A pair of earthquakes detected Wednesday afternoon near Mansfield may have rattled some North Texans.
Two earthquakes — detected just after 1 p.m. — had estimated magnitudes of 3.0 and 3.2, and people reported feeling light shaking during the events, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Mansfield is nearly 35 miles southwest of downtown Dallas.
The earthquakes occurred about six minutes apart, 4 to 5 miles outside Mansfield.
Earthquakes were virtually unheard of in North Texas until 2008, say researchers at Southern Methodist University , who map the state’s faults.
More than 200 earthquakes have been reported in the region since then, ranging in magnitude from 1.6 to 4.0. Numerous earthquakes have been linked to the disposal of wastewater from oil and gas drilling.
In December, a 2.2-magnitude earthquake struck near Northlake, a small town about 45 miles northwest of Dallas. In February 2023, people in North Texas reported feeling a 4.3-magnitude earthquake that occurred hundreds of miles from Dallas-Fort Worth near Hermleigh in West Texas.
Also in West Texas, a 5.4-magnitude earthquake struck in 2022 near Midland. Jonathan Tytell, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said that earthquake was probably caused by oil and gas activity.