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Earthquake Swarms Rock Yellowstone

Along with being one of the largest national parks in America, beneath the seemingly placid, geyser-ridden ground of Yellowstone National Park pulses a gigantic supervolcano. When Yellowstone erupts, it will do so with 1000 times the power of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. In the two weeks following the January 12th Haitian Earthquake, seismologists have reported at least 250 Yellowstone-area earthquake swarms - the phenomenon of many earthquakes occurring in a brief period of time. The individual quakes register from 0.5-3.1 on the Richter scale and are growing more intense every day.

Fortunately, scientists assure us that there's no need to worry - yet. In 1985, a total of 3000 earthquake swarms were reported in the span of just a few months. Other earthquake swarms of 500+ quakes each have been recorded in December 2008. More than 70 swarms have been reported between the years of 1983 and 2008. Dr. Robert Smith of University of Utah states that the earthquakes are occurring 8-10 km below the surface, which is still above the magma reservoir. That means the earthquakes are tectonic, rather than from magma becoming irritated and wanting to rise to the surface. If you'd like to hear what an earthquake swarm sounds like, click here. This recording condenses the first 28 hours of activity into a 7 minute file. It sounds vaguely like hail falling on the roof of a car.

Yellowstone is a giant, but for now it slumbers, to the great relief of all us wary Lilliputians.

Sources: Science Blogs, Time, National Geographic

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