For this episode, Nature Notes is teaming up with “West Texas Wonders” – a new reporting series where listeners ask questions and Marfa Public Radio finds answers.

This question comes from listener Ken Richards.

“In Big Bend, you see all these fragments and features of this and that, and I assume some of that, a lot of that, moved around by earthquake,” Richards said. “But I'm wondering if it's seismically active now.” 

We don't think “Texas” and “earthquakes.” But the answer to Richards' question is yes: tectonic forces that shaped the mountainous Trans-Pecos landscape are still at work. And now there's another factor: hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is le...