No. It doesn’t mean the end is near 😉
University of Utah seismic station.
Earthquake swarm in park tops 1,000. Billings Gazette.
Note added 1-24. As expected, the swarm has dropped off a lot.
New Yellowstone Park earthquake swarm
January 22, 2010 — Ralph Maughan17 Responses to “New Yellowstone Park earthquake swarm”
Recent comments
william huard on Coyotes nail dog during Colora… Ryan on Coyotes nail dog during Colora… william huard on Coyotes nail dog during Colora… WM on Megaloads video: Giant rig opp… Ryan on Coyotes nail dog during Colora… jdubya on Megaloads video: Giant rig opp… JEFF E on Have you come across any inter… JB on Republican’s Climate Solution:… william huard on Have you come across any inter… Peter Kiermeir on Have you come across any inter… 
Buffalo Field Campaign Blog- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- Demarcated Landscapes
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
The Wildlife News 
January 22, 2010 at 4:12 PM
Too bad..I was hoping it would take Cheney out…;*)
January 22, 2010 at 5:20 PM
Would the kind of swarm we’ve experienced this week cause avalanches up in the Park? I don’t know if the Park has avalanches like we do down here where the hills have been “messed with”, mostly for recreational purposes. I often wonder what the animals think when the ground starts moving. As sensitive as they are about their physical surroundings, they probably feel them even more than we would if we were out roaming.
January 22, 2010 at 5:28 PM
ps – JimT – problem with takin’ out Cheney he lives close to me (10 or so miles)!! So we’d have to have the quake isolated to the 10,000 square foot area of his home!
January 22, 2010 at 5:41 PM
Hey, DARPA probably could do that, Cindy..VBG…
I feel for you, truly….~S~..Doesn’t that permanent dark cloud look funny, though?…
January 22, 2010 at 5:44 PM
Actually, the swarm is a good thing since it is acting as a pressure relief valve, unlike what happened in Haiti as the two plates got stuck and couldn’t move past one another, and you have a huge earthquake.
What is more potentially “interesting” is if the volcano that is Yellowstone Park becomes active…Then, all bets are off for a very large part of Wyoming and Montana…
January 22, 2010 at 7:10 PM
Maybe its getting ready for 2012?
January 23, 2010 at 3:17 AM
What if we miss calculated a year or 2? (2012)?
January 23, 2010 at 7:59 AM
Note the comment from “Mike” above is a new person nicknamed Mike on this weblog.
I have asked him or her to choose a new nickname.
January 23, 2010 at 11:34 AM
Jim T
If volcano Yellowstone were to have an eruption even smaller than the last big one it could also affect all the wolf (and bison) poplation in Wyoming as well as parts of Idaho and Montana, depending on wind direction at the time.
Check the limits of ash fall from previous eruptions:
http://www.solcomhouse.com/yellowstone.htm
January 23, 2010 at 11:53 AM
I’ll bet this latest batch of smaller quakes is just the test runs for the volcano/earthquake machine that the right wing has invented to “manage” the wolves as they see fit!!
I think I saw a black helicopter over the park about midnight.
Did anybody see my tinfoil hat?? 8)
Have a good weekend everyone.
January 23, 2010 at 7:24 PM
And you too, Layton. I appreciate your humor, knowledge, and perspective on topics relating to Idaho wildlife.
January 23, 2010 at 8:05 PM
The Yellowstone hotspot doesn’t always just explode, it often sends out huge flows of lava. The hotspot is thought to have produced the huge flows of flood basalt that make up the Columbian plateau in Oregon, Idaho and Washington.
The Weiser river cuts through some of these flows north of Weiser, Idaho. The authors of Roadside Geology of Idaho speculate that the original hotspot was caused by a meteor strike that punched through the earth’s crust.
January 24, 2010 at 11:52 PM
Ralph, the comments on your site are a breath of fresh air, especially compared to those on so many other reality- and science-impaired sites. Your commenters are often as good as your posts, and they have a good sense of humor.
I found a blog where someone asked, seriously, whether y’all are getting ready to evacuate due to the swarms.
Reality: Even if we have a tenuous hold on it, we should try to keep it.
January 25, 2010 at 12:18 AM
So the Mike above is not Wilderness Sportsman Mike?
January 25, 2010 at 2:52 AM
No, and I haven’t heard back from him. Maybe he is a one time commenter.
January 26, 2010 at 6:54 PM
Ralph all kidding aside is their predicability with quakes in Yellowstone, are their any geologist that have an opinion ?
January 26, 2010 at 7:56 PM
richie,
Yes. This article just appeared in National Park Traveler. “Tectonic Plates Thought Responsible for Swarm of Yellowstone National Park Earthquakes.”