Why Is Texas Shaking? UT-Austin Aims To Find Out With Earthquake Monitoring Network (Video)

AUSTIN, TX — The University of Texas at Austin Bureau of Economic Geology has finished installing the state’s earthquake monitoring network, TexNet, with an accompanying interactive website members of the public can follow to sort seismic activity in real time.

The array of seismometers (or seismographs) helps better locate and identify tremors across the state. Considered the nation's most advanced state-run seismic monitoring system, TexNet was authorized by the Legislature in June 2015 with $4.47 million in state funding.

Like many areas in the south-central United States, Texas has experienced an increase in the number of earthquakes during the past decade, particularly in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the Permian Basin region and south-central Texas, scientists noted.

Officials said the seismic monitoring system is being operated in parallel with the Center for Integrated Seismicity Research (CISR), a multidisciplinary research team led by bureau research scientist Peter Hennings and Professor Ellen Rathje in the Cockrell School of Engineering’s Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering. CISR is conducting fundamental research to better understand natural and induced earthquakes in Texas school officials noted.

TexNet and CISR include research partners from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas A&M University in College Station, the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, and other institutions.

“Gov. [Greg] Abbott and the Legislature have put Texas in the forefront of data collection and research into the causes of seismicity in the state,” said bureau director Scott W. Tinker, who led the formation of TexNet in 2015. “Small earthquake events have become more common in Texas recently, and we are now positioned to learn more about them and, hopefully, to understand how to mitigate their impacts in the future.”

TexNet includes 22 permanent monitoring stations, which brings the state’s total number of permanent seismic stations to 40, officials said. A team led by bureau research scientist Alexandros Savvaidis managed the design, installation and testing of the statewide network.

The system also includes 40 portable seismic stations that are being used to increase the density of stations in areas with increased seismicity, such as in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, South Texas, and West Texas in the Delaware Basin and Snyder area. These portable stations allow for detailed examination of the location, depth, size and frequency of earthquakes, so scientists and engineers can better assess their cause, officials said.

“I am thankful for the governor and the 84th and 85th Legislatures’ investment in TexNet, for the counsel and support from the members of the governor’s TexNet Technical Advisory Committee, chaired by Robie Vaughn, and for the citizens in Texas who stepped up and allowed us to install seismometers on their land,” Tinker said. “I’m proud of the bureau’s TexNet team for this major accomplishment and for working so thoughtfully and objectively with all stakeholders on this prominent issue.”

For more information on TexNet and CISR and to view the interactive web page, visit www.beg.utexas.edu/texnet.

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>>> Top image: TexNet station near the town of Post in West Texas provides residents a comprehensive look at seismic activity across the state. Photo courtesy of UT Bureau of Economic Geology.