4.8 earthquake rocks US Yellowstone National Park

What's with all this blame being shot towards humans pissing off "Mother earth"...? A volcano eruption does alot more damage than humans can do in 1000 years so that doesn't make sense. And until a quake about 7.0 or higher hits yellowstone it's probably not even worth worrying about. 5-6.0 quakes happen everywhere all the time. But in cities like LA it's rare and rattles peoples heads so it gets headlined, but it is not gonna lead up to anything. If you look at all the past big quakes, their wasn't much leading up to them, they just happen.

Wrabbit2000

esteay812
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

I just checked out that Wind Map, because I thought it looked cool.

It's probably nothing, but I found it somewhat interesting that Yellowstone seemed to be the exact center of the wind in virtually the entire US, east of the Appalachians.

Thinking of it in context with geologic activity, it's kinda creepy.

It is a little odd, isn't it? It's probably just a quirk of the patterns, but it was something to share since we had a cam view from the ground at the same time, eh?

For what it's worth, it looked much stranger when Sandy was hitting New York. The whole eastern half of the United States and west Atlantic had currents in a virtual vortex right over a spot in Pennsylvania. I wonder if the people below these points of overlap even notice anything different? I've never heard of it in reverse, anyway. Where people saw something weird, THEN someone looked to find a convergence, so maybe it's all in the upper levels and out of sight?

Still, it is interest just how many wacky ways the wind blows and across large areas of the same land mass.

I think it would be a good idea to keep a routine check on that wind map, studying for times when the main center of wind pattern happens to be over your home area.

It may take a little time and effort, but I'd imagine we could figure out what the weather and wind feels like on the ground, below the central point.

Maybe a thread could be started, using this idea as a model experiment. I'm sure there are ATS members who live all over the country & world who would be willing to look at the wind map and comment about the conditions they are experiencing on the ground beneath the central point.

It would be interesting to see how reports vary when the central point of the wind moves from region to region - or how similar they may be.

I've been busy lately and you're a good member, who knows how to create a nice thread. If you're bored or simply curious, I think it would be a good idea if you opened a thread like this.

YVO monthly report issued:

Seismicity
During March 2014, the University of Utah reports 277 earthquakes were located in the Yellowstone National Park region. More events will be added as the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, responsible for the operation and analysis of the Yellowstone Seismic Network, processes the remaining March events. The largest event was a light earthquake of magnitude 4.7 on March 30, at 06:34 AM MDT, located four miles north-northeast of Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. The M4.7 main shock was reported felt in Yellowstone National Park, in the towns of Gardiner and West Yellowstone, Montana and throughout the region. This is the largest earthquake at Yellowstone since the early 1980s. Initial source analysis of the M4.7 earthquake suggests a tectonic origin (mostly strike-slip motion).

March 2014 seismicity was dominated by two earthquake clusters in the Norris Geyser Basin region and are described below.

1) A north-south trending series of earthquakes, over seven miles in length, began in September, 2013 and persisted throughout March with 130 events. The largest earthquake (magnitude 3.5) occurred on March 26, at 05:59 PM MDT, located 13 miles south-southwest of Mammoth, WY.

2) The earthquake series containing the March 30 magnitude 4.7 event began on March 27 and continues into April. At the end of March the series consisted of 70 located earthquakes, including the largest earthquake of the month, four magnitude 3 earthquakes, and numerous magnitude 2 and smaller earthquakes.

Earthquake sequences like these are common and account for roughly 50% of the total seismicity in the Yellowstone region.

Yellowstone earthquake activity in March is elevated compared with typical background levels.

Ground deformation
The ground deformation occurring in north-central Yellowstone continues. Since August 1, 2013, the NRWY GPS station has moved about 1.5 cm east, 2 cm north, and 5.5 cm up.

Further south, the caldera subsidence, which began in 2010, has ceased. Since the beginning of 2014, the caldera has been slowly rising at a rate of about 2 cm/yr. All the deformation currently occurring in Yellowstone remains well within historical norms.

The Yellowstone GPS network recorded no deformation associated with the March 30, 2014 M4.7 earthquake. Earthquakes of this size and depth do not typically produce ground displacements large enough to detect with GPS.

Other
The GPS field crew at Yellowstone has traveled around the Park over the past week and has not observed any effects from the earthquake. If any subtle changes have occurred, they are most likely to be found after the snow melts.

volcanoes.usgs.gov...

reply to post by esteay812


I've been curious. Did anyone think to check where the major low and high pressure centers were at that time? That wind pattern looked like the center of a low to me.

The 8.0 in Chili showed up on Is This Thing On I sure hope this isn't the straw that broke the camels back...

Dianec
reply to post by 0bserver1

 

The western US has 2 super volcanoes, out of 7 worldwide (long valley and yellowstone).

I think I would definitely add Crater Lake to that list, given how big of an eruption that had to be to form that massive crater. That made one hell of a fishing pond don't you think?

volcanoes.usgs.gov...

reply to post by violet


So keep coming all you tourist. We will sound the alarm when your here and its about to blow so don't worry, you can evacuate if you have a 200 mph chopper and that might not work either but come see the pretty orange molten geyser.

www.youtube.com...

At least they are moving out in a nice fast orderly fashion, staying on the right side of the hi-way out of the park anyway. Does not look like migration to me. Looks like, "Hey Wilber did you feel that"? Sure did, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!

www.theepochtimes.com...

TrueAmerican

angelchemuel
reply to post by TrueAmerican

 

Wrong direction.... west IMHO if you're in the States.....

Rainbows
Jane

Well how about we wait until they raise it, then we can debate which direction on a case by case basis depending on wind direction at the time. No, make that- YOU guys can debate it. I'll be long gone in a cave somewhere by then. But no worries, I'll leave a thread at ATS for yas to pick at before I go.

edit on Sun Mar 30th 2014 by TrueAmerican because: (no reason given)

No the dirty south is the place to be. Not one eruption from Yellowstone reached the south east past Louisiana. I remember seeing awhile back that Westcoast or yourself showed how the one lake was actually moving because of all the rapid uplift on the one side and it was very evident on the tree line. How and why do they think that is not serious with this recent quake?

reply to post by violet


It really goes above and beyond that the staff at yellowstone (and the U if U/USGS) have responded to this quake so thoroughly. Even to go as far as to address speculation about of buffalo migrating out of the park. They usually ignore those rumors. Couple that with their quick turn around on a report. They had a preliminary report the next day and a full one two days after. Maybe there wasn't much to decipher this time around.

They really are working hard to reassure - even though they shouldn't have to with some things. Same thing with being transparent with the helium thing. They know we're concerned and clearly care enough to keep us all on track with reality.

Neysa
reply to post by Drezden

 

Thomas Jordan said the following.

it’s a myth that big quakes — like Friday’s 5.1 in La Habra — release the stress on faults. “They don’t relieve the pressures that cause earthquakes very much

Perhaps you ask him. He looks to be more qualified to answer your query than a fellow ATSer.

Just sayin'

Quakes relieve pressure on the fault line that they occur. There's a reason the Cascadia subduction fault line only has en earthquake every few to several centuries. Once the fault line has slipped the pressure is relieved until it can slowly build up again over centuries to once again reach the point of slipping and causing another earthquake.

Granted an earthquake caused by a fault line, vs volcanic pressure are different obviously.

Dianec
reply to post by 0bserver1

 

The western US has 2 super volcanoes, out of 7 worldwide (long valley and yellowstone). Then add to that all of those in Washington and all of the major fault systems in the Western US - it's definitely a hot spot for potential disaster. It's simply not known what can or will trigger it but I'm thinking experts will have a good idea before it happens. If we begin to see a quick uplift or harmonic tremors they will let us know. Then - not sure what people would do since there wouldn't be much one could do.

It's actually debated about how many supervolcanos there are, due to not knowing what is or not active, might be active, or even not knowing where they even are. Some estimates put it at 29. The truth is that that a lot of academics are pricks that are full of hot air and like to hear themselves argue and talk. So that way they can always do that.

So, don't trust those stats.

And actually, there are THREE supervolcanos in the lower 48 continental United States. You forgot the one in New Mexico.

angelchemuel
OK...been watching/listening to the BBC link I posted...can somebody confirm the following please?.... 7.5 in 1959, 6.0 1975.....no eruption.....so.....why are we worrying about this one? My argument is...it's not the size of quake that counts...it's the last straw that ruptures the camels back.

True....you know I respect and admire your work with volcanoes...but when it comes to the politics....I'm not so sure my friend that they would tell us.....it's far to big a logistical problem if she blows big style to evacuate the immediate territory....

Rainbows
Jane

You don't need an earthquake to cause an eruption. It really has nothing to do with it. Earthquakes, particularly big ones, simply show that the system is becoming unstable. It is a sign that the magma is moving more than it should be and displacing and breaking the rock as it moves towards the surface.

There is actually no correlation at all between an earthquake and eruption. None at all. I don't know why so many people seem to be under that impression.

dovdov
The good thing about a quake and aftershocks is that it releases the pressure. This means that the so-called "imminent" explosion of Yellowstone which will, according to some theorists, destroy half the North American continent is still a long way off. We should only begin to worry if quakes like this one occur repeatedly over the span of the next few days and weeks.

This has absolutely nothing to do with it. That's just a myth and it's not true. Besides that, this is a supervolcano. It does not work the same way. It does not need an earthquake to be set off in the first place. I really have no idea where that myth even comes from.

reply to post by TrueAmerican


That makes sense, so it would be mechanical adjustments made on the needle of the seismograph? I was thinking it was interesting because that would make the needle calibrated as if this was a rare magnitude.

I was in this area of Yellow Stone last August! In fact we stayed in Montana in west Yellow stone. spent 5 days in the area and drove the entire caldera! You really need to see it to believe how massive it is. If the caldera blows it would be the event that would end all life here on the planet!!

Hope things settle down soon!

Pax

Dianec
reply to post by violet

 

It really goes above and beyond that the staff at yellowstone (and the U if U/USGS) have responded to this quake so thoroughly. Even to go as far as to address speculation about of buffalo migrating out of the park. They usually ignore those rumors. Couple that with their quick turn around on a report. They had a preliminary report the next day and a full one two days after. Maybe there wasn't much to decipher this time around.

They really are working hard to reassure - even though they shouldn't have to with some things. Same thing with being transparent with the helium thing. They know we're concerned and clearly care enough to keep us all on track with reality.

My issue is with " yellowstone is gonna blow" fear mongering all the time.
I've been on ATS a long time and it's always about to blow. To say it's getting on my nerves is an under-statement.

It's ok to sit back in your chairs far away from this thing and scare the rest of us who are within the radius of the fallout. I know it would affect the entire earth in time.

It's just constantly crying wolf means we won't pay attention when it's for real.

Yellowstone has swarms. It's normal. The Bison, migrate in the winter. It's normal.

It's high time Sheldon posted his professional credentials. Stop acting like the top geologist in the world, just to get the accolades. It's very transparent. Believe me you wouldn't be paying as much attention to it, had not stars or flags been brought into ATS .

I'm not meaning this thread or op btw.

reply to post by Neysa


Actually "myth" would not be the correct term, it should be "is controversial." There are differing opinions, but the idea that it relieves stress on the fault line is indeed the predominant view among seismologists. Others believe that it relives stress at the area of the quake but increases it miles further along the fault line. Others believe that only small quakes relive stress, and so on.

reply to post by dovdov


I see.
Thanks for clarifying.

These folks think something is up.

www.theepochtimes.com...

But from what I understand having Bison on the roads isn't a rare thing, so who knows.

The thread discussed on the show has been merged or redirected to this one

reply to post by violet


I think it just means that the caldera is entering a period of increased activity. That doesn't mean it's getting ready to erupt only that it's more active than it was. People are trying to conflate the two, but if they paid attention, they'd notice that just about everywhere is getting more active these days.

Dum da dum....

Has anyone looked into all the helium coming out at the mo?

Seems the most concerning thing to me. If interested, suggest u google helium and volcanic eruptions....


Gotta go.....