Small Earthquakes in Yellowstone (30 in 48 hours, 4 in last hour)

AP ^ | 12/27/2008

[jeffers]

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) - The University of Utah Seismograph Stations report a swarm of small earthquakes in Yellowstone National Park.

The university says the quakes of magnitude 3.5 and lower have been occurring beneath Yellowstone Lake, five to nine miles south-southeast of Fishing Bridge, a park landmark. The earthquakes that began on Friday and continued on Saturday intensified during the weekend, and there were reports that people in the Yellowstone Lake area felt the quakes.

[jeffers]

Article says swarms of quakes are common, but other articles say the whole caldera has been undergoing record uplift since 2004, and the patterns of these recent quakes, suggest a trigger event at the top of the existing magma dome, two days ago, followed by some very shallow quakes, up till recently, as little as 330 feet below surface.

Water plus gassy magma can make a really big mess.

I'm no geologist, and I've seen no indications the real geologists are worried, but I don't like the pattern suggested by the anecdotal events so far.

Near real time data:

http://www.seis.utah.edu/req2webdir/recenteqs/Maps/Yellowstone.html

[DouglasKC]

Ruh roh....maybe...

[Michael Barnes]

[theDentist]

Not that I think there's reason to worry either, but just in case: We're DOOOOOMED!!!

[jeffers]

Ping

New quake, 7 minutes ago, magnitude 2.5, 1.0 km down.

[Red Badger]

Water plus gassy magma can make a really big mess.

Water plus gassy buffalo can make a really, really big mess!

[unkus]

“Ruh roh....maybe...”

Big Caldera. Big, big caldera.

[JRios1968]

Article says swarms of quakes are common, but other articles say the whole caldera has been undergoing record uplift since 2004...

Obviously Bush's Fault.

[wolfcreek]

I don’t like this either because the ramifications of a large eruption wouldn’t be pretty.

[KoRn]

This has the potential to be VERY bad.

[Red Badger]

[unkus]

You’re right. Very serious.

[TheZMan]

Some of the largest volcanoes on earth are situated directly underneath Yellowstone. I seem to remember a Discovery special that said were they to blow their tops it would be a disaster of epic proportions.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

maybe Hairplugs Joe was on to something.

[conivorous]

Yep.
Time to panic, again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_Caldera

[BenLurkin]

[sodpoodle]

Months (?) ago I watched a very interesting NAT GEO documentary on the Yellowstone caldera ...frightening even.

Wonder if NG will replay it in response to these current swarms - could have tremendous rating potential.

Anyone????

[COBOL2Java]

New quake, 7 minutes ago, magnitude 2.5, 1.0 km down.

[Myrddin]

The eruptions mapped last night are under Yellowstone Lake in the area currently experiencing significant uplift. Let's hope it doesn't punch through.

[djf]

I’ve been watching quake activity since before 2000.

I do not recall a swarm of this type at Yellowstone.