Residents of Amarillo and surrounding areas awoke Saturday morning to jostling beds and rattling walls, as a magnitude 4.0 earthquake shook the region.
Seismologist Jascha Polet told The Amarillo Globe-News that, “Without a more detailed analysis, it is difficult to state at this point […] whether this earthquake was tectonic in nature or associated with activities of the oil/gas industry.”
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake was recorded north of Amarillo just after 8 a.m. on Saturday, resulting in moderate shaking and light potential damage. This is not the first earthquake in the Texas Panhandle.
In fact, said Polet, the region has seen significant quakes dating back to the early 20th century, some of which were “likely to have been larger than magnitude 5.”
However, she noted that Saturday’s tumbler was certainly unusual in terms of magnitude and location.