Dallas Morning News Scoop Blog
Originally posted: Jan. 6 2015
By: Robert Wilonsky
We received a handful of reports this morning from Northwest Dallas and Irving residents insisting they felt — and heard — another quake this morning. So far, though, the U.S. Geological Survey says it hasn’t found one. But sometimes, seismologists say, the smaller ones in North Texas are hard to find. After all, there aren’t a lot of sensors in this part of the world. Not yet, anyway.
Irving did get an new seismometer yesterday, though, courtesy SMU, which has been asked to study the cluster of temblors rattling Irving in recent months — 17 since early September. Researchers aren’t saying where it was planted, though. In a statement sent to The Dallas Morning News, SMU seismologist Brian Stump, who’s leading the study, says “the location of the Irving seismometer is not being made public to preserve the integrity of the data it collects.” About as specific as Stump’s willing to get is “in a building on the northeast side” of the city.
Despite the myriad theories concerning the quakes’ origins — wastewater disposal from nearby hydraulic fracturing operations, the implosion of Texas Stadium, the ghost of Tom Landry — Stump wants to make one thing very, very clear: This new look-see at Irving’s shaking, rattling and gentle rolling isn’t intended to identify the why, just the where. READ MORE