QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.5md

Earthquake near King City, CA

USGS: 2 km SE of San Ardo, California

5:19 pm PDT, Sep 17, 2016 · · 9.7 km deep · released about 6.2 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near King City Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 47 kmSan Benito County 70 kmSan Luis Obispo County 79 kmKings County 96 km
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
5:19 pm PDT on 17 September 2016 ()
Where
32 km (20 mi) SE of King City, CA · earthquakes near King City
Magnitude
M 1.5 (md)
Depth
9.7 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Monterey County, 47 km NW
Nearest mapped fault
San Andreas fault, 21 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3521 days ago

A magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 32 km (20 mi) SE of King City, CA, at 5:19 pm PDT on 17 September 2016 (00:19 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 6.2 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.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,700,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 150× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 6.2 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 15 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.5 10 km NE of San Simeon, California · 39 km SSW of this epicentre
  2. 6.4 1901 Parkfield, California Earthquake · 34 km E of this epicentre
  3. 5.8 29 km NE of San Lucas, California · 35 km NNE of this epicentre
  4. 5.8 1934 Parkfield, California Earthquake · 26 km SE of this epicentre
  5. 5.4 22 km SSW of Three Rocks, California · 49 km NE of this epicentre

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

Epicentre 36.0030, -120.8822. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Monterey County, CA 47 km (29 mi) NW earthquakes near Monterey County
San Benito County, CA 70 km (44 mi) NNW earthquakes near San Benito County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 79 km (49 mi) SSE earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Kings County, CA 96 km (60 mi) E earthquakes near Kings County
Fresno County, CA 138 km (86 mi) NE earthquakes near Fresno County
Santa Cruz County, CA 151 km (94 mi) NW earthquakes near Santa Cruz County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.4 20 km NW of Parkfield, California
  2. 2.4 22 km NW of Parkfield, California
  3. 1.6 22 km ENE of San Lucas, California
  4. 1.7 22 km NE of San Lucas, California
  5. 1.6 22 km NW of Parkfield, California
  6. 2.1 23 km NE of San Lucas, California
  7. 2.2 20 km NW of Parkfield, California
  8. 1.6 9 km W of Templeton, California
  9. 1.6 9 km NNW of San Simeon, California
  10. 2.9 8 km W of Templeton, California
  11. 2.1 8 km W of Templeton, California
  12. 2.3 9 km W of Templeton, California
  13. 1.7 8 km W of Templeton, California
  14. 4.0 9 km W of Templeton, California
  15. 1.6 17 km NW of Parkfield, California

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

On USGS

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