Quakes still rattling Yellowstone but no cause for alarm

[theHandpuppet]

Still mighty interesting, though.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/science/01yellowstone.html
The New York Times
Hundreds of Quakes Are Rattling Yellowstone
By KIRK JOHNSON
Published: January 31, 2010

DENVER — In the last two weeks, more than 100 mostly tiny earthquakes a day, on average, have rattled a remote area of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, putting scientists who monitor the park’s strange and volatile geology on alert.

Researchers say that for now, the earthquake cluster, or swarm — the second-largest ever recorded in the park — is more a cause for curiosity than alarm. The quake zone, about 10 miles northwest of the Old Faithful geyser, has shown little indication, they said, of building toward a larger event, like a volcanic eruption of the type that last ravaged the Yellowstone region tens of thousands of years ago.

The area is far from any road or community, and the park is relatively empty in winter. Swarms of small quakes, including a significant swarm last year, are relatively common.

But at a time when the disastrous earthquake in Haiti on Jan. 12 has refocused global attention on the earth’s immense store of tectonic energy, scientists say that the Yellowstone swarm, if only because of its volume, bears close observation: as of Sunday, there had been 1,608 quakes since Jan. 17.... MORE

Here are the 3+ quakes since Jan 18:
3.1 2010/02/02 19:31:47 44.559N 110.944W 8.7 17 km (11 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.2 2010/01/28 01:46:15 44.573N 110.977W 12.0 14 km ( 9 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.1 2010/01/27 12:52:16 44.572N 110.963W 10.0 15 km ( 9 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.1 2010/01/25 03:27:36 44.564N 110.960W 10.3 16 km (10 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.1 2010/01/24 23:21:34 44.566N 110.964W 10.4 16 km (10 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.0 2010/01/24 23:09:46 44.566N 110.964W 8.7 15 km (10 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.6 2010/01/23 15:01:27 43.512N 110.249W 2.5 38 km (24 mi) NNE of Bondurant, WY
3.0 2010/01/22 22:41:16 44.568N 110.972W 10.8 15 km ( 9 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.0 2010/01/21 22:38:40 44.552N 110.974W 0.1 16 km (10 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.0 2010/01/21 21:09:02 44.559N 110.969W 9.1 16 km (10 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.8 2010/01/20 23:16:19 44.567N 110.968W 9.6 15 km ( 9 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.7 2010/01/20 23:01:50 44.565N 110.977W 9.0 15 km ( 9 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.3 2010/01/19 21:41:03 44.569N 110.966W 9.2 15 km ( 9 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.2 2010/01/19 18:35:37 44.561N 110.968W 9.9 16 km (10 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.5 2010/01/19 14:32:31 44.562N 110.974W 9.3 15 km ( 9 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.3 2010/01/19 09:48:32 44.566N 110.965W 6.7 16 km (10 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.0 2010/01/18 21:42:14 44.569N 110.968W 9.8 15 km ( 9 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.4 2010/01/18 20:39:39 44.566N 110.969W 10.2 15 km ( 9 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.1 2010/01/18 11:03:14 44.560N 110.969W 9.7 16 km (10 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT

[MrScorpio]

1. Nothing to see here folks. Move along

Never mind the Supervolcano.

[Baclava]

4. Everybody west of the Mississippi should just leave - run away!

or not

The "experts" don't have much of a clue about these things. Not their fault, not that much data on volcanoes, really, and they work on geologic time scales.

But you think we might have learned from Mt St Helens that earthquakes coming from volcanoes might just mean something.
They were caught flat-footed on that one.

[cultedelaraison]

2. Always interested in the Yellowstone Caldera.

Seeing The Road earlier this year made me think of this. I doubt this thing blows anytime soon, and if it does, hey, what are we gonna do?

[KharmaTrain]

5. Put Your Heads Between Your Legs And Kiss Your Ass Goodbye

Considering this is a Supervolcano, there aren't many places in the North American continent to hide except for Alaska.

Welcome to DU...

:hi:

[cultedelaraison]

8. Thank you for the welcoming

:hi:

Does anyone know whether or not a lot of the seismic activity occurring at Yellowstone could be in correlation to the quake in Haiti?

[KharmaTrain]

9. I Don't Think So...

Yelllowstone is a hot spot (like Hawaii) where Haiti is on a meeting of several plates with a fault line running right through the country. I think those seismic readings at Yellowstone is measuring the magma moving under the surface.

[cultedelaraison]

10. Thank you nt

[niyad]

11. welcome to DU

[gleaner]

3. It may be a precursor to a ...

volcanic eruption, but it could also be a precursor to a very large earthquake. That area is very volatile. Years ago when I was a kid there was an earthquake in Yellowstone so big that it created a lake. I don't remember what year it was, but it was in the 1960s.

Swarms of earthquakes like these have been observed and measured before other large earthquakes too. I'm glad I won't be vacationing there anytime soon. But then I live in LA and we are overdue for our big one and have been for some time. Uh, as far as I'm concerned it can be a lot more overdue and I won't complain.:bounce:

[DCBob]

6. Not so sure I would dismiss this considering it is the second largerst swarm in history..

I wonder what would need to happen to cause "alarm".

[SpiralHawk]

7. Native elders didn't dismiss it a few years back

They took spiritual action...


"While dwelling amid the high mountains along the North American Continental Divide, Bennie LeBeau of the Eastern Shoshone tribe experienced a torrent of dreams and visions, especially in 1999. The visions directed him to set in motion the plans for a massive Medicine Wheel Ceremony.

"Over the last year Bennie has become aware of many sharply distressing changes in both land and animals at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. These changes are becoming even more ominous right now, he says, and they have prodded him into direct action to bring his visions alive..." (snip)

http://www.chiron-communications.com/communique%209-2.html

[niyad]

12. thank you for posting that--a very interesting article.

[fishwax]

13. It's been kind of fun to follow

Swarms are pretty common there, and not necessarily a bad thing. This was has certainly been larger than most, but it's still not as big as 1985, when there were over 3000 earthquakes--those earthquakes were also more powerful (as high as 4.9).