Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 2.5md
Earthquake near King City, CA
USGS: 12 km NNE of San Lucas, CA
- When
- 4:39 pm PDT on 29 September 2026 ()
- Where
- 14 km (8 mi) E of King City, CA · earthquakes near King City
- Magnitude
- M 2.5 (md)
- Depth
- 4.8 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Monterey County, 30 km W
- Nearest mapped fault
- San Andreas fault, 11 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 3 days ago
A magnitude 2.5 earthquake was recorded 14 km (8 mi) E of King City, CA, at 4:39 pm PDT on 29 September 2026 (23:39 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Greenfield.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 160 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.5 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 92,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 65,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 5.8× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.5 about 160 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 4.6 on 2017-11-13 — about 1,400 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 11 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.1 Northwest of Huron, California · 45 km NE of this epicentre
- 5.8 29 km NE of San Lucas, California · 20 km ENE of this epicentre
- 5.4 22 km SSW of Three Rocks, California · 43 km ENE of this epicentre
- 5.3 24 km NE of San Lucas, California · 14 km NE of this epicentre
- 5.2 26km NNW of Lake Nacimiento, CA · 31 km S 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 36.2362, -120.9780. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monterey County, CA | 30 km (19 mi) | W | earthquakes near Monterey County |
| San Benito County, CA | 43 km (27 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near San Benito County |
| San Luis Obispo County, CA | 106 km (66 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County |
| Kings County, CA | 106 km (66 mi) | E | earthquakes near Kings County |
| Merced County, CA | 109 km (68 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Merced County |
| Santa Cruz County, CA | 126 km (78 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
7 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.5 11 km E of Pinnacles, CA
- 1.9 5 km NW of Pinnacles, CA
- 2.3 10 km SSE of Pinnacles, CA
- 1.5 5 km N of Pinnacles, CA
- 2.5 10 km NW of Pinnacles, CA
- 2.4 7 km SE of Pinnacles, CA
- 1.3 22 km SE of Pinnacles, 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.