Eight earthquakes rock North Texas in less than 24 hours

January 2015 – GEOLOGY – A lot of shaking going on Tuesday in the state of Texas. As of 11:02 p.m. there have been eight earthquakes in Texas, six of those centered in or near the Irving area. The latest earthquake hit at 11:02 p.m. and was centered along the Dallas-Irving border just off Spur 482 east of the old Texas Stadium site. The sixth earthquake, just before 10 p.m., had a magnitude of 1.7. The seventh earthquake, the fifth to hit Irving in one day, registered 2.4. The shaking started early in the afternoon wit the first North Texas earthquake reported in Irving. The USGS later confirmed a second 3.5 magnitude quake near Snyder, about 230 miles west of Fort Worth. Then a third earthquake was confirmed near Irving again, just before 7 p.m. A fourth and fifth earthquake hit North Texas around 8:15 p.m.

The fourth quake was a 2.9 magnitude and the fifth registered 2.7, according to the USGS. Both were smaller than the third, and strongest, Irving quake that registered 3.6. That happened at 6:52 p.m. The second Irving quake was east of the first tremor, with the epicenter near the Elm Fork of the Trinity River. Rafael Abreu, a geophysicist with the USGS, spoke with NewsRadio 1080 KRLD and said while the Irving earthquakes happened only hours apart, given the strength and intensity, “we’re not calling it an aftershock.” At last count Tuesday night, there had been 22 earthquakes in the Irving area since November 1, 2014.The third earthquake is only the third in the DFW area, since 2008, to register 3.6 on the Richter Scale. The other two were in the Azle-area in November and December of 2013.

People from Dallas to Irving, and Grapevine to Plano reported feeling the first 3:10 p.m. earthquake. The USGS confirmed that a quake registered at 3.5 magnitude was centered east-northeast of Irving. Physicist John Bellini with the USGS said earlier in the afternoon there should be little or no damage from quakes of this size. USGS geophysicist Jana Pursley says Tuesday’s quakes were the “largest since the earthquakes started happening there in the last year.” –CBS News