Yellowstone National Park rattled by largest earthquake in 34 years - Sun Mar 30, 2014

ENVIRONMENT | Sun Mar 30, 2014 | 8:49pm EDT
Yellowstone National Park rattled

by largest earthquake in 34 years


The Yellowstone River winds through the Hayden Valley in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, June 9, 2013. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart

By Laura Zuckerman
Yellowstone National Park, which sits atop one of the world's largest super-volcanoes,
was struck on Sunday by a magnitude 4.8 earthquake,
the biggest recorded there since February 1980, but no damage or injuries were immediately reported.

The tremor, a relatively light event by seismic standards, struck the northwest corner of the park and capped a flurry of smaller quakes at Yellowstone since Thursday, geologists at the University of Utah Seismograph Stations said in a statement.

Sun Mar 30, 2014

The latest earthquake struck at 6:34 a.m. near the Norris Geyser Basin
and was felt about 23 miles away in two small Montana towns adjacent
to year-around entrances to the park - Gardiner and West Yellowstone.

The national park spans 3,472 square miles (8,992 square km) of Wyoming, Montana
and Idaho, and draws about 3 million visitors each year to its iconic geysers
and wildlife attractions, including bison.

A U.S. Geological Survey team planned to tour the Norris Geyser Basin on Sunday
to determine if the quake altered any of Yellowstone's geothermal features,
such as geysers, mud pots and hot springs.

Several people reported having felt shaking they compared to the rumble
of a tractor-trailer truck driving by, and a few items fell off the shelves
at a local grocery store, a West Yellowstone police dispatcher said.

About 1,000 to 3,000 earthquakes strike Yellowstone each year,
according to the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory,
a research partnership of the park, the University of Utah and the U.S. Geological Survey.

The ancient super-volcano, or caldera, that lies beneath the surface of the park
was discovered by scientists in recent years to be 2.5 times larger than previously thought,
measured at 30 miles wide, according to the park.

Sunday's quake occurred near the center of an area of ground uplift
that geologists have been tracking for several months, University of Utah seismologists said.

Elevated seismic activity was also found in the area during a previous period
of uplift from 1996 to 2003.

The recent spike in earthquake activity at Yellowstone is linked to the uplift,
which in turn is caused by the upward movement of molten rock beneath the Earth's crust,
according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Fortunately, there was no indication that the recent seismic activity
signaled an impending eruption of the Yellowstone Caldera, scientists said.

Researchers with the observatory have said in the past that catastrophic eruptions
by the super-volcano are unlikely for tens of thousands of years,
though less extreme lava releases could occur within thousands of years.

The super-volcano's most cataclysmic eruption occurred 2 million years ago,
covering half of North America with ash and killing prehistoric animals
as far as away as modern-day Nebraska, according to the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

Heat from a vast chamber of molten rock beneath the caldera fuels
the park's famous geothermal features, including Old Faithful Geyser, Yellowstone scientists say.

(Reporting by Laura Zuckerman; Editing by Steve Gorman and Sandra Maler)



http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-earthquake-yellowstone-idUSBREA2U01920140331

 

"My predictions of 06-JUNE 2010 about
YELLOWSTONE roaring into action...
(which it did, starting back in 2014/2015)
was NOT predicting doom & gloom, or, an end to the world
- we NEVER said the world would end
BUT; iT WiLL make most folks pick up their socks;
or; discard them;
and; get to The 'REAL things' that really matter !!!
Love is, the end result !!!
Loveable and Loving are the actions !!!
Truth is 'real' knowing...
and, truth is the highest eXpression of truth !!!
Will iT to be, so, iT WiLL BE, and, so iT iS !!!
Will is the way !!!
Command and Demand in 100% alignment with
your original missions, purposes & tasks "
iT iS TiME - for a return to The Round...
The ORiGiNAL ROUND !!!
~susan lynne schwenger ~ The eXchanger ~ Talks with Thunders
#the13thBridge
JOiN US on: www.facebook.com/eXKavier

 

SCIENTISTS IN SHOCK: Yellowstone Park Gets TRAGIC News



America’s first national park is home not only to some of the world’s most stunning natural landscapes
but also to some of the most hostile environments on the planet.

Of these hostile environments, researchers have become quite worried about one specific terrifying
natural phenomenon that is raising concerns over the stability of the volcano and the future of the park.

Wikicommons
A Quake Swarm
Over the past couple of days Yellowstone has been hit by an earthquake “swarm”, or series of earthquakes,
the largest of which measured 4.5 on the Richter scale.

But it’s not so much the earthquakes themselves that have scientists on alert,
it’s that these earthquakes are a sign of something much bigger.
Wikicommons
Here’s the Background Story
Supervolcanos, sometimes called “Calderas” are formed after massive eruptions spew
incredible amounts of magma into the air and the ground around the eruption site,
trapping the remainder of the magma in an underground chamber.

The caldera in Yellowstone was formed after three major eruptions
beginning over two million years ago.
Wikicom

It’s Happened Before

Supervolcanos formed by massive explosions have erupted several times.

The Yellowstone hotspot, as the caldera in Wyoming is sometimes called,
last erupted about 640,000 years ago.

But other eruptions have been recorded in modern history.

In 1815, Mount Tambora in Indonesia erupted causing what came to be called
“The Year Without a Summer” because the amount of ash that spewed
into the atmosphere blocked the sun’s rays.
Wikicommons
The Next Time Around
Scientists from the University of Utah and the United States Geological Survey monitor the volcano
in a joint project called the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

Super eruptions are classified as those that produce more than one thousand cubic kilometers of ash.

In 2014, the USGS completed a study modeling the effects of a potential eruption.

The study predicts that in the event of an eruption, volcanic ash would spread
across most of the United States with some areas being covered in up to a meter of ash.
Wikicommons
What is a Supervolcano?
Super volcanos are volcanos which eject more than a thousand cubic kilometers
of what volcanologists call “ejecta,” ash, rock, and magma spewed from a volcano
during an eruption.

That’s more than 264 trillion gallons of material.

On the Volcanic Explosivity Index, super volcanos measure in the 7, 8 or higher.
The 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens in Washington measured 5 on the VEI.

Wikicommons
How are they made?

Supervolcanos are formed when massive amounts of pressure build up under the Earth’s surface.

Often times, as in the case with the Yellowstone Caldera, supervolcanos have erupted several times
in their past.

However, “past” when talking about the Earth generally means several hundred million years,
which is why so much pressure has built up.

But not all eruptions are the explosive kind we think of when we hear the word.

Some eruptions can last millions of years.

Wikicommons
Large Igneous Province
Large igneous provinces, or LIPs, are formed by massive flows of debris, mainly igneous rock,
which emit from the Earth’s surface.

These accumulations of rock can cover several hundred thousand square kilometers.

In fact, in order to be classified as a LIP, igneous rock accumulations
must be larger that 100,000 square kilometers, or roughly the size of Iceland.
Wikicommons
Other SuperVolcanos
Supervolcanos exist throughout the world, though most haven’t been active for thousands,
if not millions of years.

The most recent supereruptions both occurred in Indonesia, at Mt. Tambora and Mt. Rinjani,
in 1815 and 1257 respectively.

Both of these eruptions were so large that they caused extreme weather events
whose effects were felt around the globe.

Flickr
Felt Around the World
The amount of “ejecta” released by supereruptions can be so massive that it affects weather
around the globe. T

he 1257 eruption of Mt. Rinjani is thought to be the cause of the “little ice age”,
a period of cooling that affected Europe for over 500 years.

Mt. Tambora’s eruption in late 1815 caused 1816 to be called “the year without a summer”.


The “Little Ice Age”

The coldest period for the Northern Hemisphere in the last thousand years occurred
roughly between the 1300s to the mid 1800s.

Glaciers expanded and destroyed villages, cold caused crops to fail and animals to die
which then caused massive famine throughout northern Europe.

Wikicommons
Not So Little!
Scientists also believe that the composition of Europe’s trees changed during the period
with warmer-loving trees like birch being overtaken by cold resistant species like pine and oak.

The extreme cold also led to widespread disease which devastated Viking populations
in Greenland and Iceland.

Wikicommons
What Caused the Little Ice Age?
While the is no consensus as to what caused the Little Ice Age, some scientists believe they have found overwhelming evidence to suggest that volcanic activity had something to do with it. in 2012,
scientists from the University of Colorado, Boulder released a report saying evidence
strongly suggested volcanic activity played an important role.

Volcanic eruptions release shiny particulate matter which reflects sunlight back into space.

The report says that radio-carbon dating shows a massive die-off of plants at different elevations,
suggesting that something in the atmosphere such as ash, was responsible.

Wikicommons
1816, The Year Without a Summer
For North America and Europe, it was so cold in the summer of 1816 that snow fell in New England
and there was dark and gloomy skies across Europe.

It was during the summer of 1816 that Mary Shelley, visiting Lake Geneva in Switzerland
but stuck inside due to gloomy weather, wrote her Gothic novel Frankenstein.

The poet Lord Byron, also vacationing with Shelley and her husband wrote a poem called Darkness,
which has the line “I had a dream, which was not at all a dream.

The bright sun was extinguish’d.” Like the Little Ice Age, the year
without a summer was attributed to volcanic activity,
specifically the 1815 supereruption of Mt. Tambora in Indonesia.

Wikicommons

http://finestscience.com/earthquake-swarm-hits-yellowstone-supervolcano/

 

SCIENTISTS IN SHOCK: Yellowstone Park Gets TRAGIC News

Part 2 of 2

The Dark Days of Summer (IMAGES)


Wikicommons
Cool temperatures across Europe in the summer of 1816.

Villa Diodati, Lake Geneva, Switzerland. Rented by Lord Byron and John Polidori in the summer of 1816. Mary Shelley, her husband Percy Shelley were frequent guests. The dark weather of 1816 is said to influence Shelley in her writing of Frankenstien, and Polidori for The Vampyre.
Wikicommons

Wikicommons
The Frozen Thames, by Abraham Hondius, 1677. The Thames river in London froze during the Little Ice Age.

Wikicommons
View of Antwerp with the Schelde Frozen, Lucas von Valckenborch, 1593.

Wikicommons
Temperatures over 2000 years.

Yellowstone’s Volcanic Past

Yellowstone’s volcanic history spans over 2 million years and includes two of the largest known eruptions in the history of the planet. The last time Yellowstone’s caldera erupted was roughly 70,000 years ago. No eruptions have taken place since then but there have been a number of hydrothermal explosions. Yellowstone has the Earth’s largest concentration of geysers.

Wikicommons
Volcanic Cycles
In its volcanic history, the Yellowstone supervolcano has gone through three major volcanic cycles making the hotspot what it is today. The climax of a volcanic cycle is an eruption, but events taking place before and after each eruption form the landscape around the caldera including lakes and ridges.

Wikicommons
First Stage of the Cycle
Magma build-up under the Earth’s crust causes a large area to rise, this process takes thousands of years. A magma chamber is formed at a relatively shallow depth beneath the surface. The build-up often causes cracks and fissures in the ground out of which lava-flows develop. This build-up in pressure ultimately results in eruption.

Wikicommons
Second Stage: Eruption
In addition to the explosive eruption, massive ash flows emanate from the site. These ash flows can be up to 400 meters thick. The Madison Plateau, pictured below, is the result of such an ash flow. Having been partially emptied of its magma, the chamber collapses producing the caldera.

Wikicommons
Final Stage: Settling Down
Smaller eruptions continue emitting smaller amounts of ash and lava. Present day lakes in the Park such as Shoshone and Yellowstone lakes, were formed when streams or rivers drained into the caldera and were dammed by ash flows. A process called “resurgent doming” sometimes causes the floor of the supervolcano to rise by several hundred meters. Geysers and hot-springs become more visible and are signs of hydrothermal activity below the Earth’s surface.

Yellowstone Lake
Wikicommons

The Supereruption

The geysers and hot-springs of Yellowstone are produced by what’s called a magma plume under the Earth’s surface. Water in the Earth’s crust is heated by this plume causing the hydrothermal activity we see on the surface. Scientists believe that the magma plume beneath Yellowstone may reach over 600 miles into the Earth. It is this plume which could potentially erupt.

Wikicommons
Devastating Effects
There have been three supereruptions in Yellowstone’s history, the last being about 640,000 years ago. In 2014, USGS scientists released a report where they modeled the outcome of a potential Yellowstone eruption. The results would be devastating, not just for the United States, but for the rest of the world as well.

Flickr
Days to Months
The scientists modeling the eruption calculated the eruption time as lasting from days to months. Larger eruptions like the 1912 Novarupta eruption in Alaska lasted roughly 52 hours. But scientists have suggested that smaller eruptions have lasted from weeks to months. The Eyjafjallajökull eruption in Iceland in 2010 ejected magma for 59 days.

Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland, 2010
Wikicommons
Covered in Ash
The USGS study notes that most of the continental United States would be covered in ash for an extended period of time. The coastal regions, where the majority of the US population resides, could be covered in several centimeters of ash and up to several feet in some places. Ash would contaminate water supplies, kill off crops and livestock, and short out electrical equipment. Globally the ash could produce a 1 degree Celsius cooling effect.

Wikicommons
Should We Panic?
No. Despite the extensive coverage of the recent earthquake swarm, scientists at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory say that there are no signs that an eruption may be pending. Being a volcanic region, the Yellowstone area is prone to frequent quakes. A significantly large earthquake in just the right place may trigger an eruption but even that is not guaranteed. The USGS study notes that large eruptions, though not necessarily supereruptions, tend to occur once every 100,000 years. The last Yellowstone eruption was 70,000 years ago so we’ve still got 30,000 to go.

Wikicommons

Posted by: Susan Lynne Schwenger #the13thbridge


http://finestscience.com/earthquake-swarm-hits-yellowstone-supervolcano/5/

 

SCIENTISTS IN SHOCK: Yellowstone Park Gets TRAGIC News

Part 2 of 2

The Dark Days of Summer (IMAGES)


Wikicommons
Cool temperatures across Europe in the summer of 1816.

Villa Diodati, Lake Geneva, Switzerland. Rented by Lord Byron and John Polidori in the summer of 1816. Mary Shelley, her husband Percy Shelley were frequent guests. The dark weather of 1816 is said to influence Shelley in her writing of Frankenstien, and Polidori for The Vampyre.
Wikicommons

Wikicommons
The Frozen Thames, by Abraham Hondius, 1677. The Thames river in London froze during the Little Ice Age.

Wikicommons
View of Antwerp with the Schelde Frozen, Lucas von Valckenborch, 1593.

Wikicommons
Temperatures over 2000 years.

Yellowstone’s Volcanic Past

Yellowstone’s volcanic history spans over 2 million years and includes two of the largest known eruptions in the history of the planet. The last time Yellowstone’s caldera erupted was roughly 70,000 years ago. No eruptions have taken place since then but there have been a number of hydrothermal explosions. Yellowstone has the Earth’s largest concentration of geysers.

Wikicommons
Volcanic Cycles
In its volcanic history, the Yellowstone supervolcano has gone through three major volcanic cycles making the hotspot what it is today. The climax of a volcanic cycle is an eruption, but events taking place before and after each eruption form the landscape around the caldera including lakes and ridges.

Wikicommons
First Stage of the Cycle
Magma build-up under the Earth’s crust causes a large area to rise, this process takes thousands of years. A magma chamber is formed at a relatively shallow depth beneath the surface. The build-up often causes cracks and fissures in the ground out of which lava-flows develop. This build-up in pressure ultimately results in eruption.

Wikicommons
Second Stage: Eruption
In addition to the explosive eruption, massive ash flows emanate from the site. These ash flows can be up to 400 meters thick. The Madison Plateau, pictured below, is the result of such an ash flow. Having been partially emptied of its magma, the chamber collapses producing the caldera.

Wikicommons
Final Stage: Settling Down
Smaller eruptions continue emitting smaller amounts of ash and lava. Present day lakes in the Park such as Shoshone and Yellowstone lakes, were formed when streams or rivers drained into the caldera and were dammed by ash flows. A process called “resurgent doming” sometimes causes the floor of the supervolcano to rise by several hundred meters. Geysers and hot-springs become more visible and are signs of hydrothermal activity below the Earth’s surface.

Yellowstone Lake
Wikicommons

The Supereruption

The geysers and hot-springs of Yellowstone are produced by what’s called a magma plume under the Earth’s surface. Water in the Earth’s crust is heated by this plume causing the hydrothermal activity we see on the surface. Scientists believe that the magma plume beneath Yellowstone may reach over 600 miles into the Earth. It is this plume which could potentially erupt.

Wikicommons
Devastating Effects
There have been three supereruptions in Yellowstone’s history, the last being about 640,000 years ago. In 2014, USGS scientists released a report where they modeled the outcome of a potential Yellowstone eruption. The results would be devastating, not just for the United States, but for the rest of the world as well.

Flickr
Days to Months
The scientists modeling the eruption calculated the eruption time as lasting from days to months. Larger eruptions like the 1912 Novarupta eruption in Alaska lasted roughly 52 hours. But scientists have suggested that smaller eruptions have lasted from weeks to months. The Eyjafjallajökull eruption in Iceland in 2010 ejected magma for 59 days.

Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland, 2010
Wikicommons
Covered in Ash
The USGS study notes that most of the continental United States would be covered in ash for an extended period of time. The coastal regions, where the majority of the US population resides, could be covered in several centimeters of ash and up to several feet in some places. Ash would contaminate water supplies, kill off crops and livestock, and short out electrical equipment. Globally the ash could produce a 1 degree Celsius cooling effect.

Wikicommons
Should We Panic?
No. Despite the extensive coverage of the recent earthquake swarm, scientists at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory say that there are no signs that an eruption may be pending. Being a volcanic region, the Yellowstone area is prone to frequent quakes. A significantly large earthquake in just the right place may trigger an eruption but even that is not guaranteed. The USGS study notes that large eruptions, though not necessarily supereruptions, tend to occur once every 100,000 years. The last Yellowstone eruption was 70,000 years ago so we’ve still got 30,000 to go.

Wikicommons

Posted by: Susan Lynne Schwenger #the13thbridge


http://finestscience.com/earthquake-swarm-hits-yellowstone-supervolcano/5/

 

1. YELLOWSTONE SUPERVOLCANO
2. EARTHQUAKE SWARM REACHES 878 EVENTS
3. IN JUST TWO WEEKS
4. BY HANNAH OSBORNE ON 6/27/17 AT 5:45 AM
5. Updated | Over 800 earthquakes have now been recorded at Yellowstone supervolcano over the last two weeks, with the ongoing swarm taking place on the western edge of the National Park.
   But there is virtually no risk of the volcano erupting, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) currently lists the volcano alert level as normal and the aviation color, which lists the potential risk to fights, is at green.
   The current earthquake swarm began on June 12. A week later, the USGS put out a statement to say that 464 earthquakes had been recorded, with the largest being magnitude 4.4 “This is the highest number of earthquakes at Yellowstone within a single week in the past five years,” it said.
   Tech & Science Emails and Alerts- Get the best of Newsweek Tech & Science delivered to your inbox
   At the time, a spokesperson for the USGS told Newsweek activity appeared to be “slowly winding down,” adding that “no other geological activity has been detected.”
   View of the 'Sunset Lake' hot spring in Yellowstone National Park. Scientists have recorded over 800 earthquakes in the last two weeks at the site.MARK RALSTON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
   However, in a newly released statement about the ongoing swarm, seismologists from the University of Utah said 878 events have now been recorded at Yellowstone National Park.
   The University of Utah is part of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO), which provides long-term monitoring of earthquake and volcanic activity in and around Yellowstone National Park. Jamie Farrell, Research Professor at the university, said that as of June 26, 878 events had been recorded as part of the ongoing swarm.
   Read more: Campi Flegrei: One of World’s Most Dangerous Supervolcanoes Could Erupt Sooner Than Expected
   
   “The swarm consists of one earthquake in the magnitude 4 range, five earthquakes in the magnitude 3 range, 68 earthquakes in the magnitude 2 range, 277 earthquakes in the magnitude 1 range, 508 earthquakes in the magnitude 0 range, and 19 earthquakes with magnitudes of less than zero,” the latest report said.
   An earthquake with a magnitude less than zero is a very small event that can only be detected with the extremely sensitive instruments used in earthquake monitoring.
   Location of the earthquakes that are part of the swarm as of June 26.UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
   While increased seismic activity can signal a volcano is about to erupt, the latest earthquake swarm is no cause for concern. Jacob Lowenstern, the scientists in charge of the YVO at the USGS, tells Newsweek the swarm has slowed down considerably, and that larger swarms have been recorded in the past.
   “The swarm in 2010 on the Madison Plateau lasted at least three weeks. In 1985, there was one that lasted several months,” he says. “Yellowstone has had dozens of these sorts of earthquake swarms in the last 150 years it's been visited. The last volcanic eruption within the caldera was 70,000 years ago. For magma to reach the surface, a new vent needs to be created, which requires a lot of intense geological activity.
   “The volcano alert level remains at green. As outlined in our response plan, USGS Circular 1351, we would need to see considerably more and larger earthquakes, combined with contemporaneous ground deformation, steam explosions, and changes in gas and heat discharge prior to moving the alert level. None of that has occurred.”
   The USGS says the current risk of an eruption at Yellowstone is one in 730,000. Furthermore, if it were to erupt, the eruption produced would probably be fairly inconsequential. Lowenstern explains: “If Yellowstone erupts, it's most likely to be a lava flow, as occurred in nearly all the 80 eruptions since the last ‘supereruption’ 640,000 years ago. A lava flow would be a big deal at Yellowstone, but would have very little regional or continental effect.”
6. Read more: An Underwater Volcano That Wiped Out All Life Has Been Taken Over by a Weird New Species of Bacteria
   
   Farrell also says the earthquake activity is nothing to worry about: “This is definitely not the biggest swarm ever recorded,” he says. “The largest swarm ever recorded in Yellowstone occurred in October of 1985 and lasted for 3 months and had over 3,000 located earthquakes in it. In January of 2010 there was a swarm that had over 2,000 located events in it that lasted for about a month. View of the 'Grand Prismatic' hot spring in Yellowstone National Park.
   
   MARK RALSTON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
   
   “Swarms in Yellowstone are a common occurrence.
   
   On average, Yellowstone sees around 1,500-2,000 earthquakes per year.
   
   Of those, 40 to 50 percent occur as part of earthquake swarms.
   
   This swarm is larger than the average swarm we record but this is a normal thing
   to happen in Yellowstone (and other volcanic regions throughout the world).”
   
   He says they are not seeing an “volcanic signatures” that would indicate an eruption could take place.
   
   “This looks to be a ‘tectonic’ swarm in that these earthquakes are due to slip
   on small faults/fractures in the crust.
   
   There doesn’t look to be any evidence at this point that these earthquakes
   are related to the movement of magma in the subsurface.
   
   "Having said that, we will continue to monitor this swarm just in case we start seeing those things.
   
   “When a volcano starts ‘acting up’ prior to an eruption, one of the typical signs is increased seismicity.
   
   However, it is usually just one of the signs of an impending eruption.
   
   Other signs include, large changes in surface deformation, changes to the hydrothermal system
   and changes in gas output. We monitor for all these things at Yellowstone.
   
   Typically if we see just one of these things, it doesn’t necessarily mean there is an eruption coming.
   
   If we start to see changes in all these things, then a red flag may be raised.”
   This story has been updated to include quotes from Jacob Lowenstern and Jamie Farrell.
   
   THERE IS A VIDEO ON THIS SITE:
   http://www.newsweek.com/yellowstone-supervolcano-earthquake-swarm-update-eruption-risk-629272