Experts fear that a major eruption at Yellowstone is ‘imminent’ as an ongoing cluster of earthquakes continue to erupt underneath the supervolcano.
The earthquake count is up to a record number of 2,357 since June, with the largest having a magnitude of 4.4.
Despite this, USGS scientists are assuring the public that the swarm of earthquakes doesn’t necessarily mean an eruption.
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These same scientists said exactly the same thing one month before Mt St Helen’s erupted in 1980. Typically, the U.S. government are adverse to warning the public about an imminent eruption until it is one week away.
Activistpost.com reports: When the type of earthquakes occurring in Yellowstone deviates from the standard, it could mean that an eruption is forthcoming. A swarm of earthquakes is rather normal for Yellowstone, but the number of quakes is approaching a new record.
The current swarm is approaching the record set in 1985 when three months brought over 3,000 earthquakes. In 2010 a swarm brought over 2,000 earthquakes over a month. Scientists still say to not worry too much. The threat of an eruption is still very slim.
The current situation doesn’t present too much of an eruption threat. The geological pressure would have to be sizable for anything to occur. “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 [crater] 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,” said Jacob Lowenstern, one of the scientists managing the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. –The Epoch Times
Lowenstern went on to say that the odds are very high that Yellowstone will go centuries more without an eruption and that if one does occur, it will be minor. Should these earthquakes lead to an eruption, scientists think it would not be of much consequence. “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,” Lowenstern explained.
