Jan. 6, 2015. Updated 7:45pm CST
Two Earthquakes Widely-Felt Across DFW Tuesday
Large tremors classified as MMI V with the power to break windows
By Frank Heinz
A magnitude-3.6 earthquake rumbled across North Texas just before 7 p.m. Tuesday, hours after a magnitude-3.5 earthquake was centered in nearly the same location in Irving, the United States Geological Survey confirms.
The epicenters were both located near the former site of Texas Stadium.
Calls and emails began pouring into the NBC 5 newsroom after the second earthquake, which was about a half-mile east of the first, near the intersection of the Trinity River and State Highway 183. Reports came from across Dallas, Tarrant and Collin counties.
Earlier in the day, staffers inside the NBC 5 newsroom at The Studios at DFW felt significant vibration at about 3:10 p.m. as desks and chairs began shaking inside the building just south of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
Along with NBC 5 viewers across North Texas, our media partners at The Dallas Morning News, located in Downtown Dallas, also reported feeling the temblor.
The USGS listed the earthquakes an MMI V on the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale, which indicates the quakes had the strength to be felt by nearly everyone, wake those sleeping, break windows and dishes and to overturn unstable objects.
The earthquakes were centered in an area where at least 18 quakes have been recorded since October 2014.
Prior to Tuesday, the largest magnitude quake to occur in the Irving area since October 2014 had been a 3.3-magnitude quake on Nov. 22. The most recent was a 2.4 MMI III at 8:29 p.m. New Year’s Day.
A researcher from Southern Methodist University and his team are studying the source of the Irving quakes and are trying to learn if they are induced or if they are simply the result of natural, believed to be dormant, fault lines in the area.
As of this writing, no damage has been reported.