Another Earthquake Strikes Timpson, Texas
View East Texas Earthquake in a larger map
A small 2.8 earthquake struck near Timpson, Texas, very early this morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It’s the second earthquake in less than a week in the area. On January 25, a 4.1 quake struck some two miles Northwest of town, around the same time of the morning. That quake reportedly caused one chimney to topple over. A smaller earthquake like the one this morning is unlikely to cause damage.
You can see where both quakes occurred in the interactive map above.
Scientists are linking a growing number of quakes in Texas to wells used to dispose of wastewater from oil and gas drilling, including earthquakes in East Texas and around Dallas-Fort Worth. There was even a 4.8 quake in Timpson last May that caused some damage and one reported injury.
“At the moment, we are actually linking them [earthquakes] to injection wells that are located close to where the earthquakes are in the Timpson area,” Dr. Wesley Brown, an Associate Professor in the Department of Geology at Stephen F. Austin University told the regional newspaper Light and Champion in December. “We have one a little bit to the north, and [the wells] are north and south of each other,” said Dr. Brown. “The volume, especially for the one in the south, is up over 200,000 barrels of water per month.”
