Parkfield is located in the Temblor Range between the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Coast, at an elevation of 1,529 feet (466 m) above sea level.

There is a small tourism industry in the town based on equine-related events, hunting, a bluegrass music festival, and Parkfield's unique earthquake history (see the Geology section below).

Scientists constantly measure the strain in rocks, heat flow, microseismicity, and geomagnetism around Parkfield.

The goal of SAFOD is to drill a hole nearly 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) into the Earth's crust, across the San Andreas Fault.

The drilling was completed in the midyear of 2005, and an array of sensors was installed to capture and record earthquakes that happen near this area.

It is hoped that SAFOD observations will provide insight into the source mechanisms of these small earthquakes, which can be scaled up in an effort to understand larger events.