Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.6md
Earthquake near King City, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in King City in the 24 hours to 10:13 am PST (18:13 UTC). The last one was M 2.5, 14 km (8 mi) E, at 4:39 pm PDT on 29 September 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near King City
This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 26 km (16 mi) east-northeast of King City, CA, at 6:48 am PDT on 15 May 2022 (13:48 UTC), 7.3 km deep.
USGS: 21km SW of New Idria, CA
- When
- 6:48 am PDT on 15 May 2022 ()
- Where
- 26 km (16 mi) east-northeast of King City, CA · earthquakes near King City
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (md)
- Depth
- 7.3 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- San Benito County, 41 km NNW
- Nearest mapped fault
- San Andreas fault, 1 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 1634 days ago
Earthquake alerts for King City, CA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near King City, CA. No account or email needed.
Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
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 8 km (5 mi) from the epicentre. In King City, 26 km away, the estimate is intensity I (not felt). 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.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 7.1 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.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,100,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,500,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 130× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.6 about 7.1 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
The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.3 on 2021-01-02 — about 13,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 19 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.7 The 1983 Coalinga, California Earthquake · 49 km E of this epicentre
- 6.4 1901 Parkfield, California Earthquake · 45 km SE of this epicentre
- 6.1 Northwest of Huron, California · 32 km NE of this epicentre
- 5.8 29 km NE of San Lucas, California · 7 km E of this epicentre
- 5.4 22 km SSW of Three Rocks, California · 31 km E 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 36.2923, -120.8530. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Benito County, CA | 41 km (26 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near San Benito County |
| Monterey County, CA | 42 km (26 mi) | W | earthquakes near Monterey County |
| Kings County, CA | 96 km (60 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Kings County |
| Merced County, CA | 101 km (63 mi) | N | earthquakes near Merced County |
| San Luis Obispo County, CA | 107 km (66 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County |
| Fresno County, CA | 119 km (74 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Fresno County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
55 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.1 12km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 1.6 21km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 1.5 16km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 1.6 21km SE of Pinnacles, CA
- 1.7 19km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 3.4 12km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 1.9 16km SE of Pinnacles, CA
- 1.7 7km NW of Pinnacles, CA
- 1.9 24km E of San Ardo, CA
- 2.1 21km NW of Parkfield, CA
- 1.5 9km N of Coalinga, CA
- 1.9 2km NNE of Pinnacles, CA
- 1.6 10km N of Coalinga, CA
- 1.8 7km NNE of Coalinga, CA
- 1.7 23km WSW of New Idria, CA
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
- 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.