A 3.3-magnitude earthquake struck at around 12:50 p.m. in Smiley, a community of about 700 Gonzales County residents. No damage was reported.
Smiley is located approximately 160 miles west of Houston.
According to a study published by the University of Texas at Austin, the Texas Tribune reports that in West Texas there has been a dramatic increase in earthquakes, which went from 19 in 2009 to 1,600 in 2017 alone.
The study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, tracked nearly 20 years of seismic activity. Scientists documented more than 7,000 earthquakes near Pecos as of 2009, most so small that no one heard them. The scientists used an earthquake control system that was “some distance” from Pecos, but sensitive enough to pick up vibrations 150 miles away.
“West Texas now has the highest seismicity rates in the state,” she said in a written statement, co-author and associate professor at Southern Methodist University at Methodist University. “What remained uncertain is when the earthquakes really started. This study deals with that.”
Although earthquake activity coincided with a large increase in oil and gas production in West Texas, the study does not attempt to relate them.
The research lays the groundwork for understanding “the relationship between earthquakes and their human and natural causes,” Peter Hennings, co-author of the study and researcher at the UT Bureau of Economic Geology, said in a written statement.
According to a joint investigation conducted in 2018 by The Texas Tribune and Center for Public Integrity, West Texas has seen oil and gas production increase at unprecedented rates, exacerbating air pollution and causing a housing crisis.
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