Swarm Of Earthquake Activity Over For Now

USGS is reporting that the notable swarm of earthquakes that started beneath Yellowstone Lake on December 26th has stopped for now and may have ceased entirely.  

This sequence of more than 500 seismic events was most intense on December 27th. The sequence included sixteen events of magnitude 3 to 3.9 and approximately 70 of magnitude 2 to 3 (as of the afternoon of January 4th). Visitors and National Park Service employees in the Yellowstone Lake area reported feeling the largest of these earthquakes.   

No damage was reported within Yellowstone National Park. The swarm was in an area of historic earthquake activity and was close to areas of hydrothermal activity on the lake floor. Similar large earthquake swarms have occurred in the past at Yellowstone, without triggering steam explosions or volcanic activity. 

Listen to a podcast interview with Dr. Jacob Lowenstern, USGS scientist-in-charge at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, about how scientists monitor volcano and earthquake activity at http://www.usgs.gov/corecast

To view up-to-date volcano monitoring information at Yellowstone National Park, visit http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/

Information on U.S. earthquake activity, including Yellowstone, can be viewed at the Earthquake Hazards Program: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/  

University of Utah news releases about the Yellowstone region can be accessed at http://www.seis.utah.edu/EQCENTER/PRESS/yell_press.htm

IMPORTANT NOTE: The USGS is not affiliated with a web site that has recommended evacuation of Yellowstone National Park and bears the USGS logo. The USGS is not recommending the evacuation of the park. Officials at the USGS are working through the appropriate legal channels to have both the warning and logo removed from the web site.