Minor earthquakes hits Dallas-Fort Worth area

IRVING, Texas (AP) - Several minor earthquakes gave some Texans an early Halloween scare, shaking their beds and knocking pictures off walls but causing no damage or injuries, authorities said.

A 2.5-magnitude quake at 11:25 p.m. Thursday near Grand Prairie started a series of other small earthquakes around that Dallas suburb, followed by a 3.0-magnitude quake at 12:01 a.m. Friday in nearby Irving, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Most people in the Dallas area had no idea because the tremors were minor and centered in southwestern Irving. But those who did seemed unnerved by the rare Texas quakes that shook apartment buildings and set off car alarms.

"It's pretty scary. ... The whole bed shakes," one woman told an Irving 911 operator early Friday morning, according to one of several audiotapes released by the Irving Police Department.

Another caller said he felt jolts about every 10 to 15 minutes and had seen "pictures falling off the wall and all that."

One caller said she was concerned the vibrations might be something going on at the nearby Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where no problems had been reported.

"It moved the house," the caller told the 911 operator. "It's been pretty frequent. It's alarming me."

Irving police received about 25 calls but no reports of injuries or damage, Officer David Tull said.

In nearby Euless, the 911 dispatch center was "a madhouse" early Friday as operators were bombarded with calls from residents wondering what was going on, said police Lt. John Williams.

A 3.1-magnitude earthquake occurred Thursday about 11:30 a.m. near McLoud, Okla., a 5,000-resident town some 180 miles north of Dallas, with no reports of injuries or damage, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

"I didn't even feel it," said McLoud Police Chief Gary Roe.

But the quakes in the two states are considered separate events because they occurred so far apart in distance and time, although researchers are not sure if a fault line runs between both cities, said USGS geophysicist Jessica Sigala.

"Texas sees earthquakes every once in awhile, so it's very new to us even," Sigala said. "We hope we'll figure out exactly where and why this happened. East of the Rocky Mountains, fault lines are hard to distinguish because earthquakes don't happen as often."

The U.S. Geological Survey has been able to determine fault lines - such as the San Andreas Fault in California, the most quake-prone state in the continental U.S. - usually after earthquakes occur, Sigala said.

Although Texas is better known as the home of hurricanes and tornados, some earthquakes have shaken the state since the late 1800s, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The most recent one in Texas was in April, a 3.7-magnitude quake that rattled a city south of San Antonio.

Seven minor earthquakes were recorded in Amarillo in 2000, and another minor one hit that Panhandle city in 2002.

The largest to hit Texas was in 1931 near the West Texas town of Valentine, where brick and adobe structures were damaged in the 5.8-magnitude quake that was felt as far away as Dallas, according to the Seismicity of the United States and the U.S. Geological Survey.

On the Net:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov