What to know about the earthquakes felt in North Texas (2024)

West Texas earthquakes last month rattled Scurry County and surrounding areas. More than 100 were recorded within a week by the United States Geological Survey.

The quakes were felt more than 200 miles away in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Near Snyder, dozens of residents reported property damage. Geophysicists say it’s highly likely these earthquakes are due to oil and gas operations, a decadeslong phenomenon in Texas.

Here are four things to know about last month’s earthquakes, including safety tips, what’s behind them and how they might be prevented.

Who was impacted

Last month, the earthquake cluster was reported in roughly the same area around Scurry and Fisher counties. Snyder, the seat of Scurry County, is about 260 miles west of Dallas.

The largest earthquake was recorded July 26 at a 5.1 magnitude and was one of five earthquakes recorded at a magnitude greater than four.

On the Richter scale, an earthquake with a magnitude higher than five is classified as moderate and is felt by everyone in the area. Earthquakes of this magnitude can cause damage to poorly constructed buildings, according to the scale’s classification.

A Scurry County judge issued a disaster declaration July 26 and requested help from the state government after he said more than 60 earthquakes hit the area in seven days. Following the declaration, the geological survey reported several more earthquakes, and USGS data shows more than 100 occurred in the area within a week.

The earthquakes damaged buildings, homes and infrastructure, according to a Facebook post from the City of Snyder Office of Emergency Management.

“This includes potential hazards such as weakened foundations, cracked walls and damaged utility lines,” the post said.

Scurry County posted on Facebook on July 26 that more than 50 reports of damage were made following the recent quakes. No injuries were reported, according to the Scurry County sheriff’s office dispatch.

County officials encouraged residents to continue reporting damage and checking structures for new cracks in the siding, bricks, foundations, sheetrock and paneling.

What’s causing the earthquakes

The recent earthquakes are likely related to oil and gas operations, according to geophysicists.

Scurry County sits on the eastern edge of the Permian Basin, a large sedimentary basin in western Texas and southeastern New Mexico. The region is a high-producing oil field, which has driven the country’s increases in crude oil and natural gas production in recent years, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

West Texas has a long history of earthquakes induced by oil and gas operations dating back to at least the 1970s, according to Robert Skoumal, a research geophysicist with the USGS.

Skoumal said earthquakes in this area were first caused by “water flooding,” in which water is injected into fields where production has dropped to raise fluid pressures and allow for more oil production.

In the early 2010s, Skoumal said, earthquakes were caused by a similar process of injecting carbon dioxide into fields.

“Given the lack of natural seismicity and the long history of induced earthquakes in the area, these recent earthquakes are likely to also have been induced by oil and gas operations,” Skoumal wrote in an email to The Dallas Morning News on July 29.

Wastewater disposal also plays a role, according to Heather DeShon, a geophysics professor at Southern Methodist University and an earthquake seismologist. While newer technologies have changed oil and gas extraction, they also create a lot of wastewater, which can’t be recycled and gets injected deep into the Earth’s subsurface.

“That process has, in turn, reactivated really ancient faults,” DeShon said. “The earthquakes are essentially releasing leftover energy from when the faults formed hundreds of thousands of years ago.”

How to prevent earthquakes

To prevent earthquakes and their impacts in the region, DeShon said more research should be done to understand where fault lines are located, how big they are and how much water or what rate of wastewater injection triggers an earthquake. This research can inform regulations aimed at mitigating earthquakes and lessening their magnitude.

The Railroad Commission of Texas, a state agency regulating the oil and gas industry, has designated seismic response areas following larger earthquakes in the Permian Basin. The commission established rules for how much water can be injected and what information oil and gas companies must report.

DeShon said the commission is still investigating events a couple of weeks ago in and around Scurry County. They may ask companies to operate in shallower rock formations, reduce the amount of water injected or provide more information on their operations.

While Scurry is not a designated seismic response area, DeShon said, earthquakes have been occurring in the region since 2020. In July, the commission shut down two deep disposal wells in the Scurry County area following inspections, the Midland Reporter-Telegram reported.

Simply ceasing oil and gas operations might not eliminate earthquakes in the area, DeShon said. The cumulative history of wastewater injection from different operators into rock formations in the ground makes the impacts of oil and gas operations more complicated.

“It’s not like turning off a water faucet,” DeShon said. “If you stop, the problem doesn’t go away because the fluids you put down there, there’s still pressure associated with them.”

DeShon thinks the statewide seismic network, which began collecting data in Texas in 2017, was an important step toward monitoring earthquakes and better understanding them. She also thinks that requiring the oil and gas industry to provide more data about its operations could help inform safer practices.

“In Texas, it would be naive to think that oil and gas production will completely go away,” DeShon said. “So it’s about providing the data and information needed to design more safe operations.”

How to stay safe

If you feel an earthquake, DeShon said you should first remember to stop, drop and hold on. Get under a table to protect your head from things that may fall, and hang onto it for support.

Don’t exit a building until the shaking has stopped. For moderate magnitude earthquakes like the ones felt in Texas, one of the biggest dangers is facade damage from bricks that aren’t reinforced, DeShon said. That means it’s important to avoid falling bricks and stay inside until the earthquake is over.

The USGS also recommends moving into a hallway or against an inside wall if you are indoors and avoiding things that could fall or break. If you are outside, the USGS recommends getting away from buildings, power lines and chimneys.

After an earthquake, the USGS says to check for injuries and hazards, such as gas leaks, damaged electrical wiring and utility lines and fallen items. Aftershocks might continue after an earthquake.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency recommends checking the outside of buildings after an earthquake for signs of damage to the foundation, such as crushing, cracks, crookedness, separation or a “mushy” floor, which indicates damage underneath. FEMA also advises people to check their chimneys, stairs, windows and sewage and water lines for damage.