Green | January 06, 2009 | 5 comments

Yellowstone earthquake swarms diminish... Phew!

source: http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=107168&catid=339

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The recent earthquake swarm underneath Yellowstone National Park appears to be slowing down considerably.

It's good news for the people at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory who monitored close to 500 small earthquakes in the area during a six-day stretch. It had been the most intense swarm of earthquakes in Yellowstone since 1985.

"Everybody was mobilized," Jacob Lowenstern told 9NEWS on Monday.

Yellowstone National Park normally sees at least 1,000 earthquakes every year.

"We saw half of a year's earthquakes in less than a week," Lowenstern added.

Experts say it was the most intense swarm in 24 years.

Let's just hope this isn't the calm before the storm...
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5 comments // Yellowstone earthquake swarms diminish... Phew!

  • islandtrip
    • 0
      islandtrip  

    • If you dig a little deeper they know now that Yellowstone is not the average hotspot. Its geothermal activity does not come from our core like in places such as Hawaii. Instead it is from the naturally found, highly radioactive metals that surround the whole area. There is one of the worlds only platinum group based mines found about 150 miles northeast on the Stillwater river in Montana. What is really scary about Yellowstone is the high silica content in the soil. Silica produces a type of ash that has way more volume then other volcanic ash. Also a silica based lava has more elasticity which is why Yellowstone "bulges" and "swells",(Not from volcanic gas, but by the expansion of the lava). This is something it has done for 100's of thousand of years. If popped, it has the potential to cover the U.S. in at least 4 feat of ash in minutes. Also, the instability of radioactive metals give us the high chance of having little warning besides an increase of heat in the water and the ground before it "ignites" rather then "blows".
      Super scary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
      Its a natural nuclear bomb on level we can not comprehend. Why the still are preaching "hotspot" volcano is beyond me. There is no other place in the world like Yellowstone, and the process by which the rock is actually being heated definitely does not fit the common perception of geothermal activity. It may spew lava but its not from the center of the earth.

    • 3 years ago
  • 1percent
  • keithponder
    • 0
      keithponder  

    • This is great news. An eruption would end all of the world"s troubles in a matter of time. All life, as we know it would be over.

      This is an eruption that the world does not want to see.

    • 3 years ago
  • Pimsey
  • mattbrawn
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