A 4.3-magnitude earthquake rattled eastern Texas early Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
The quake, at a depth of three miles, was centered near Timpson, about 155 miles east-southeast of Dallas, according to the USGS. It struck at 3:12 a.m. (4:13 a.m. ET).
At least one building in Timpson showed damage, with a number of bricks falling to the street below, CNN affiliate KLTV in Tyler, Texas, reported.
Ollie Barrett told KLTV that bricks from her chimney came crashing through her roof.
"There was a loud rumbling noise and then there was a lot of crashing," she said. Her 52-inch, wall-mounted TV was crushed.
One woman was injured when she fell out of bed and cut her arm, CNN affiliate KSLA in nearby Shreveport, Louisiana, reported.
And the Shelby County sheriff's office had reports of broken windows from the temblor, dispatcher Karen Shield told CNN.
The quake was the second to hit the area in a week. A 3.9 quake shook Timpson May 10.
Thursday morning's earthquake was the third-strongest in East Texas history, KLTV reported, surpassed only by quakes in 1957 and 1964.
Cliff Frohlich, a University of Texas scientist, said it's possible the most recent quakes are related to energy production activity in the area.
"There are some injection wells in the part of the country where these earthquakes occurred," Frolich told CNN. "If they were very close to an injection well, that would suggest they were."
Injection wells are used in the disposal of dirty water from energy production, Frohlich said.
Frohlich said injection wells should not be confused with fracking, a process which involves injecting water, sand and some chemicals deep into the earth to crack shale rock, which frees oil and gas.
"Fracking almost never causes quakes," Frohlich said.
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An earthquake in Texas? It's the beginning of the end of the world.
I'm sure one possible cause could be all the gas drilling/fracking going on in texas. I don't recall any earthquakes in texas either, but fracking has been shown to cause them.
shut up we get it
Since they started massive drilling here we have lots of earthquakes now. This is a common thing at this point.
Well then the end of the world began about a million years ago. Earthquakes in Texas and Oklahoma are incredibly common. There are almost as many days in the year where they have earthquakes as they do tornadoes.
Maybe the oil in the ground was holding things up. Now that so much of it has been tapped out, who knows what can happen? Just saying...
That should push up some more oil
There are a number of fault lines running through Texas, including one running through the middle of Houston. They've been there for a long time.
Yeah they call it the GW Bush fault line .... bwahahaha
Yes, this 100%. There's a relatively large (for the area) fault that runs from Mount Enterprise along Texas Highway 84 to Timpson (appropriately named the Mount Enterprise fault). There's a ton of seismograph instruments that measure that area frequently, just as I'm sure there are a number of tremors that are so small no one feels them along that fault as well. Nothing new, just slightly bigger than normal.
"Thursday morning's earthquake was the third-strongest in East Texas history, KLTV reported, surpassed only by quakes in 1957 and 1964" I don't think any fracking was going on in 57 and 64.. do you?
Hopefully Texas will fall in on itself leaving a vast crater, as a reminder to our country that this is what being a wasteful glut will get you in life...
Is Stu Redman ok?
Wake up call, GOD is trying to get peoples attention, just as the Bible says!
This "God" you mention, is he so weak that he uses a minor earthquake to "get our attention?". He did better than in that work of fiction called the bible.
Which "God" would that be, and if he is so powerful why doesn't he just get on TV and tells us what he wants?
Texas Oilman will claim they drill and drive cars in the name of God. I don't recall Jesus needing a car to spread miracles though...
There are reports that fraking is causeing this.
Oh big oil driller did you have a day off and joined us peons. I think it was because Bush endorsed Romney ,,,Texas is sick of all that bull.
Google texas fault line map and you will see a small fault that runs 8 miles west of Timpson Tx...purely coincidental.
Before long we will be blaming the big earthquakes of the past in California on Mr. Slate and Fred Flintstone for running that old quarry back in the day. Its simple geology fault lines=earthquakes.
Fault lines plus pressure added to the system = eartquakes. Your math is off a tad bit
Actually, it's proven that these earthquakes are caused by injection wells... that's why states are outlawing it based on scientific proof. Just because you don't WANT to believe doesn't mean it's not true. Pull your head out.
Really? Where's the proof. Which scientific independently verified source did you use? Links?
Wasn't the Frohlich family involved with the Lindberg kidnapping?
Bedrock City is in Northern Arizona. It's about 25 miles south of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
While that may have its place, it's no matter at all Jesus stated ...earthquakes in divers places. Matthew chapter 24 and more have been happening in the last 100 years than in all of history combined. FACT!
Let's us just give thanks to the Lord that it was not a massive earthquake,and we should all pray for no more earthquakes.
you poke mother earth..she's gonna poke you right back. we're all poked.
Truth an Oilman (or GOP) can't handle
"One woman was injured when she fell out of bed and cut her arm, CNN affiliate KSLA in nearby Shreveport, Louisiana, reported."
HAHAHAHA EARTHQUAKE OF 05/17/2012
NEVER FORGET
Seriously, why is this news?
Texicans have wanted to break away from the rest of the country for years.
This may be our chance
I saw Boone speaking this morning on Morning Joe... He is saying "fracking" does not harm anything. I'm not so sure about that could we be setting ourselves up for a major disaster or worse by "fracking"... by allowing this without hard core research done on exactly what it is doing to the earth scares me. One very large quake could set up spinning off axle!
and injecting wastewater into the ground...mmmm, how's that water table tasting these days, texas? Are horses and cows still falling dead in fracking zones?
Drill my friend Drill. Get us that oil.
Taking scalps, will trade for gold – or water -