New Monitoring Program To Add More Seismic Sensors In Texas

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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed a bill that will fund the deployment of additional sensors to study the location and source of earthquakes.

The Houston Chronicle reports the governor recently signed a bill to spend $4.5 million over the next two years for a new seismic monitoring program. The program will be overseen by the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas and will add 22 new permanent seismometers, which are instruments that measure motion in the ground.

There are currently 16 seismometers overseen by the U.S. Geological Survey.

State geologist and director of the bureau Scott Tinker said it also plans to buy 36 mobile seismometers, which can be quickly deployed when a flurry of earthquakes occur in rapid succession to help gather data on ``events that are harder to explain.''

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• Greg Abbott
• Texas
• Earthquakes