ODESSA, Texas (Nexstar) – Dr. Miles Henderson at UTPB says that with new technology on the way, scientists are finding out that a change in pressure can cause multiple small earthquakes to happen over time

According to Dr. Henderson, over a long period of time, Oil and Gas Production in the Permian Basin has taken a toll on the fault lines within the earth’s crust which causes earthquakes to happen frequently.

As long as the pressure in between fault lines keeps changing…Henderson says earthquakes are likely to continue happening in the area

“What we’re getting is this kind of small crack in the earth’s crust and what’s happening with those cracks over time is that they have fluids within them and those fluids are under pressure because they’re very deep within the crust of the earth,” says Henderson.

According to the United States Geological Survey, 11 earthquakes took place earlier this week near the City of Pecos and a 4.5 magnitude earthquake occurred outside of Stanton at around 7:55 pm Monday night.

“They’re concerning because you can feel them but they’re not these destructive massive earthquakes that are gonna cause lots of damage but what we will see is that these will continue as long as we have oil and gas production in the Permian Basin,” says Henderson.

Dr. Henderson says that earthquakes that have a magnitude of 2.5 to 4.5 can be felt are felt by many but won’t damage your home or valuables.