Multiple Earthquakes deleted in Yellowstone Today

OK, I know there are often times when a quake will be reported and then it's deleted up to a few hours later because it wasn't "really" a quake or wasn't in the location it was reported. However, I have counted no less than 4, 3.0 and higher located in and around the immediate vicinity of Yellowstone park that were reported and then deleted.

Here are the posted quakes:

3.4 Md - YELLOWSTONE NAT. PARK, WYOMING
Preliminary Earthquake Report Magnitude 3.4 Md
Date-Time

* 19 Nov 2010 17:27:48 UTC
* 19 Nov 2010 10:27:48 near epicenter
* 19 Nov 2010 09:27:48 standard time in your timezone

Location 44.765N 110.605W
Depth 3 km
Distances

* 31 km (20 miles) SSE (164 degrees) of Gardiner, MT
* 41 km (26 miles) ENE (74 degrees) of West Yellowstone, MT
* 60 km (37 miles) WSW (242 degrees) of Cooke City-Silver Gate, MT
* 458 km (285 miles) NNE (13 degrees) of Salt Lake City, UT

Location Uncertainty Horizontal: 3.1 km; Vertical 14.7 km
Parameters Nph = 6; Dmin = 36.0 km; Rmss = 0.22 seconds; Gp = 230°
M-type = Md; Version = 0
Event ID UU 00004862

Quake 2:

Preliminary Earthquake Report Magnitude 3.0 Md
Date-Time

* 19 Nov 2010 17:49:23 UTC
* 19 Nov 2010 10:49:23 near epicenter
* 19 Nov 2010 09:49:23 standard time in your timezone

Location 44.703N 111.062W
Depth 8 km
Distances

* 6 km (4 miles) NE (37 degrees) of West Yellowstone, MT
* 32 km (20 miles) NE (44 degrees) of Island Park, ID
* 46 km (29 miles) SW (217 degrees) of Gardiner, MT
* 430 km (267 miles) ENE (72 degrees) of Boise, ID
* 444 km (276 miles) N (9 degrees) of Salt Lake City, UT

Location Uncertainty Horizontal: 1.3 km; Vertical 5.6 km
Parameters Nph = 7; Dmin = 11.0 km; Rmss = 0.27 seconds; Gp = 75°
M-type = Md; Version = 0
Event ID UU 00004863

Quake 3:

Preliminary Earthquake Report Magnitude 3.0 Md
Date-Time

* 20 Nov 2010 00:50:43 UTC
* 19 Nov 2010 17:50:43 near epicenter
* 19 Nov 2010 16:50:43 standard time in your timezone

Location 44.443N 110.571W
Depth 0 km
Distances

* 49 km (30 miles) ESE (120 degrees) of West Yellowstone, MT
* 61 km (38 miles) E (96 degrees) of Island Park, ID
* 67 km (42 miles) S (170 degrees) of Gardiner, MT
* 424 km (264 miles) NNE (14 degrees) of Salt Lake City, UT

Location Uncertainty Horizontal: 3.5 km; Vertical 3.8 km
Parameters Nph = 7; Dmin = 1.0 km; Rmss = 0.60 seconds; Gp = 183°
M-type = Md; Version = 0
Event ID UU 00004881

Quake 4:

3.7 Md - YELLOWSTONE NAT. PARK, WYOMING
Preliminary Earthquake Report Magnitude 3.7 Md
Date-Time

* 20 Nov 2010 01:57:57 UTC
* 19 Nov 2010 18:57:57 near epicenter
* 19 Nov 2010 17:57:57 standard time in your timezone

Location 44.328N 110.592W
Depth 23 km
Distances

* 55 km (34 miles) SE (132 degrees) of West Yellowstone, MT
* 62 km (39 miles) ENE (67 degrees) of Warm River, ID
* 62 km (39 miles) ESE (108 degrees) of Island Park, ID
* 411 km (256 miles) NNE (15 degrees) of Salt Lake City, UT

Location Uncertainty Horizontal: 4.0 km; Vertical 2.6 km
Parameters Nph = 9; Dmin = 9.0 km; Rmss = 0.25 seconds; Gp = 104°
M-type = Md; Version = 0
Event ID UU 00004893

So what's going on here? Are there really this many quakes that are being misread in the initial reports?
Is there faulty equipment here? I mean....this is one of the most potentially Earth altering places here on Earth. Are we really going to believe or put up with this much human error or equipment failures?

Or is it something else? Is Yellowstone becoming more active again and are they trying to cover it up?

I can understand 1 or 2 a day across the world. But this is four in the same area within a few hours. Has anyone else noticed this or have any idea what's going on here?

I don't know...maybe phage is around to explain what it all means. Nice find btw.

www.ksl.com...

Its happened before. Probably common.

Originally posted by starless and bible black
I don't know...maybe phage is around to explain what it all means. Nice find btw.

I'd go berklygal or ann96 or even computer guy over phage any day of the week.

reply to post by snowspirit


I'm not talking about multiple quakes in Yellowstone today. I know there are swarms there. I live close to there. I'm talking about 4 quakes being deleted today. I have sen quakes be deleted before. But not this many in a day in the same area.

My vote is something is up with the equipment. There is definitely something going on there today, lots of small spikey quakes all over the place - but these are very tiny events. There are also a number recorded on the map that have "stuck" but I wonder if more will be removed after review. (The little ones don't get reviewed right away) Because, looking at the webicorders you don't see much in the way of organized short period earthquakes that would measure in the 2.x magnitudes like the ones on the map.

No doubt there's some vibration going on, but not what we're seeing on the earthquake map.

Look at this webicorder:

quake.utah.edu...

Pretty typical of today's activity all over the park. Although the spikes look tall, they are of such short duration that they'd be tiny, tiny events, less than magnitude 1. Notice there really aren't much in the way of thicker clumps that would indicate larger quakes.

It's an interesting day but I don't think they were wrong to pull down those big quakes. Not sure why they would have been recorded in the first place.

We've been talking about this in the big Yellowstone thread.

What is the signifigance of a quake at zero kilmeters depth?
An eruption?
Anyone help?

I believe there were actually more than four when I looked at it a few hours ago; I actually thought about posting it. Anyway, there are none showing there now . . . that is weird.

Yup, some wierd stuff going on there today. As Quakewatcher said, we have been talking it up on the Yellowstone thread, but it's massive so I think it a good idea to make a spot of its own for explanation.

Here is the current list of quakes in the park:

1.5 2010/11/19 17:19:31 44.324N 110.604W 1.0 55 km (34 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
2.2 2010/11/19 13:41:07 44.643N 111.194W 10.1 7 km ( 5 mi) WSW of West Yellowstone, MT
2.1 2010/11/19 13:10:04 44.336N 110.711W 14.4 48 km (30 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.7 2010/11/19 13:03:48 44.632N 110.638W 12.6 37 km (23 mi) E of West Yellowstone, MT
1.9 2010/11/19 12:13:24 44.467N 110.553W 1.1 49 km (30 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
2.0 2010/11/19 11:48:13 44.557N 110.950W 16.8 17 km (11 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.9 2010/11/19 11:27:43 44.334N 110.642W 5.2 52 km (32 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.9 2010/11/19 09:12:47 44.306N 110.605W 6.8 56 km (35 mi) SE of West Yellowstone, MT
2.0 2010/11/19 06:23:19 44.276N 110.904W 18.9 38 km (23 mi) ENE of Warm River, ID
2.1 2010/11/19 06:20:16 44.862N 110.686W 20.9 19 km (12 mi) S of Gardiner, MT
1.8 2010/11/19 05:31:27 44.717N 110.706W 19.4 32 km (20 mi) E of West Yellowstone, MT


SOURCE

First, I'll give you my opinion: It is NOT uncommon for there to be quakes posted and then removed a short period later after it has been determined the source was something OTHER than a quake. I am talking about anywhere in the world, not just Yellowstone. Now, having said that I would say this may happen a few times in a day for the whole world. To have it happen this many times, with mags of that size all inside the park is not typical. I find it very strange. Now Annmarie also explained on the Yellowstone thread that starting at the beginning of October they began doing automatic posting of ALL quakes in the park, not just those above 2.5 so that may be why there are more than usual. BUT...it is still abnormal for there to be this many 'false' quakes registering. I have been watching the live seismos and I think that after those on the list are reviewed, some of them will also be pulled. (being the weekend now, only the 2.5 and above are being reviewed by the guys over at USGS...the rest will wait until monday). How do I know this? Because having quakes deeper than 6 or so km is unusuall. Note the depth of the ones from today. Also, I was watching live seismos at the times some of those were listed and I didn't see anything come through. Most of the seismos in the park are messed up right now, so maybe that is why....but several others are working and while I didn't see the larger 2.0+ quakes, I am seeing a whole lot of....something else, but I don't know what it is. I believe there is a snow storm going on there right now...so maybe there has been some blasting going today for avalanche control? Perhaps those quakes were determined as explosions, or snow plows or something else....but I've been closely watching the park for two years now and today is a first for me, personally.

I certainly don't think it's time to raise an alarm or anything like that. I imagine it is all going to be explained as either equipment failure, man-made noise or a storm. Only time will tell.

Rest assured though that in addition to all the professionals out there, several of us ATS'rs are keeping a close eye on it!

Originally posted by webpirate
So what's going on here? Are there really this many quakes that are being misread in the initial reports?

It may not be faulty equipment.

What happens when large amounts of water move through thermal basins? Don't you get some kind of rumbling that might show up on sensors but technically it's just flowing water and not an earthquake? The yellowstone scientist even says wind can cause false earthquake readings, though I didn't expect that:

Interview With USGS Yellowstone Scientists

many of the periods of what appear to be persistent ground shaking and that users may suspect are swarms can be attributed to wind and cultural noise and to technical problems that appear as seismic events We suspect that the swarms you refer to are from one or more of these sources. To get a feel for what does trigger an earthquake location, we'd recommend going back to the webicorders for the time period of any specific event that does make the Yellowstone catalog. You'll notice there are many small events that could have multiple origins.

Originally posted by starless and bible black
I don't know...maybe phage is around to explain what it all means. Nice find btw.

I'm new but have been reading for three years. I wanted to jump in here and let this be my first post outside of my intro. I just wanted to say that Phage is not the all knowing wizard here. Don't get me wrong, he knows quite a bit about almost everything, but people like Annmarie, Puterman, Robin , westcoast, quakewatcherand there's a couple of more that are always studying the earthquakes and keeping up with them that would be more qualified on this site for this info. Just sayin....

The fact of the matter is that Yellowstone WILL erupt....eventually.

If it was going to blow....they would definitely try to hide it for as long ass possible....

because there is no exit strategy.

There is no reason to warn the populous. The post eruption chaos will be enough, without compounding it with Pre eruption chaos.


on a side note, a vivid dream i had 3 months ago showed bodies of water in the park draining very rapidly. So, that's the news I'm waiting for !!

reply to post by BadBoYeed


Oh No it won't. North America is too special for a catastrophe like that to happen. I mean, with all our technology, scientific knowledge and expertise available!

Seriously, you're right though. It's just the egocentric modern lifestyle people live today that makes them forget how "active" earth is.

reply to post by webpirate

keep up the good observations..we need folks who do that.
hisz.rsoe.hu...
I'm sure this has been posted somewhere by somebody else..sigh..it may help some..also noted that
on the usgs earthquake site it looked like there were some quakes out in the oceans..odd? I do not know.
I don't have a good memory or know much but seems some guy on coasttocoastam program claims
India will sink !! and instantly ! that is not something I'd want to put out there less I was 99% sure
it was going to happen..predicitons are about the niburu thing being passed around.
not to mention other activity such as New Madrid fault zone..did not sense it was all
true but you never know. Now I've heard it's harmonic tremors they look for if old yellowstone is about to
blow but I for one don't know much about calderas, super volcanoes and the like.
Any input would be appreciated by those of us who do not know...thanks.

reply to post by njl51


I will reply to you since I have to reply to someone

@quakewatcher: All I see on those seismos is wind noise and some tree root noise and maybe the odd micro quake so no cause for alarm there.

@stirling: more likely one that is poorly constrained, but you can get 0 depth just as you can get earthquakes of 0 magnitude or even negative values. You have to remember folks that these results are produced by computers initially and they can misread data.

@westcoast:

Also, I was watching live seismos at the times some of those were listed and I didn't see anything come through.

That says it all really. If it was not showing on GEE then it did not happen. Bear in mind we have a 7+ quakes reported by computers that turned out to be nothing. Maybe with this new regime of posting quakes they have also got better self correcting facilities as well.

so maybe there has been some blasting going today for avalanche control?

That would only account for things not showing on the lists. IF they were blasting, and I would have said it was too early for that, the blast would have shown but not be listed so again, if you saw nothing it did not happen.

@arbitrageur:

What happens when large amounts of water move through thermal basins? Don't you get some kind of rumbling that might show up on sensors but technically it's just flowing water and not an earthquake? The yellowstone scientist even says wind can cause false earthquake readings, though I didn't expect that:

Yes you do and you can 'hear' it on the seismos. It is something like harmonic tremor but not if you see what I mean. Root rock is a common cause of micro quakes, and just occasionally of larger ones. A 0.5 is the equivalent of a large hand grenade. I guess a tree could do the same under the right circumstances.

@USPatriot et al: Thanks for the confidence in us.

@BadBoYeed:

If it was going to blow....they would definitely try to hide it for as long ass possible....

Nope, I have to disagree with you there. I really do believe that if anything was to be happening at Yellowstone the authorities would say and would have a plan. Consider this, if they do nothing the impending happening might not be as bad as they calculated and then what? Maybe thousands lost their lives but it was not an ELE so questions were asked afterwards. Would anyone ever believe them again? Their integrity would be shot to pieces.

@njl51:

some guy on coasttocoastam program claims India will sink !! and instantly !

India is the New Atlantis!

There are telemetry errors in the Park from time to time. Storms can interfere with the passage of the signal to the servers. We are watching and if we did not see it on GEE or similar then it did not happen and the fact that they got reported and removed whether automatically of by a geologist reviewing does not matter.

You only need to start worrying if HT turns up and quakes do NOT get reported.