Large earthquake strikes West Texas, among strongest ever in state
A 5.0 magnitude earthquake was recorded in West Texas late Friday evening, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and could be felt by residents more than 150 miles away in El Paso.
The earthquake struck near the border of Culberson and Reeves counties at 11:23 p.m. CST with an epicenter about 33 miles northwest of Toyah, Texas. Three smaller aftershocks also occurred within minutes of the first quake. There have been no immediate reported deaths or injuries associated with the quakes. And economic losses are expected to be minimal.
According to the geological survey, shaking in neighboring cities ranged from 'weak' to 'light' with about 950,000 being exposed to the quake. The earthquake was also felt by Texans as far west as El Paso and in some cities in eastern New Mexico.
About 20 minutes after the initial earthquake, the National Weather Service El Paso posted to X, asking residents if they had felt the earthquake and a subsequent aftershock.
Friday's earthquake is tied for the sixth strongest in Texas history, according to the website Earthquake Track. Texas has also experienced two magnitude 5.1 earthquakes in the past six months, both tying for the fifth strongest in state history.
The number and strength of earthquakes in West Texas has grown in recent years. In November 2023, a 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck near the borders of Reeves and Culberson counties, tied for fourth strongest in Texas history.
Scientists have attributed higher earthquake activity in the Permian Basin in West Texas to an increase in hydraulic fracturing — also known as fracking — in the area, which is the most productive oil and gas region in the state. When water is injected into the ground for fracking, fluid pressures increase within faults, scientists say, which can lead to more seismic activity in oilfields.
Since 2000, a dramatic increase in seismic activity in the Permian Basin has likely been triggered by increased wastewater disposal due to fracking, a 2021 study by USGS and University of Texas scientists found.
There are more than 20 deep injection wells in the Culberson County and Reeves County area, according to data from the Railroad Commission of Texas, which regulates the state's oil and gas industry. That figure is slightly lower than in 2022.
The decrease comes as the commission has made efforts to reduce seismic activity in West Texas. After the largest Texas earthquake in three decades struck near the border of Reeves and Culberson counties in November that year, commission staff also expanded the area where water injections could be restricted and asked companies to reduce how much water they inject underground in the area.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
The San Andreas Fault: Facts about the crack in California's crust that could unleash the 'Big One'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Quick facts about the San Andreas Fault How long is the San Andreas Fault? About 746 miles (1,200 kilometers) What was the biggest earthquake on the San Andreas Fault? The Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, which had a magnitude of around 7.9 When was the San Andreas Fault discovered? 1895 The San Andreas Fault is California's longest and most famous fault. At this fracture zone, two plates of Earth's crust move past each other. It stretches from the Salton Sea in Southern California to off the coast of Mendocino in Northern California. On the inland side of the fault, the North American Plate moves southeast. Toward the coast, the Pacific Plate creeps northwest. The San Andreas is capable of creating big, destructive earthquakes. Earthquakes are measured in magnitude on a scale that starts at zero. In this scale, each whole number represents an earthquake 10 times as large as the one before it. Most earthquakes under magnitude 2.5 aren't felt, while 2.5- to 5.4- magnitude quakes usually cause some shaking but not much damage. Quakes of 5.5 magnitude and higher cause damage to buildings, and earthquakes over 7.0 are considered major. In 1906, the northern section of the fault shook San Francisco and the Bay Area with a 7.9 magnitude quake, which caused a devastating fire in the city and killed more than 3,000 people, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. In 1857, the southern section of the fault shook and created a quake thought to be just as large. Only two people died, because California had a tiny population at the time. Geologists warn that the San Andreas will give off a large earthquake again — the only question is when. Over the past 3 million years, the San Andreas Fault has moved an average of 2 inches (56 mm) per year. If that rate continues, Los Angeles and San Francisco will be next-door neighbors in 15 million years! The 1857 Fort Tejon quake on the southern San Andreas Fault lasted between one and three minutes. During the 1906 Great San Francisco earthquake, 296 miles (477 km) of the fault moved. The San Andreas Fault was discovered just 11 years before the 1906 earthquake by geologist Andrew Lawson, who worked at the University of California, Berkeley. The San Andreas Fault is a "right-lateral strike-slip fault." That's a complicated way to say that if you stood on the North American Plate side of the fault facing the Pacific Ocean, the Pacific Plate side of the fault would be moving slowly to the right. At the San Andreas, the two plates are like blocks that are moving past each other and sometimes getting stuck along the way. When they get unstuck — quickly! — the result is a sudden earthquake. The fault is split into three segments. The southern segment starts northeast of San Diego at Bombay Beach, California, and continues north to Parkfield, California, near the middle of the state. A quake on this segment would threaten the highly populated city of Los Angeles. The middle section of the San Andreas is known as the "creeping section." It stretches between the California cities of Parkfield and Hollister in central California. Here, the fault "creeps," or moves slowly without causing shaking. There haven't been any large quakes on this section within recorded history, but scientists think there may have been earthquakes there at some point in the past 3 million years. Finally, the northern section of the San Andreas spans from Hollister to a special spot called the "triple junction" off the coast of Mendocino. The triple junction is where the North American tectonic plate, Pacific plate, and undersea Gorda plate meet. At this junction, the way the plates move past each other on the San Andreas Fault transforms into a different kind of geology known as a subduction zone. In the subduction zone, the Pacific Plate slides under the North American Plate instead of alongside it. The San Andreas Fault is about 746 miles (1,200 km) long and about 10 miles (16 km) deep. While the San Andreas is a giant fault that is even visible from space, if you zoom in, you'll see a network of many faults coming off the San Andreas. So the whole region is known more generally as the San Andreas Fault zone. This area includes faults like the Hayward Fault, which runs through the East Bay area. These side faults can produce their own serious earthquakes. For example, in 1868, the Hayward Fault rumbled to life with a magnitude 6.8 quake that killed 30 people. A similar quake today would affect the Bay Area, where millions of people live. A long time ago, the tectonic plate under the Pacific Ocean crashed directly into the tectonic plate carrying the continent of North America. The ocean plate dove under the continental plate, a pattern called subduction. Meanwhile, in the middle of the ocean there was a spot where molten lava, or magma, rose from inside Earth and formed brand-new crust. The place where the new crust formed wasn't very far from the subduction zone where crust got pushed back into the Earth. So about 30 million years ago, those two spots came together. The place where the new crust formed got pushed right under North America! This was a big change in how the geology worked in all of western North America. A new ocean plate was now touching North America. It was moving in a slightly different direction, so it didn't dive right under the continent. Subduction ended, and a new strike-slip fault (the San Andreas) was formed. The San Andreas Fault runs through and near many populated areas, including Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. It can produce damaging earthquakes, so scientists consider it a very dangerous fault. Geologists estimate that the southern San Andreas could produce a quake of up to magnitude 8.3. As far as they know, the fault hasn't ever produced a quake larger than the 1857 or 1906 quakes, both of which were probably around magnitude 7.9. That is plenty destructive, though. The magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake that hit the Bay Area in 1989 killed 63 people. And remember that earthquake magnitude goes up by 10 for every whole number, so a magnitude 8.3 would be more than 25 times bigger than the Loma Prieta quake. If a magnitude 7.8 quake were to hit the southern San Andreas, geologists expect it would cause 1,800 deaths, 50,000 injuries and $200 billion in damage. Scientists can't predict when the next San Andreas earthquake — or any earthquake — will occur. But they can get an idea of the future risk by looking at how often earthquakes have occurred in the past. On the southern San Andreas, some sections seem to give off a good shake every 100 years or so, while others go as long as 300 years between major quakes. The Fort Tejon area, about 70 miles (113 km) north of Los Angeles, typically sees a large quake every 100 to 150 years. The last time it had a large earthquake was in 1857, so that area is considered overdue. The average time between earthquakes depends on the fault or section of the not always the same; they can vary by years or decades. Also, dangerous quakes can happen on side faults that scientists don't even know about. The magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake that struck Los Angeles in 1994 happened on a fault geologists previously didn't know existed. This fault wasn't part of the San Andreas, but it was a nearby fault affected by the San Andreas' motion. The U.S. Geological Survey, which tracks faults and measures earthquakes, has calculated that there's a 72% chance of a magnitude 6.7 earthquake in the San Francisco Bay region by 2043. And there's a 60% chance of a quake of 6.7 or larger in that time frame in the Los Angeles region. Image 1 of 5 One of the easiest places to see the San Andreas Fault is in the Coachella Valley of Southern California. The fault line is the narrow valley between the two white arrows, and the wrinkled landscape reveals how the movement of the plates creates hills and troughs. Image 2 of 5 The San Andreas Fault becomes complicated and branching in the San Gorgonio Pass north of Palm Springs, California. The white arrows in this image show one of the fault lines shaping this region. Image 3 of 5 The San Andreas Fault runs through Cajon Pass in California, which is a major artery for train and vehicle travel. Image 4 of 5 The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake caused serious damage in the San Francisco Bay Area. This photo shows a car crushed under the third floor of an apartment building in the city's Marina district. The ground liquefied due to the shaking, causing the first two floors to sink and collapse. Image 5 of 5 The Hayward Fault, part of the San Andreas Fault system, runs directly through the University of California, Berkeley football stadium. Why can earthquakes happen far from plate boundaries? The 20 largest recorded earthquakes in history Nearly 75% of the U.S. is at risk from damaging earthquakes
New York Times
2 days ago
- New York Times
Friday Is the Longest Day of the Year in the Northern Hemisphere
This article was published in 2024 and has been updated for 2025's summer solstice. On Friday, everyone in the northern half of our planet will experience the summer solstice. It'll be the longest day of the year north of the Equator, and it is the scientific start of summer. Earth has a solstice every six months, in June and in December. Leading up to the summer solstice, the sun appears in a higher spot in the sky at the same time each day until it reaches its maximum point. After the summer solstice, the days will get shorter. The sun will appear lower in the sky each day until the winter solstice, on Dec. 21. What time is the summer solstice this year? According to the National Weather Service, the summer solstice will occur on Friday at 10:42 p.m. Eastern time (it will be Saturday, June 21, in Coordinated Universal Time). This is the moment during the day when the sun reaches its most northern point in the sky during the year. Why do we have solstices? The sun's height in the sky each day changes because Earth spins on an axis that is tilted 23.5 degrees away from vertical. This means that depending on the time of year the hemispheres lean either toward or away from the sun. This is what gives Earth its seasons: When the northern half of the planet leans toward the sun, it experiences summer; at the same time, the southern half of the planet leans away from the sun, and is in winter. It is a mystery why Earth is angled this way, though some astronomers believe that its tilt paved the way for life to exist. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Eruption at Hawaii's Kilauea volcano sends lava shooting 1,000 feet in air
Hawaii's Kilauea volcano is erupting again in spectacular fashion, sending lava shooting 1,000 feet into the sky, according to the United States Geological Survey. On Friday morning, "Episode 26" of the ongoing eruption at Halemaʻumaʻu -- the pit crater within Kīlauea Caldera at the summit of the volcano -- spewed lava fountains that reached massive heights, according to the USGS's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. MORE: Hawaii's Kilauea volcano shoots lava 1,000 feet in the air in latest eruption Episode 26 was preceded by small, sporadic spattering and lava overflows, according to the USGS. Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world and located on the Big Island, has been especially active in the last several months, erupting dozens of times since December. In May, Kilauea also spewed leva more than 1,000 feet. On June 11, eruptions at Kilauea measured at more than 330 feet, according to the USGS. MORE: Kilauea volcano erupting in remote area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park The current eruption began at 1:40 a.m. local time, with lava fountains and flows erupting from the north vent, according to the USGS. The eruption is flowing into a remote area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Flows have been confined to the Halemaʻumaʻu crater and the southwest side of Kaluapele, Kīlauea's summit caldera. MORE: Kilauea, active Hawaiian volcano, could erupt like a 'stomp-rocket toy,' new study suggests The USGS issued a volcano watch – known as a code orange – which means that an eruption is either likely or occurring but with no, or minor, ash. Volcanic gas emissions and tephra -- fragments of rock, minerals and glass -- from the lava fountain may be distributed south of the caldera, due to the winds blowing from the north, the USGS said. Other hazards include Pele's hair -- strands of volcanic glass often produced by lava fountaining activity -- crater wall instability, ground cracking and rockfalls. Kīlauea's caldera rim surrounding Halemaʻumaʻu crater has been closed to the public since 2007 due to such hazards.
