Another round of earthquakes hit north Texas this week, bringing the total number to 60 in the past year. The latest quakes were reported only two weeks after new evidence links fracking with increased seismic activity.
Related: Texas Earthquakes Linked to Fracking
The United States Geological Survey is reporting a string of small earthquakes in Irving, a small community just northwest of Dallas. On May 3rd, two quakes measuring 3.2 and 2.5 magnitudes were registered about an hour apart and on May 4th, there were two more in the same area measuring 2.7 and 2.0 on the richter scale.
The USGS says that Irving and Northwest Dallas have experienced 60 quakes since April, 2014, but Brian Stump, a seismologist from SMU said that a more accurate picture reveals 388 seismic “events” so far this year in the area. The vast majority of these quakes are too small for people to feel, so they aren't making headlines. The quakes that have recently north Texas are small and cause minimal damage, but many wonder if all for this minor activity is a precursor to something more serious.
Before 2008, Texas earthquakes were rare, but have become much more commonplace.
“The sad thing is that this is happening so often I’ve started to recognize it immediately. The first time I felt a quake back in January, I walked around for a good fifteen minutes trying to figure out what had happened.”