Magnitude 4.1 earthquake strikes 79 km N of Hicks Bay, New Zealand

A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck 79 kilometers north of Hicks Bay, New Zealand, on July 20, 2026, at 12:15:23.590 UTC. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported the seismic event occurred at coordinates -36.8846 latitude and 178.2859 longitude.

The earthquake had a recorded depth of 155.192 kilometers. The USGS, a scientific agency of the United States government, routinely monitors and reports earthquake activity globally, providing data on seismic events such as this one. Their data includes metrics like magnitude, which quantifies the energy released at the earthquake's source, and depth, referring to the distance from the Earth's surface to the earthquake's hypocenter.