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Yellowstone Earthquake Swarm Slows Down on Quiet Night

Saturday, 23 January 2010 13:33

The swarm of small earthquakes rocking the western part of Yellowstone National Park appears to be abating, with a series of small quakes reported yesterday and nothing since midnight.

As of this writing -- 6:42 a.m. Mountain -- no earthquakes have been reported all night, with the last recorded quake coming at 10:41 p.m., a 3.0-magnitude rumble. It was the latest in more than 1,100 registered earthquakes in a very small area on the western side of the Park, about 10 miles from Old Faithful and nine miles from West Yellowstone. Given the geology of Yellowstone, every little rumble gets lots of attention: it's the most monitored area of the planet, and lots of energy is spent determining small and large changes in the Yellowstone caldera. A series of earthquakes, naturally, receives lots of attention.

Ten of the earthquakes have been magnitude 3.0 or greater, with a 3.8 magnitude earthquake recorded late Wednesday evening. The larger quakes have been felt by people in Old Faithful, West Yellowstone, Canyon, Mammoth Hot Springs, Grant Village, Madison, and Gardiner. No damage or injuries have been reported.

You can view a map chronicling recent seismic activity here, along with the most recent recorded quakes.

If this morning is any indication -- no quakes recorded at all -- the swarm may be played out. The consensus in the scientific community: the swarm of earthquakes was caused by tectonic shifts, not anything to do with the Yellowstone caldera. These same shifts are causing more severe earthquakes in areas like Haiti and Oklahoma. Other monitoring stations indicate no change at all in activity with the caldera and the Yellowstone supervolcano.

Almost 80 swarms have been recorded in Yellowstone since 1995.

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