Earthquake near King City, CA

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 40 km (25 mi) from the epicentre. In King City, 36 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.

Likely felt in: King City 36 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,300 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 250,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 11,000× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 7,900× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,300 lb of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.4× more

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 4.7 on 2021-10-25 — about 210 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 7 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.5 10 km NE of San Simeon, California · 30 km SE of this epicentre Dec 22, 2003
2. 6.2 28km NW of Cambria, CA · 22 km S of this epicentre Nov 22, 1952
3. 5.7 Southwest of Cambria, California · 47 km S of this epicentre Dec 7, 1906
4. 5.2 26km NNW of Lake Nacimiento, CA · 29 km E of this epicentre Dec 28, 1939
5. 5.2 25 km NW of San Simeon, California · 11 km SSW of this epicentre Aug 29, 1983

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 35.9152, -121.2928. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 19 km W of San Simeon, CA 10:19 UTC
2. 1.9 12 km SSW of San Lucas, CA 02:53 UTC
3. 2.1 11 km ENE of Cambria, CA 05:14 UTC
4. 1.6 19 km W of San Simeon, CA 17:18 UTC
5. 1.6 11 km SE of Lopez Point, CA 07:19 UTC
6. 1.5 11 km NE of San Simeon, CA 08:17 UTC
7. 1.6 15 km ENE of San Simeon, CA 05:17 UTC
8. 1.6 25 km SSE of Lopez Point, CA 13:13 UTC
9. 1.6 22 km SSE of Lopez Point, CA 08:25 UTC
10. 2.2 13 km NNE of San Simeon, CA 11:18 UTC
11. 1.5 18 km SW of Greenfield, CA 17:13 UTC
12. 2.1 17 km NE of San Simeon, CA 01:14 UTC
13. 2.2 16 km NE of San Simeon, CA 01:12 UTC
14. 2.2 3 km ESE of Lopez Point, CA 15:34 UTC
15. 1.5 2 km SE of Lopez Point, CA 08:43 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 11:30 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.