Yellowstone River in Hayden Valley. Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.
Yesterday nearly three dozen small earthquakes rattled Yellowstone National Park. Most of the tremblers were clustered within a section of Yellowstone's super caldera, in an area known to be a hydrothermal-explosion crater. Half of the quakes occured at magma depth, reminding us that the volcano's real threat is continually on the move.
Click map to enter USGS Yellowstone Earthquake website.
The USGS, University of Utah and Yellowstone National Park continue to carefully review all data streams that are recorded in real-time. At this time, there is no reason to believe that magma has risen to a shallow level within the crust or that a volcanic eruption is likely.
The USGS Volcano Alert Level and Aviation Color Code for Yellowstone remain at Normal and Green.
Yellowstone sits on top of three overlapping calderas. Click map to enlarge.
Earthquakes at Yellowstone are caused by a combination of geological factors including:
- regional stress associated with normal faults (those where the valleys go down relative to the mountains) such as the nearby Teton and Hebgen Lake faults
- magmatic movements at depth (>7 kms or 4 miles)
- hydrothermal fluid activity caused as the groundwater system is heated to boiling by magmatic heat
Read more about Yellowstone's most recent earthquake swarm here: December 2008 - January 2009 Earthquake Swarm
Yes! Yellowstone is a Volcano (Part 1 of 3)
USGS Scientist-in-Charge of Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, Jake Lowenstern, answers the following questions to explain volcanic features at Yellowstone: "How do we know Yellowstone is a volcano?", "What is a Supervolcano?", "What is a Caldera?", "Why are there geysers at Yellowstone?", and "What are the other geologic hazards in Yellowstone?"
Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (Part 2 of 3)
Dr. Lowenstern, answers the following questions to provide a tour of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory: "What is YVO?", "How do you monitor volcanic activity at Yellowstone?", "How are satellites used to study deformation?", "Do you monitor geysers or any other aspect of the Park?", "Are earthquakes and ground deformation common at Yellowstone?", "Why is YVO a relatively small group?", and "Where can I get more information?" http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/
Yellowstone Eruptions (Part 3 of 3)
Dr. Lowenstern, answers the following questions to explain volcanic eruptions at Yellowstone: "When was the last supereruption at Yellowstone?", "Have any eruptions occurred since the last supereruption?", "Is Yellowstone overdue for an eruption?", "What does the magma below indicate about a possible eruption?", "What else is possible?", and "Why didn't you think the Yellowstone Lake earthquake swarm would lead to an eruption?"
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