Updated: Thu, Dec 16, 2021 23:45 GMT –
I felt this quake
Moderate magnitude 4.4 earthquake at 9 km depth
16 Dec 12:38 UTC: First to report: USGS after 13 minutes.
16 Dec 16:00: Magnitude recalculated from 4.3 to 4.4. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 8.3 to 8.5 km (from 5.2 to 5.3 mi).
Update Thu, 16 Dec 2021, 12:42
Moderate magnitude 4.3 quake hits 33 miles northwest of Pecos, Texas, United States early morning
4.3 quake 16 Dec 6:25 am (GMT -6)
A very shallow magnitude 4.3 earthquake was reported early morning near Pecos, Condado de Reeves County, Texas, USA.
According to the United States Geological Survey, the quake hit on Thursday, December 16th, 2021, at 6:25 am local time at a very shallow depth of 5.2 miles. Shallow earthquakes are felt more strongly than deeper ones as they are closer to the surface. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.
Our monitoring service identified a second report from the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) which listed the quake at magnitude 4.1.
Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage, but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter.
Weak shaking might have been felt in Toyah (pop. 98) located 22 miles from the epicenter.
Other towns or cities near the epicenter where the quake might have been felt as very weak shaking include Pecos (pop. 9,500) located 33 miles from the epicenter, Kermit (pop. 6,400) 59 miles away, and Carlsbad (pop. 29,000) 60 miles away.
VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you’re in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.
If you were or still are in this area during the quake help others with your feedback and report it here.
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Earthquake data
I felt this quake
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Date & time: Dec 16, 2021 12:25:25 UTC –
Local time at epicenter: Thursday, Dec 16, 2021 6:25 am (GMT -6)
Magnitude: 4.4
Depth: 8.5 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 31.56494°N / 104.03017°W↗ 
(Reeves, Texas, United States)
Antipode: 31.565°S / 75.97°E↗
Nearby towns and cities:
36 km (22 mi) NW of Toyah (pop: 98) –> See nearby quakes!
53 km (33 mi) WNW of Pecos (pop: 9,520) –> See nearby quakes!
94 km (59 mi) WSW of Kermit (Winkler County) (pop: 6,430) –> See nearby quakes!
97 km (60 mi) SSE of Carlsbad (New Mexico) (pop: 29,000) –> See nearby quakes!
148 km (92 mi) WSW of West Odessa (Ector County) (pop: 22,700) –> See nearby quakes!
152 km (94 mi) SSW of Hobbs (New Mexico) (pop: 38,400) –> See nearby quakes!
160 km (100 mi) W of Odessa (pop: 119,000) –> See nearby quakes!
191 km (119 mi) WSW of Midland (pop: 133,000) –> See nearby quakes!
209 km (130 mi) SSE of Roswell (New Mexico) (pop: 48,500) –> See nearby quakes!
617 km (383 mi) WNW of Austin (pop: 931,800) –> See nearby quakes!
Weather at epicenter at time of quake:
Broken Clouds 
9.3°C (49 F), humidity: 50%, wind: 5 m/s (10 kts) from W
Primary data source: USGS (United States Geological Survey)
Estimated released energy: 2.5 x 1011 joules (69.8 megawatt hours, equivalent to 60 tons of TNT) More info
If you felt this quake (or if you were near the epicenter), please share your experience and submit a short “I felt it” report! Other users would love to hear about it!
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Data for the same earthquake reported by different agencies
Info: The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.
| Mag. | Depth | Location | Source |
| 4.4 | 8.5 km | 35 Km NW of Toyah, Texas | USGS |
| 4.1 | 5 km | WESTERN TEXAS | EMSC |
| 4.4 | 8.5 km | Western Texas | RaspberryShake |
User reports for this quake (1)
Carlsbad NM / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 20-30 s
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Earlier earthquakes in the same area
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