Yellowstone Earthquake Swarm Puzzles Scientists

[Galactus]

By LiveScience Staff

posted: 30 December 2008 09:36 am ET


A swarm of small earthquakes in Yellowstone National Park is the most intense measured there in years, leaving scientists puzzled.

The region is known for such swarms — 1,000 to 2,000 quakes occur annually in the park. Yellowstone's 10,000 geysers and hot springs, including the Old Faithful Geyser, may be the result of this geologic activity.

But the latest shaking is notable for the number of tiny temblors and their intensity, according to a statement yesterday from the University of Utah, where scientists monitor seismic activity in Yellowstone. (Yellowstone is located mostly in the northwest corner of Wyoming.)

The largest of the earthquakes was a magnitude 3.9 at 10:15 pm MST on Dec. 27, a day after the swarm began. The sequence has included nine events of magnitude 3 to 3.9 and approximately 24 of magnitude 2 to 3 at the time of this release. A total of more than 250 events large enough to be located have occurred in this swarm.

"Scientists cannot identify any causative fault or other feature without further analysis," according to the statement.

Most of these temblors would not be felt by humans. Earthquakes generally have to exceed magnitude 4.0 to cause light damage.

Scientists wonder if the shaking might presage a larger event. This month's swarm is the most intense in this area for some years, scientists said. It is centered on the east side of the Yellowstone caldera, a giant basin created in a colossal eruption some 620,000 years ago.

Researchers have long predicted that the Yellowstone supervolcano will eventually erupt again, with devastating consequences for much of the United States. Half the country could be covered in ash up to 3 feet (1 meter) deep, one study predicts. But those same researchers say nothing suggests such an eruption is imminent. They point out, however, that Yellowstone seems to blow its top about every 600,000 years.

Meanwhile, the region's deep secrets are still being revealed.

Last year researchers reported on unusual slow movement below the surface that's tied to a newfound gradual sinking of the nearby Teton Range. And in 2006, scientists discovered that in the previous decade, the volcano had risen nearly 5 inches.

"Could it develop into a bigger fault or something related to hydrothermal activity?" wonders Robert Smith, a professor of geophysics at the University of Utah. "We don't know," he said this week.

Smith and his colleagues said they'll continue to monitor the activity.

[Sam Fisher]

It's the end of the world!

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

[souvlaki]

VIDEO-CLick to Watch!:

We're screwed.

[Mike_D202]

So this will just affect the WESTERN part of the U.S. then?

[souvlaki]

Originally Posted by Mike_D202

So this will just affect the WESTERN part of the U.S. then?

Nope. We'd pretty much all be in serious trouble.

Immediately before the eruption, there would be large earthquakes in the Yellowstone region. The ground would swell further with most of Yellowstone being uplifted. One earthquake would finally break the layer of rock that holds the magma in - and all the pressure the Earth can build up in 640,000 years would be unleashed in a cataclysmic event.
Magma would be flung 50 kilometres into the atmosphere. Within a thousand kilometres virtually all life would be killed by falling ash, lava flows and the sheer explosive force of the eruption. Volcanic ash would coat places as far away as Iowa and the Gulf of Mexico. One thousand cubic kilometres of lava would pour out of the volcano, enough to coat the whole of the USA with a layer 5 inches thick. The explosion would have a force 2,500 times that of Mount St. Helens. It would be the loudest noise heard by man for 75,000 years, the time of the last super volcano eruption. Within minutes of the eruption tens of thousands would be dead.

The long-term effects would be even more devastating. The thousands of cubic kilometres of ash that would shoot into the atmosphere could block out light from the sun, making global temperatures plummet. This is called a nuclear winter. As during the Sumatra eruption a large percentage of the world's plant life would be killed by the ash and drop in temperature. Also, virtually the entire of the grain harvest of the Great Plains would disappear in hours, as it would be coated in ash. Similar effects around the world would cause massive food shortages. If the temperatures plummet by the 21 degrees they did after the Sumatra eruption the Yellowstone super volcano eruption could truly be an extinction level event.

[The Senator]

Oh well. There's nothing we can do to prevent the supervolcano from erupting, nor is there anything we can do to save ourselves once it does happen.

[Sam Fisher]

This will probably be Roland Emmerich's next movie.

[Sam Fisher]

This will probably be Roland Emmerich's next sequel

[Mike_D202]

Originally Posted by jmanspice

Oh well. There's nothing we can do to prevent the supervolcano from erupting, nor is there anything we can do to save ourselves once it does happen.

Nuke Fallout Shelter?

[The Senator]

Originally Posted by Mike_D202

Nuke Fallout Shelter?

If you honestly think fallout shelters would allow people to survive years and years following either a nuclear blast or supervolcanic eruption... you're mistaken.

[Wesley Dodds]

Oh, ****! Has anyone warned Yogi Bear?

[The Senator]

Originally Posted by Wesley Dodds

Oh, ****! Has anyone warned Yogi Bear?

The article clearly states these earthquakes are occurring at Yellowstone National Park, not Jellystone Park...

[Bill]

Originally Posted by souvlaki

Nope. We'd pretty much all be in serious trouble.

I hope they're looking for ways to vent the pressure.

[Spidey-Bat]

It's the Chinese. They're digging through the center of the earth to invade us.


On a serious note, that's some scary **** about what could happen.

[Sam Fisher]

2012 man!

[Thor Odinson]

Originally Posted by Mike_D202

Nuke Fallout Shelter?

we need to get lead-lined refrigirators out west at once....if they can survive a nuke they can survive a valcano.
ona more sereus note...its the end of days! prepare!

I will set wonders on the heavens and in the earth: Blood fire and pillars of smoke.
-Joel 3:3
I will Punish him with pestalence and with blood; torrential rain and hail fire and brimstone i will rain down upon him.....
-Ezekial 38:22

[The Senator]

Originally Posted by Thor Odinson

ona more sereus note...its the end of days! prepare!

I will set wonders on the heavens and in the earth: Blood fire and pillars of smoke.
-Joel 3:3

Go away.

[Thor Odinson]

Originally Posted by jmanspice

Go away.

can't you take a joke?

[TNC9852002]

Maybe the CHUDS are angry.

Or the gravitational flux from the planet approaching the galactic center is jamming up the Earth's core.

-TNC

[Metamorpho1977]

Originally Posted by Galactus

By LiveScience Staff

posted: 30 December 2008 09:36 am ET



Scientists wonder if the shaking might presage a larger event. This month's swarm is the most intense in this area for some years, scientists said. It is centered on the east side of the Yellowstone caldera, a giant basin created in a colossal eruption some 620,000 years ago.

Researchers have long predicted that the Yellowstone supervolcano will eventually erupt again, with devastating consequences for much of the United States. Half the country could be covered in ash up to 3 feet (1 meter) deep, one study predicts. But those same researchers say nothing suggests such an eruption is imminent. They point out, however, that Yellowstone seems to blow its top about every 600,000 years.

.

seems like we are overdue.

[Bunker]

I live about 100 miles away from Yellowstone.

I'm screwed.

[Gennith]

Sweet - Wont effect us.

[Metamorpho1977]

Originally Posted by Gennith

Sweet - Wont effect us.

Sure it will. America's bread basket will become an ashtray. Better start your own garden now in your back yard and learn how to make bread.

[The Amazing Lee]

Micheal J. Fox on vacation? :???:

[black_dust]

Nasty stuff, glad im over a massive ocean away from it all