Earthquake swarms hit Yellowstone Caldera
It was “quite a doozy” of a month for earthquakes in Yellowstone — but there’s no reason to panic, geologists said. Such activity is normal.
More than 1,008 earthquakes shook the Yellowstone region in July, U.S. Geological Survey Volcanoes said Monday. That number could still increase as experts count smaller earthquakes they may have missed.
The region hit that number largely in part to seven earthquake swarms, including a massive swarm that rattled the region starting July 15.
The swarm, which was centered beneath Yellowstone Lake, had more than 764 quakes. The largest was a magnitude 3.6 on July 16.
“This may seem like a lot, and it is,” Mike Poland, scientist-in-charge at Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, said in a video. “The month was quite a doozy for earthquakes, but it’s not actually the most we’ve seen in any given month.”
Swarms are typical in Yellowstone and account for about half of the total seismic activity in the region, USGS said. Larger swarms have happened before in Yellowstone.
In 2017, more than 1,100 earthquakes shook the region in June, in part because of a swarm of more than 2,400 quakes that lasted three months, Poland said. In 1985, more than 3,000 quakes shook the area.
Some people, however, still worry earthquakes in Yellowstone are a sign that the “supervolcano” that lies beneath the park will soon erupt, which could have regional and global consequences.
“Such a giant eruption would have regional effects such as falling ash and short-term (years to decades) changes to global climate,” USGS said on its website. “Those parts of the surrounding states of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming that are closest to Yellowstone would be affected by pyroclastic flows, while other places in the United States would be impacted by falling ash (the amount of ash would decrease with distance from the eruption site).”
The USGS doesn’t think an eruption at Yellowstone is likely for thousands of years.
Even with the current swarm, the alert level at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory is green, which is normal.
July’s earthquake swarm is nothing to worry about, geologists said. It wasn’t caused by magma moving around, Poland said.
Ground water from snow melts is getting into existing faults and causing earthquakes. If the quakes were triggered by magma moving beneath the surface, the ground would be sinking or cracking.
“We haven’t seen any significant changes in deformation that might suggest that something different was happening at Yellowstone,” Poland said.
Earthquakes in Yellowstone typically happen in swarms, according to the park. Swarms happen in many places where there is volcanic activity and occur for a number of reasons. The most common is when water gets into faults in the Earth’s crust, which is what happened in July, according to USGS.
“Some swarms are driven by slow fault slip that causes earthquakes on few sticky patches of the fault,” USGS said. “Other swarms are generated when magma-filled cracks push their way through the crust.”
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sir_isO
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No one will know where I went.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4ow89HWcHs
Also, I’m kinda fueling that. Not only that, though. See, a human is no longer respectable if chooses to be a robot or “freemason”.
Go worship your soulless overlords. Yall going to hell.
I’ve decided this world shouldn’t be allowed life.
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sir_isO
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You see, you’ve assured me that I cannot believe in you.
Simple question, do you think that’s more meaningful than God not believing in you?
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sir_isO
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https://immediatesafety.org/scientist-discover-that-most-people-are-completely-useless/
Buhbye.
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sir_isO
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Oh right, I forgot to mention I’m a MacGregor and I live me some Sidhe, or even Morrigu.
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Howdy
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That article itself is as useless as the drivel it pretends is something people wish to know, or should care about.
Such an “enlightened” writer…
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sir_isO
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I can make it real obvious to you what’s going to happen in iowa/wyoming.
Just imagine, an island right there.
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Andy
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PSI is a science website, so publishes articles about science subjects. Is this a problem for you?
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Howdy
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To whom are you referring Andy?
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Howdy
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Never mind, I’ll state the facts that led up to this perceived bad form on my part.
1: The questionable post was a response to a linked article by another commentator, however It was entered as a stand alone post instead of a thread reply, and It’s not the first time it’s happened. Unfortunately, once entered a comment can not be moved, nor even edited. Still, I saw nothing wrong because I knew what had taken place.
2: At the time, I had two articles on the go. THIS one, on PSI, and THAT one, which was the link given to me the other commentator. You’ll notice the comment in question starts with “THAT”. I was referencing the link I had been given previously which was an article in very poor taste..
3: Had I been the admin, I would have rolled down the page just in case, to see If anything else was off. However, that was not done. Had It been, my post explaining to Jerry why the comment existed as It did, would have been seen. It was posted well before the admin arrived. Jerry, in fact, alerted me to how the comment was being perceived. It was out of context. There was nothing I could do.
Thus, there you have it. I can now understand how bad It looks, but It’s the result of a mix of errors.
My explanation is honourable, and true. I trust the matter is explained satisfactorily, and settled.
Thanks for listening.
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Andy
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I had assumed your comment was about the PSI article, but it seems you were replying to Mr Iso, that being the case, I apologise 🙂
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Howdy
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Not needed Andy.
sir_isO
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Unfortunately, I must take my leave.
https://ulver.bandcamp.com/track/eos
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Joseph Olson
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somewhere, a bridge is missing it’s TROLL > go find that bridge
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sir_isO
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Link some of your “meaningful” elucidating posts.
K thx bye.
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sir_isO
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Did I mention shadows of the sun?
Go look:
https://www.lmsal.com/solarsoft/latest_events/
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Jerry Krause
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Hi PSI Readers,
The ARTICLE was informative and based upon a history of the studies of EARTH QUAKES and these (as I compose this) NEGATIVE COMMENTS serve no USEFUL PURPOSE. (MY OPINION)
Have good day, Jerry
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Howdy
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Hey Jerry,
My comment was in regard to osiris’ ridiculous link: https://immediatesafety.org/scientist-discover-that-most-people-are-completely-useless/ Not the PSI posting.
Given the current level of intelligence that passes for reasoning and knowledge from certain quarters of science these days, why don’t they just pour cold water on it if It looks like It might blow? That’s what has been suggested in the recent past regarding volcanoes. It ranks alongside equally ludicrous suggestions such as using giant mirrors to reflect the sun away from Earth. gates with his chalk etc. If this isn’t maniac type behaviour, then what is?
Here you go:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1196817/Yellowstone-volcano-eruption-NASA-drill-into-Yellowstone-prevent-eruption-USGS
I have no knowledge of this subject, so best I can do, sorry.
Annoyingly, the spell checker is geared to US English, and I’m not.
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