Quake brewing in Yellowstone

[domaingenius]

This is from Times Newspaper today ;
Hundreds of earthquakes have hit Yellowstone National Park, raising fears of a more powerful volcanic eruption.

The earthquake swarm, the biggest in more than 20 years, is being closely monitored by scientists and emergency authorities.

The series of small quakes included three last Friday which measured stronger than magnitude 3.0. The strongest since this latest swarm of quakes began on December 27 was 3.9.

No damage has yet been reported but scientists say this level of activity - there have been more than 500 tremors in the last week - is highly unusual.
The USGS has removed most of the current data regarding the quakes at Yellowstone(since I observed it yesterday)- There is not hardly a whisper being made in the media in the States regarding the danger going on at Yellowstone. I suppose this is being done in an effort to "protect" us.

Laura, Steamboat Springs, USA


Anyone know anymore ?

DG

 

[jasdon11]

Isn't a 'big one' overdue at Yellowstone?

 

[south]

Was reading about this this morning. Just gotta wait & see. We live on a volatile planet.

Plenty of info out there:

http://news.google.com/nwshp?tab=wn&ned=us&ncl=1284521544&hl=en&topic=t

 

[raoul]

their not affraid for the quake, but for a potentional vulcanic eruption

http://www.worldwidewaterplan.com/yellowstone.htm

 

[south]

their not affraid for the quake, but for a potentional vulcanic eruption

http://www.worldwidewaterplan.com/yellowstone.htm

Yup. A potentially LARGE one. Science is far from being able to accurately predict seismic activity on this scale. We can take semi-educated guesses though.

Edit: Here's some mapping:
http://www.seis.utah.edu/req2webdir/recenteqs/Maps/Yellowstone_full.html

From the US News & World Report article here: http://www.usnews.com/blogs/capital...ne-earthquakes-swarm-supervolcano-update.html

While the Discovery channel documentary did a fair job of portraying how an eruption might come down, it also did a better job of whipping up anxiety about a very unlikely event. You would be much more productive hiding in your closet avoiding lightning than worrying about a Yellowstone eruption.

 

[draggar]

Yup. A potentially LARGE one. Science is far from being able to accurately predict seismic activity on this scale. We can take semi-educated guesses though.

Large???

Krakatau was large, this would make Krakatau look like a small geyser.

There isn't a word that could describe this. Large is too small. Gigantic is too small. Colossal is getting close, but still IMO too small. I think the best way to describe it would be "We (humans) are F-ed" but look at the bright side --

The amount of dust thrown into the atmosphere would bock the sun enough to cool down the planet - possibly reversing global warming.

And we think we humans are so powerful.

Edit: While it does sound like it's easy to panic now, don't forget the Yellowstone has always been a hot spot. Seismic activity hasn't been monitored at all until the past what, 100 years and not real seriously (in that area) until about maybe 25-30 years ago. It is IMPOSSIBLE to even try to predict an eruption on a ~600,000 year cycle on less than .005% of that timeline studied.

As South quoted in the previous post - we should be more worried about being struck by lightning.

 

[PRED]

seems like business as usual to me :smilewinkgrin:

 

[south]

seems like business as usual to me :smilewinkgrin:

Smarter than the average bear!

 

[draggar]

I see the volcano rising nicely behind him.

 

[Alan Glennon]

Activity from this earthquake swarm has either ceased or is undergoing a long pause. It has been approximately 48 hours since the last temblor.
Data: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Maps/special/Yellowstone.php

 

[HasRob]

Doomsday?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOn3wkehluk

 

[draggar]

Activity from this earthquake swarm has either ceased or is undergoing a long pause. It has been approximately 48 hours since the last temblor.
Data: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Maps/special/Yellowstone.php

If I remember correctly, that red oval-ish shape is the old caldera, right?

 

[HasRob]

i just watched that youtube video, theres 5 parts to it. alot of information in there, scary indeed.

 

[Alan Glennon]

Yes, the red line denotes the caldera boundary of the 600,000 years before present eruption.

If I remember correctly, that red oval-ish shape is the old caldera, right?

The pause has been interrupted by three small earthquakes.

 

[Alan Glennon]

Minor swarm activity has renewed at the northeast boundary of the Yellowstone Caldera.