A literal shift in Yellowstone: The Caldera
No one in the USGS had held a press conference. The national news has not picked it up, except for a (business) blogger on US News and World Report.
If you just learned like I did about Supervolcanoes and what the heck they have to do with the recent tectonic activity inYellowstone, there might be a reason for you to pause to consider the information I am presenting here. Here's a snapshot I am copying and pasting from 7:52 PM Eastern Standard Time:
*There have been at least 300 recorded earthquakes in Yellowstone since December 27, 2008.*
*That's 300 earthquakes in ONE WEEK.*
(If you want to know an authoritative source on this geologic phenomena, check out the Discovery Channel's documentary on it).
I am not a scientist: my husband Tom is, and he tracks things like this. Even local geologists we know are shocked that this information has not made the national news. Check out the links on the seismographs taken as recently as today (just click on the date).
For example, here's an online copy of a seismograph taken from Pitchstone Plateau in Yellowstone from December 27:
Here's what the same seismograph looked like today:
And this is not even one of the really, really bad ones. If you want to be really freaked out, compare the one from Lake Yellowstone from December 25 to the one from today.
These are only a couple within thousands of miles of area that are experiencing seismic activity that starts with low harmonics (gradual building of pressure) interspersed with more major quakes as magma builds below the surface.
I'm not one for alarmism. Given there's a lot going on in the world today, volcanic activity in Yellowstone National Park seems a bit fluffy. However, I don't think there's anything fluffy about this.
I am at a loss for words. Tom has been telling me about this for a couple of weeks now and frankly, I am shocked that it has not even made a crawler on any of the news networks-- even if it is nothing.
Here's hoping a once-in-a-600,000-year-event is not just days or weeks away.
Post Script 1/4/2009:
The tectonic activity in Yellowstone has been back to relatively normal levels for the past few days.
