitude quake follows a series of quakes on Dec. 15 and 16 from Midland County to Reeves County with the strongest at a 4.4 on Dec. 16 in Reeves County.
Four total quakes hit Midland County on Dec. 15 and 16 with the strongest at a 3.7 on Dec. 16.
The TexNet Seismic Monitoring Program, the Texas state earthquake monitoring network, reported Monday’s Martin County quake was about 11 miles north of Stanton and 27 miles northeast of Midland, at a depth of about 28,200 feet underground.
A news release from TexNet’s Scott W. Tinker detailed that the group is still investigating the data associated with the seismic event.
Tinker is the state geologist of Texas and the director of the Bureau of Economic Geology, which manages TexNet. “Our first concern, of course, is for any people who might have been affected by this earthquake. The professional scientists on the TexNet team, led by Principal Investigator Dr. Alexandros Savvaidis, are working diligently to analyze the data that we have received from our network of monitoring stations.”
TexNet provided the information to the U.S. Geological Survey, which reports earthquake activity across the nation, and to the Texas Department of Emergency Management, which provides the information to local governments and emergency responders. TexNet personnel post data collected about the state’s seismic events on the Texas Earthquake Catalog at: tinyurl.com/2p83xpsy.
TexNet was established by the 84th Texas Legislature in 2015 to maintain a statewide network of earthquake monitoring stations, which feed seismic data to a central hub at the Bureau of Economic Geology. Its purpose is to work toward determining the causes of earthquakes in Texas, and to lessen any future impact from these events to citizens and property. TexNet hosts a team of scientists who gather and research the geologic and seismic data obtained by the network.
“TexNet is now one of the most advanced state-run earthquake monitoring networks in the nation, with over 155 monitoring stations in operation throughout the State of Texas,” Tinker detailed in a news release. “Our team of seismologists, geophysicists and other scientists is exceptional, and they are doing all they can to provide the best information possible about this event.”
Following the Dec. 15 and 16 earthquakes, the Texas Railroad Commission on Dec. 20 ordered the indefinite suspension of all deep oil- and gas-produced water injection in the Gardendale Seismic Response Area, effective Dec. 31.
The RRC’s action came on the heels of its Sept. 23 requests to a half-dozen area oil companies to decrease their daily pumping to fewer than 10,000 barrels.
