Credits: East Texas Press
The West Texas region experienced another earthquake Friday morning, marking the latest in a series of seismic events affecting the area this week. The earthquake struck at 9:28 a.m., with its epicenter about 10 miles northeast of Hermleigh. Initially reported as a 4.8-magnitude event, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) later upgraded it to a 5.0 magnitude.
Just twelve minutes later, a second tremor, registering 3.8 on the magnitude scale, was detected. This event follows a 4.9-magnitude earthquake felt across West Texas and parts of North Texas on Monday night. Both quakes rank among the more significant seismic activities Texas has experienced, though larger quakes have occurred in recent years.
Reports on social media indicate that the impact of Friday’s earthquake was felt as far away as North Texas, approximately three hours east of the epicenter. Fortunately, there have been no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The cluster of recent earthquakes in the Hermleigh area has drawn attention from researchers, who have linked the increased seismic activity to hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking. The process involves the disposal of wastewater, which has been associated with a rise in earthquakes in Texas.
Data from the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin reveals that Texas experienced 2,493 earthquakes of magnitude 2.0 or higher in 2023. This figure is consistent with 2022’s count of 2,601 earthquakes, both of which are significantly higher compared to previous years—over double the number seen in 2020 and eight times that of 2017. The TexNet Earthquake Catalog, which tracks these occurrences, highlights a concerning trend in seismic activity across the state.
