Earthquake near King City, CA

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 9 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In King City, 11 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Greenfield.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.8 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,200,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,600,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 140× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.8 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 12 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.5 10 km NE of San Simeon, California · 49 km S of this epicentre Dec 22, 2003
2. 6.2 28km NW of Cambria, CA · 47 km SSW of this epicentre Nov 22, 1952
3. 5.8 29 km NE of San Lucas, California · 43 km ENE of this epicentre Jul 25, 1926
4. 5.3 24 km NE of San Lucas, California · 37 km ENE of this epicentre Oct 21, 2012
5. 5.2 26km NNW of Lake Nacimiento, CA · 29 km SE of this epicentre Dec 28, 1939

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 36.1352, -121.2033. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.7 2km ENE of Pinnacles, CA 05:02 UTC
2. 1.6 8km WNW of Greenfield, CA 02:33 UTC
3. 2.3 20km SW of New Idria, CA 01:41 UTC
4. 1.8 7km SW of San Ardo, CA 11:29 UTC
5. 1.7 19km SSE of Lopez Point, CA 11:16 UTC
6. 2.3 9km SSW of San Lucas, CA 11:49 UTC
7. 2.2 7km NNW of Pinnacles, CA 15:35 UTC
8. 2.5 17km SSE of Lopez Point, CA 01:43 UTC
9. 1.8 2km NE of Pinnacles, CA 00:01 UTC
10. 1.9 4km NNW of Pinnacles, CA 08:31 UTC
11. 2.8 22km ENE of San Lucas, CA 04:44 UTC
12. 2.3 21km ESE of Point Sur, CA 07:35 UTC
13. 2.3 6km NNW of Pinnacles, CA 00:16 UTC
14. 1.6 6km NNW of Pinnacles, CA 08:06 UTC
15. 1.8 4km NNE of Pinnacles, CA 16:01 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 00:31 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.