Earthquake near Bonny Doon, CA

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 17 km (11 mi) from the epicentre. In Bonny Doon, 11 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Felton, Brookdale, Mount Hermon, Ben Lomond, Boulder Creek, Santa Cruz.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 40 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 380,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 270,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 24× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 40 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

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 15 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.9 The 1989 Loma Prieta, California Earthquake · 33 km E of this epicentre Oct 18, 1989
2. 6.3 22 km S of Davenport, California · 20 km SSE of this epicentre Oct 22, 1926
3. 6.3 16 km SW of Davenport, California · 11 km SW of this epicentre Oct 22, 1926
4. 6.1 Near San Jose, California · 47 km ENE of this epicentre Jun 11, 1903
5. 5.8 Near Watsonville, California · 49 km E of this epicentre Mar 11, 1910

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 36.9868, -122.2513. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.8 2km SW of Los Altos Hills, CA 02:12 UTC
2. 1.8 12km WNW of Boulder Creek, CA 08:23 UTC
3. 1.7 3km SW of Lexington Hills, CA 17:20 UTC
4. 1.9 14km SW of Santa Cruz, CA 02:48 UTC
5. 1.8 30km SW of Bonny Doon, CA 17:40 UTC
6. 1.7 2km ESE of Woodside, CA 13:55 UTC
7. 1.7 6km SSE of Portola Valley, CA 14:52 UTC
8. 1.6 3km WSW of Portola Valley, CA 02:47 UTC
9. 2.0 3km WSW of Portola Valley, CA 02:01 UTC
10. 1.6 5km NNW of Moss Landing, CA 21:03 UTC
11. 2.6 12km W of Saratoga, CA 11:13 UTC
12. 2.0 6km S of Loyola, CA 04:00 UTC
13. 1.5 3km S of Loyola, CA 21:20 UTC
14. 1.5 4km E of Los Gatos, CA 00:11 UTC
15. 1.6 11km WSW of Saratoga, CA 22:21 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 22:26 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.