Earthquake near King City, CA

USGS: 27 km NE of San Lucas, California

4:57 pm PDT, Aug 19, 2016 · 2016-08-19 23:57 UTC · 12 km deep · released about 5.6 lb of TNT

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Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.

When: 4:57 pm PDT on 19 August 2016 (2016-08-19 23:57 UTC)
Where: 29 km (18 mi) ENE of King City, CA · earthquakes near King City
Magnitude: M 1.5 (md)
Depth: 12 km below the surface
Felt: no reports yet
Nearest: San Benito County, 38 km NW
Nearest mapped fault: San Andreas fault, 5 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 3493 days ago · we first saw it 3493 days ago

A magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 29 km (18 mi) ENE of King City, CA, at 4:57 pm PDT on 19 August 2016 (23:57 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 5.6 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,700,000× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,900,000× the energy of this one
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 170× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.6 lb of TNT

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log₁₀E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

For this area

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 17 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

6.7 The 1983 Coalinga, California Earthquake · 48 km ESE of this epicentre May 2, 1983
6.4 1901 Parkfield, California Earthquake · 48 km SE of this epicentre Mar 3, 1901
6.1 Northwest of Huron, California · 29 km NE of this epicentre May 26, 1905
5.8 29 km NE of San Lucas, California · 7 km ESE of this epicentre Jul 25, 1926
5.4 22 km SSW of Three Rocks, California · 30 km E of this epicentre Oct 25, 1982

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Map loads when it scrolls into view

Epicentre 36.3292, -120.8387. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Place	Distance	Direction from the epicentre
San Benito County, CA	38 km (24 mi)	NW	earthquakes near San Benito County
Monterey County, CA	44 km (27 mi)	WSW	earthquakes near Monterey County
Kings County, CA	96 km (60 mi)	ESE	earthquakes near Kings County
Merced County, CA	97 km (60 mi)	N	earthquakes near Merced County
San Luis Obispo County, CA	110 km (69 mi)	SSE	earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Fresno County, CA	116 km (72 mi)	ENE	earthquakes near Fresno County

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

51 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

1.9 24 km ENE of Soledad, California 15:52 UTC
2.0 20 km SSE of Tres Pinos, California 13:21 UTC
1.6 20 km SSE of Tres Pinos, California 10:34 UTC
1.7 10 km N of Coalinga, California 23:25 UTC
2.1 23 km NE of Soledad, California 04:24 UTC
1.6 23 km NE of Soledad, California 19:47 UTC
2.1 21 km NE of Soledad, California 17:26 UTC
2.0 21 km NE of Soledad, California 07:11 UTC
2.0 28 km W of Three Rocks, California 06:29 UTC
1.9 12 km NW of Parkfield, California 01:22 UTC
2.0 21 km NW of Parkfield, California 11:49 UTC
1.7 23 km NE of Soledad, California 05:52 UTC
1.8 2 km SE of San Ardo, California 22:00 UTC
2.1 24 km NE of Greenfield, California 17:52 UTC
1.5 2 km SE of San Ardo, California 00:19 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 04:07 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.