Image
© AP
The area just south of Dallas and Fort Worth has been rattled by two small earthquakes over the past two days, and three over the past week.

A small earthquake hit three miles south of Keene, on the line dividing Johnson County and Hill County, late Sunday afternoon. That earthquake, which hit just before 6:00 p.m., had a magnitude of 2.6, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Another earthquake, this one a magnitude 2.3, was reported just after 8:00 a.m. Monday morning.

Cleburne city officials say emergency services are ready, but haven't been needed.

The U.S. Geological Survey official say the quakes were about the smallest measureable and were common in the eastern half of the US. But some wonder if it's not fallout from injection wells used to tap natural gas. Engineers say the wells aren't nearly as deep as the quake epicenter was, but they called experts with the USGS just in case.

"He thinks these quakes are natural phenomenon and not anything to worry about. He went on to say that his opinion is there are no reasons to suspect that these quakes are a precursor to any future event," said Cleburne City Manager Chester Nolen.

Many residents are shocked by the recent string of quakes. "This is crazy, we're Cleburne," said one woman who called 911 after the Sunday tremor.

These were the third and fourth North Texas earthquakes within the past month. Previously, on June 2, a magnitude 2.8 quake hit the city of Cleburne. And last month, an earthquake struck near an undeveloped part of Arlington, surprising many residents in the Mid-Cities area.