West Texas Shaken by Second 5.4 Magnitude Earthquake in a Month

An earthquake that shook West Texas on Friday could also be one of many strongest ever recorded within the state, the Associated Press reported. The magnitude 5.4 quake struck at round 5:35 p.m. native time about 14 miles (22 kilometers) north of Midland. It comes only a month after one other 5.4 quake within the area, and officers are investigating whether or not that earlier quake is linked to native fracking by the oil and fuel business.

The National Weather Service’s Midland workplace felt the seismic exercise on Friday afternoon. “This would be the 4th strongest earthquake in Texas state history!” the NWS tweeted. People felt the earthquake so far as Amarillo, greater than 200 miles away, the AP reported.

On November 16, a 5.4 magnitude quake hit simply west of Pecos, Texas. It was the biggest earthquake within the state since 1995. The Railroad Commission of Texas, which regulates the state’s oil and fuel business, launched an investigation as as to whether the seismic exercise in November was linked to fracking, the Texas Tribune reported.

During fracking, oil and fuel corporations inject a mix of water, chemical compounds, and sand into Earth’s crust. This breaks up rock, which then makes it simpler to extract oil and pure fuel from the bottom. The corporations then eliminate the wastewater by placing it in wells deep underground. The stress in these wells can set off dormant fault traces, inflicting earthquakes.

Friday’s earthquake has not been immediately linked to fracking in West Texas, however the whole variety of earthquakes within the space has increased in recent times. Bloomberg reported this April that Texas is poised to overhaul California and Alaska because the “earthquake capital” of the U.S.

Fracking comes with different well being and security considerations. An early 2022 examine linked fracking to untimely deaths of people that dwell close to the websites. This is as a result of fracking exercise contaminates nearby water sources and can leak carcinogenic pollution into the air.