Yellowstone earthquake swarm continues into third day, intensifies
Posted by
JAC on 1/19/2010, 12:56 pm
By Howard Pankratz
The Denver Post
Posted: 01/19/2010 07:59:07 AM MST
Updated: 01/19/2010 10:31:44 AM MST
The swarm of earthquakes that started Sunday at Yellowstone National Park continued this morning with the magnitude of the tremors increasing last night and today.
At 9:48 a.m. today, a magnitude 3.3 tremor was recorded. A magnitude 3.3 tremor was also recorded at 8:39 p.m. Monday night followed by a magnitude 3.0 earthquake at 9:42 p.m. Monday.
Prior to the 3.3 at 9:48 a.m., the park had seen tremors of 2.5, 2.6 and 2.7 this morning.
As of 9:20 a.m. today, 424 earthquakes had been recorded in the swarm, according to Jamie Farrell, a doctoral student in geophysics at the University of Utah, which operates more than two dozen earthquake recording stations in the park.
He said that seven people have told investigators they felt the 3.3 earthquake and another six the 3.0 quake.
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.
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.
So far scientists monitoring the swarm say the tremors seem to be normal tectonic activity, and is "not an indication" that some sort of volcanic activity will occur. However, they continue to monitor the situation.
Farrell said 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(at)denverpost.com
Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14221601?source=rss#ixzz0d59a0ngs
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In this thread:
Swarm starting back up at Yellowstone? -
JAC,
1/18/2010, 1:52 pm- Really rumbling this morning - JAC, 1/25/2010, 7:53 am
- Correlation with Sunspots - JAC, 1/22/2010, 8:32 am
- 3.7 & 3.8 this afternoon - JAC, 1/21/2010, 3:58 pm
- Looks to be picking up - JAC, 1/20/2010, 3:42 pm
- YELLOWSTONE VOLCANO OBSERVATORY INFORMATION STATEMENT - JAC, 1/19/2010, 9:30 pm
- Needs to have some attention paid to it ... - LawKat, 1/19/2010, 2:35 pm
- Yellowstone earthquake swarm continues into third day, intensifies - JAC, 1/19/2010, 12:56 pm
- More on the January 2010 Yellowstone Swarm - JAC, 1/19/2010, 10:04 am
- New Yellowstone Swarm Started January 17, 2010 - JAC, 1/19/2010, 6:54 am
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