Whats going on at yellowstone?

As it appears things have gone quiet, So good night to all and to all a good night.May your prayers be answered and your stars shine bright.

It's been relatively quiet in the Yellowstone area according to GEE/UoU/Firefox addon alerts/data - does anyone know what frequency of quakes constitutes a swarm?

Link to an interesting article:

Full ariticle here:
www.kutv.com...

Blurb:

By Friday, January 2nd, Smith said over 500 tremors had been recorded around the north end of Yellowstone Lake. The biggest quake was a magnitude 3.9 - not big enough to cause damage. “This is a big deal”, said Smith, who has been studying the volcanic and geothermal activity at Yellowstone for over 30 years. There have been clusters, or “swarms” of quakes at Yellowstone before, but not this many for this long says Smith. “What’s important about them is that this is not normal, not usual to have these longer swarms so we pay particular scientific attention to them in terms of how they might relate to faults or to geysers or other hydrothermal features,” said Smith.

[edit on 1/2/09 by SevenandFive]

For people having connection problems with GEE: you may have firewall problems and therefore need to configure ports as described on this page. It worked for me.

Things have quieted down a tad it seems. A good time to rest and see if this is the beginning of the beginning, or the beginning of the end, or just a lull in the beginning of the beginning.. ....

On a serious note, It is hard to see how the data at Tantalus Creek is applicable to that of Lake Yellowstone, since the two are separated by more than 10 miles and not connected in anyway on the surface.

However, if the flow at Tantalus Creek is higher than average, then naturally it stands to reason that a higher flow might be in order for Lake Yellowstone Outlet (Yellowstone River). However, I do not know the topographical features/ elevation of both sites offhand, and also would like to note that the precipitation of late is most likely still in a frozen state, as it has been cold in the region for a few weeks now.

It also worth noting that the drainage area for the Yellowstone River is also probably a lot larger than that of Tantalus Creek, which might be another cause of higher stream flows from Lake Yellowstone outlet.

A really good way to find out would be to have a gauge at the inlet of Yellowstone River into Lake Yellowstone, and one at the outlet, and measure the differences. But that isn't an option (yet),

Another thing that is worth noting (and indeed thanked for) is the need to decompress, and breathe. To not worry obsessively and to keep learning. This is an exercise in watching natural processes unfold in near real-time and trying to decipher what is going on, but if you are obsessing and just worrying for no reason then go take a break, and decompress. Chances are Yellowstone and all of us will still be here in the morning or in a few hours.

This is an interesting topic, much like Mount Saint Helens was a few years ago, but nothing that has happened so far should lead any of you to be worried. Chances are small of a large event.

So keep watching, and not worrying. Stay aware, but not obsess. and enjoy the process of seeing what happens either way.

just my 3 cents. Peace.



[edit on 2-1-2009 by dustystrings]

Originally posted by ChrisCrikey
reply to post by pantangele

 

Good perspective, I appreciate it. This is a little hard to tear myself away from though, and if anyone missed it and likes adrenalin rushes be sure to get the FireFox ad-on equake which you can find at this link, someone else here posted it earlier. It will shake your monitor when it records a new quake. I don't know how thorough or useful it is, but I just got a shake for a (uncomfirmed) 4.5 in Bolivia. Adrenalin! I set the sensitivity pretty low.

addons.mozilla.org...

Chris - was your last quake on the add-on the Bolivian one about an hour ago? Mine just shook but no note of a new quake?

GEE seems fine once you're in and have got the real time data coming down...

if anyone is trying to play catch up on this thread like me please visit this link.
www.abovetopsecret.com...
also id like to see more people add some to it. the more info the merrier!

peace

reply to post by MischeviousElf



Nice graphs...However, that dip in the level of the creek or outflow into Tantulus Creek is somewhat concerning. Notice how the level dips quite drastically, around the middle of December, which makes me think a large volume of water may have been "swallowed" by say an earth displacement during a quake, and now the water pressure and steam after hitting the magma pushes upwards.

Could this not also be a warning sign. I don't know much about geology, but it sure seems to me it could be cause to keep an eye out on any other drastic drops in outflow followed by a sudden increase upwards as your chart seems to show.

Am I the only one who doesn't think things are "quiet?"
I am still seeing quite a bit of activity on GEE...

Originally posted by Venit
reply to post by seasonedherb


What other liquids could there be, i think by now most of us can agree it's magma that's moving down there.

Above the magma pocket there is a zone that contains porous rock with pockets of jelly like fluid in the rock.
this jelly like fluid is a mix of water+ dissolved silica+dissolved minerals.

At high temperatures and pressures water is a liquid and at these high temperatures and pressures will dissolve silica and form a thick jelly like fluid

As this thick fluid travels through fractures and the temperatures and pressures decrease the silica and some of the "other minerals" will drop out of the solution.

These deposits of silica are commonly known as quartz veins and some of the other minerals are gold and silver.

This is my field of geology finding those quartz veins with the gold and other metals in them.

one thing i look for is volcanic areas with sign of old hydrothermal activity
just like is happening in Yellowstone now

reply to post by RFBurns


Thanks for the info
I thought they had a system in place

GEE is too confusing for me to use... so im just sticking to this thread for all the major updates really heh.

I mean if somethings somewhat serious it would most likely be posted here

Originally posted by SevenandFive
Am I the only one who doesn't think things are "quiet?"
I am still seeing quite a bit of activity on GEE...

There's constant activity and then there are bigger events... not sure about others but what I'm looking for are significant or unusual events in the knowledge that Yellowstone is an active area.

ps for those that have kindly U2U'd me - I can't reply until I have posted 20 times.. sorry

[edit on 2-1-2009 by MoorfNZ]

It appears that there is more water coming from the lake than is normal. We know the water there is crystal clear. So if the bottom is swelling, we would likely see a cloud of dirt water coming out of it do to the bottom being disturbed.

Is there anyone who could take a look?

Originally posted by justgeneric
As for the question of emergency warnings...in Canada we have the EBS and I'm sure I remember the states having the same nation wide standard...a tone on the TV...local stations and radio broadcasts within localized areas....

Red screen normally saying:

This is a test of the Emergency Broadcast system...if this had been a real emergency.....(insert instructions and Gov to listen to).

Pretty sure it's still in use. Or am I just old and remembering something else? Also fairly certain it it also used on radio stations.

The system your describing is the very old EBS system that was replaced by the EAS system in the mid 90's.



Cheers!!!!

Originally posted by MoorfNZ

Originally posted by ChrisCrikey
reply to post by pantangele

 

Good perspective, I appreciate it. This is a little hard to tear myself away from though, and if anyone missed it and likes adrenalin rushes be sure to get the FireFox ad-on equake which you can find at this link, someone else here posted it earlier. It will shake your monitor when it records a new quake. I don't know how thorough or useful it is, but I just got a shake for a (uncomfirmed) 4.5 in Bolivia. Adrenalin! I set the sensitivity pretty low.

addons.mozilla.org...

Chris - was your last quake on the add-on the Bolivian one about an hour ago? Mine just shook but no note of a new quake?

GEE seems fine once you're in and have got the real time data coming down...

Yes, MoorfNZ, I got a second alert re: the Potosi, Bolivian Q and it appears they downgraded it from a 4.5 to a 4.2. I've only had the equake FF ad-on for a day so I'm just getting used to it. How many alerts are you getting? I asked to be alerted to any Q over a 2, so yeah I guess I am enjoying the adrenalin.

Chris - since the 2.6 in Yellowstone at 1.23pm I've had just 3 alerts - 2 in Alaska and the Bolivian one.

GEE is showing two recent events at Yellowstone TA.H17 in last 30 mins

[edit on 2-1-2009 by MoorfNZ]

again as I posted before, the quakes are moving slowly northward towards the weakest part of the caldera.


I expect a quake of a magnitude higher than before in the next 2-7 days.


nothing else...all else is a guess at this point.


a 6-7 magnitude would not be unexpected at this point.

nothing scientific here, just based on the past week and the continuing trend.

Here is a nice map of Yellowstone Lake. Not fancy, but interesting..

volcanoes.usgs.gov...

Areas like Turbid Lake are old hydrothermal explosions which have filled with water. This is what would most likely happen in the unlikely event of anything happening.

If you notice the "elevated plain" that is the region that has a lot of underwater geysers/vents/etc.. And the activity is pretty close to that except it is under it.

"Indian Pond" is another example.

I hope this is of some use to someone, if not disregard.

[edit on 2-1-2009 by dustystrings]

Hard to see bottom of lake through 14 inches of ice with snow on top.

Again this also hurts the USGS which has made extensive use of FLIR imagery at other events globaly.