Whats going on at yellowstone?

Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Aviation Color Code: GREEN

Earthquake Summary:

Yellowstone seismicity increased significantly in December 2008 due to an energetic earthquake swarm that commenced on December 26. This swarm, a sequence of earthquakes clustered in space and time, is occurring beneath the northern part of Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park. As of this writing, the largest of these earthquakes was a magnitude 3.9 at 10:15 pm MST on Dec. 27. Through 5:00 pm MST on Dec. 31, the sequence had included 12 events of magnitude 3.0 to 3.9 and approximately 20 of magnitude 2.5 to 2.9, with a total of at least 400 events large enough to be located (magnitude ~1 or larger). National Park Service (NPS) employees and visitors have reported feeling the largest of these earthquakes in the area around Yellowstone Lake and at Old Faithful and Grant Village.

The hypocenters of the swarm events cluster along a north-south-trending zone that is about 7 km long. The vast majority of the focal depths are shallower than 5 km. It is not possible to identify a causative fault of other feature without further analysis.

Analysts are currently processing the backlog of seismic data from these events. The current analyst-processed catalog is believed to include all events of magnitude 2.5 and greater through Dec 31 at 5 pm MST, but hundreds of earthquakes remain to be processed. The total of more than 400 locatable events is based on automatically-determined locations and magnitudes for the swarm events.

The December 2008 earthquake sequence is the most intense in this area for some years. No damage has been reported within Yellowstone National Park, nor would any be expected from earthquakes of this size. The swarm is in a region of historical earthquake activity and is close to areas of Yellowstone famous hydrothermal activity. Similar earthquake swarms have occurred in the past in Yellowstone without triggering steam explosions or volcanic activity. Nevertheless, there is some potential for hydrothermal explosions and earthquakes may continue or increase in magnitude. There is a much lower potential for related volcanic activity.

The National Park Service in Yellowstone has been kept fully informed of the ongoing seismic activity via electronic means and by phone contacts with the University of Utah and the U.S. Geological Survey USGS). The Wyoming Office of Homeland Security is reviewing Earthquake Response Plans and monitoring seismic activity.

Earthquakes are a common occurrence in the Yellowstone National Park area, an active volcanic-tectonic area averaging 1,000 to 2,000 earthquakes a year. Yellowstone's 10,000 geysers and hot springs are the result of this geologic activity.

Originally posted by Nightowl
There's been talk recently that the Yellowstone graphs look like they have harmonic tremors, but I think the graph results are actually the result of strong winds right now. Strong wind readings on a seismograph can be confused with harmonic tremors, as this site explains: GeoNet - Seismic Monitoring of Volcanoes

It's very windy in Yellowstone right now, gusts of up to 55mph.

Originally posted by LoneInDarkness
So finally even they admit this might result in a disaster! But is it just me or wouldn't everyone just be like well it isn't the super volcanic eruption so all is safe. Some people might not even know what they are talking about!

Earthquake swarms at Long Valley Caldera caused concerns a few years ago but there was no eruption. Earthquake swarms are not necessarily followed by eruptions of any kind. They are normal. There is a very specific type of low frequency seismic signature called volcanic tremor that is associated with rising magma. That was not reported at Long Valley and it hasn't been reported at Yellowstone. Long Valley is a caldera system similar to Yellowstone that had the most recent "supervolcano" eruption. As huge as that eruption was, it did not wipe out life or change the climate.

Originally posted by xoxo stacie
They are somewhat crunched up. If you can save a chart and enlarge it in a photo type program they seperate out into a perfect line of rises and dips.

Originally posted by Realtruth
reply to post by TrainDispatcher

 

Good article.

And breakdown, thanks for posting.


newsblaze.com...

Dear Ian:

It's not that there's been ~ 300 quakes since Saturday or even that they're all within a mile or two of each other, the worrisome part is that they are all within a few hundred yards of each other vertically, extending from the surface down to 7.2 km potentially defining a single "chimney" under high pressure causing hydraulic fracturing along its entire length, (www.seis.utah.edu... ). The National Park Service reports the magma chamber is as shallow as 8 km and if the major chamber is that close to the chimney reaching to 7.2 km, we may be in for an eruption.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

2.5 2009/01/01 18:13:05 44.551N 110.364W 0.1 60 km (37 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT