Yellowstone hit by swarm of earthquakes

Yellowstone National Park has been rattled by more than 250 earthquakes in the past two days following a period of 11 months of quiet seismic activity in the park.

The quakes have been gaining strength, with a 3.1 tremor recorded at 11:03 a.m. today. A 2.9 quake was recorded at 12:38 p.m.

Prof. Robert B. Smith, a geophysicist at the University of Utah and one of the leading experts on earthquake and volcanic activity at Yellowstone, said that the activity is a "notable swarm."

"The swarm is located about 10 miles northwest of Old Faithful, Wyo., and nine miles southeast of West Yellowstone, Montana," said Smith.

Jamie Farrell, a doctoral student in geophysics who works with Smith at the University of Utah, said that as of 3 p.m. today, 270 quakes have been recorded in the past two days.

Farrell said the quakes are occurring in an area about 5 miles from where the largest swarm of quakes was ever recorded in October 1985.

Quakes in the current swarm have ranged in magnitude of 0.5 to 3.1.

Farrell said there have been reports of at least one of the tremors being felt in the park, but he is expecting more reports as the earthquakes continue.

Smith said such swarms are "relatively common." Today's tremors seem to be normal tectonic activity, and is "not an indication" that some sort of volcanic activity will occur.

Since 1995 there have been 80 swarms, including the one that started Sunday, Farrell said.

Farrell said that there is absolutely no connection between what is occurring in Yellowstone and the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Haiti.

"They are completely different systems," said Farrell. "They are not related."

In late December 2008 and early January 2009, Yellowstone National park experienced the second largest earthquake swarm in Yellowstone's recorded seismic history. The swarm under the north end of Yellowstone Lake consisted of 813 earthquakes with magnitudes ranging up to 3.9.

The most devastating earthquake in recent history in the Yellowstone region occurred on Aug. 17, 1959, when a magnitude 7.3 earthquake hit. It was centered near Hebgen Lake, Mont., killed 28 people and caused more than $11 million in damage.

Mike Stickney, director of earthquake studies at the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology, said there is no way to predict when the next big one will hit.

He said it will likely occur along one of the 45 faults that line two belts - one stretching from Yellowstone National Park up to Helena, Mont., and a second one along the Montana-Idaho border.

The Yellowstone Plateau is one of the largest super-volcanoes in the world and has gone through three volcanic cycles spanning two million years, which included some of the world's largest known eruptions.Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com



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Yeah, I'm keeping an eye on Yellowstone.

Meanwhile crying often about Haiti.

Christ have mercy on us.

I remember that a few years ago, there was a craze about the Yellowstone supervolcano and many television channels made movies about it erupting, etc. I don't know if they were scientifically accurate, but they certainly painted a grim portrait that has stayed in my mind all these years. In one movie, the final scene was the main character flying over North America in a helicopter and below him was just an endless sea of ash.

What a pity though, Yellowstone is one of the crown Jєωels of God's creations! I had the fortune of going there a few years ago, it was very beautiful.

(note to self: I MUST buy Catholic Prophecy by Dupont...)

This matches up with that video series I watched (which was pulled from Youtube a week later) where a man stated that many ex-military are told to move to the Ozarks, because that will be high enough to still be above-water, and far enough from the major cities. He said that solar activity, etc. will affect the bulge of water at the equator, and disrupt the gulf stream, causing Ireland/England to freeze, etc.

The man said to watch the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" -- he said all the symptoms, science, etc. is dead-on -- the movie just errs as to WHY it all happened.

Matthew

I wonder if that might also explain why they might be planning on moving the US capital to (near) Denver.

Jesse Ventura's Conspiracy Theory show had a very interesting episode called "Apocalypse 2012".  You can find it on youtube.

Although a Yellowstone eruption would most likely bury Colorado.  I've seen these maps showing the ash deposits from the last Yellowstone eruption; it was amazing.

I was attending Sunday Mass that Sunday in 1980                 when Mount Saint Helens blew it's top. I felt the                   thump, and instantly knew what just happened.

Maybe moving to Mexico aint such a bad idea after all!  :shocked:  :faint:

But then again they have volcanoes too.

LOL, Matthew!  That guy is SO Baltimore!  Fed closed in DC today.  DC is really fun when everything shuts down, makes me homesick.