Tracking New Quake Swarm- Just started at Yellowstone

Been picking up some small activity in the Hebgen Lake area of YS, in the northwest of the park. Largest quake so far about a 1.8 to 2.0 Md, counted roughly 13 quakes so far in the last few hours. Almost all of these quakes have been sub 1.5, but the activity appears to be persisting.

Considering UoU has not reported any quakes in the last 5 days at this writing:
www.seis.utah.edu...

Unless you are watching the YS stations a lot, the public wouldn't know. While this usually will subside soon, it might not...So stay tuned, we'll see if she dies down as usual... Right now, gone quiet for the minute, but I thought she was done a little while ago too. And then bing bam boom, another few.

Dig up YHL, YGC, YDC stations for those interested to see recent activity. Enough of you around here know how to do that... I'm busy keeping my eye on spectro.

EDIT: Nope, it continues, another two sub 1.5 just in, that makes about 15 quakes now...


lol, fricken sad. It's the middle of the night and I'm probably the only one with eyes on it. The darn thing could start really acting up and then I got to make the dreaded phone call. No. PLEASE. Be a good little YS and just go back to sleep.


EDIT: now another sub 1.5, that's 16 or so.


EDIT: now another s1.5, that's 17


Lol, yeah, that's right, you's gotta take my word for it, for the moment. But I invite anyone to contest me on it.

Your efforts are appreciated, and I think your star count is a witness to that. Thanks for the heads up...

Very much appreciated TA.

On a scale of 1-10, how interesting is this swarm to you?

reply to post by CloseEncounter


Well at the moment, it's not all that interesting to the weary, YS boy-cried-wolf crowd. But to me, that monster even peeps and I'm paying attention. Never know what can happen. Chances are it will just subside. That's what I expect. That's what she usually does, rather than start up a furious swarm. But the Hebgen Lake area for a swarm is curious. Usually there aren't quite that many events all at once in the Hebgen Lake area, that I recall, and I could be wrong. Only been at this 6 years or so... Nothing compared to the big dogs...

Originally posted by TrueAmerican
reply to post by CloseEncounter

 

Well at the moment, it's not all that interesting to the weary, YS boy-cried-wolf crowd. But to me, that monster even peeps and I'm paying attention. Never know what can happen. Chances are it will just subside. That's what I expect. That's what she usually does, rather than start up a furious swarm. But the Hebgen Lake area for a swarm is curious. Usually there aren't quite that many events all at once in the Hebgen Lake area, that I recall, and I could be wrong. Only been at this 6 years or so... Nothing compared to the big dogs...

Thank you!! I'm learning as much as I can. Your Input helps.

Will keep an eye on your updates.....

Hiya TA.
Some of the crowd may be over these Yellowstone alerts/threads, but some of us appreciate your observance.
Even tho i'm an Aussie, if that beast was to awaken we would all be in trouble.
Keep up the good work dude.
S&F'd

Well one thing I can't be sure of is exactly where the epicenters are, have to wait on UoU for that. I am just seeing first arrivals at YHL, and of course all confirmed additionally on YGC, YDC and more stations for the larger quakes of the series. Honestly, this is really small potatoes for YS, so not really all that eye-popping yet. Just what appears to be a small flurry of activity. So far.

lol, and just as I said that, bing bam boom, here's another sub 1.5, so that's like 18 so far...

oh wait, more, here's another...19


EDIT: got another two small, but still, I am ringing them up...21


EDIT: another 2 tiny...23

Thank you for posting , I know I appreciate your efforts
You just never know when a lil something can turn into a lot of news and being prepared is always a plus.
Good job and keep it up !

Well, have to ring up one more...so roughly 24 I think....was just waiting to see if more were coming....back to lull now...

Another quake hit SW of YS somewhere I think, it came through the park, and haven't seen report yet...waiting on USGS...Not sure, but looked like a 3 or so maybe a 4.

Yes, and like the last swarm last year someone freaked out over.... It is nothing or will lead to nothing.

The one you need to worry about is the one you won't have time to write about.

I live in NW ND and actually felt one quake last night- wasn't much but it was enough that I knew what it was as soon as I felt it.

Just an FYI, my husband mines gravel along the Yellowstone/Missouri river corridor, which gives us a real chance to see the different rock strata along the bluffs of the rivers. You can actually see the ash layer from the last time Yellowstone blew, and even this far north, there is a considerable layer of ash, easily seen at a distance.

Who's freaking out?

*sigh* :shk: I thought I was reporting this with a minimum of fluff. Been quite honest about what to expect, no fearmongering at all.

I will address my friends that are apparently appreciative in this thread, in case Mr. Spoil Party there hasn't noticed.


The activity still persists. Just had a couple more sub 1.5's a few minutes ago, and looking back through spectro I see there were some more while I was asleep. So I count about 31 total so far. I'd say this is definitely a microswarm at this point. But still, low power, and nothing like what YS has produced in the past like 2010 or 2008. I think the quakes are shallow, but that is just my guess, and I don't think they have much to do with the tectonic structure that produced the big 7+ at Hebgen Lake in 1959.

ahh, another one just now... 32.

reply to post by TrueAmerican

Been getting a bunch of these since the 23rd also so activity picing up on ring of fire atm.



NWS-WCATWC Tsunami Information Statement

Web message at wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov...

WEAK53 PAAQ 251130
TIBAK1

PUBLIC TSUNAMI INFORMATION STATEMENT NUMBER 1
NWS WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER PALMER AK
430 AM PDT WED JUL 25 2012

...A STRONG EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED BUT A TSUNAMI IS NOT
EXPECTED ALONG THE CALIFORNIA/ OREGON/ WASHINGTON/
BRITISH COLUMBIA OR ALASKA COASTS...

NO WARNING... NO WATCH AND NO ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR
THESE AREAS.

BASED ON THE DEPTH OF THE EARTHQUAKE WITHIN THE EARTH A TSUNAMI
IS NOT EXPECTED ALONG THE CALIFORNIA/ OREGON/ WASHINGTON/
BRITISH COLUMBIA AND ALASKA COASTS.

AT 421 AM PACIFIC DAYLIGHT TIME ON JULY 25 AN EARTHQUAKE WITH
PRELIMINARY MAGNITUDE 6.6 OCCURRED
NEAR THE SOLOMON ISLANDS AT 114KM DEPTH.

PACIFIC COASTAL REGIONS OUTSIDE CALIFORNIA/ OREGON/ WASHINGTON/
BRITISH COLUMBIA AND ALASKA SHOULD REFER TO THE PACIFIC TSUNAMI
WARNING CENTER MESSAGES FOR INFORMATION ON THIS EVENT AT
PTWC.WEATHER.GOV.

Ok. We have some news. Straight from one of my contacts, and in this case, it's Mr. YVO himself, Jake Lowenstern. I alerted them within minutes of the first persistent activity last night. Here is his email back, received just now:

Yep. I looked last night. They are just east of Hebgen Lake around the park's west boundary. This is within the area of historic abundant low-level seismicity, generally related to the Hebgen Lake fault and not thought to be directly related to the magmatic system.

The autopicker has found over 20 events. Nearly all of them are smaller than M1, and I'd guess most will not be high enough quality picks to go into the catalogue. Only a couple are greater and I assume UU will post those some time today.

The energy yield of these quakes is pretty low and not worth getting too excited about, especially given their location, where we've seen tens of thousands of earthquakes over the past 30 years.

Thanks for keeping an eye out.


jake

So apparently this IS connected to that fault. But happened before. Interesting. It's pretty cool to help them out, just keeping watch late nights. But there you have it folks, microswarm confirmed.

Thanks for the heads up!

Wondered when I saw one listed for Montana yesterday how close it was.

I don't have YHL or YGC on any of my lists. YDC is on two of them.
WILFed around but couldn't find them anywhere.

Anyone have a link with those two???

Thanks,
WOQ

YS is a sleeping dragon so any info on the matter is regarded as high priority..
very intresting thanks for the post and looking foward to any updats




PEACE

reply to post by wasobservingquietly


There's the stations:
www.iris.edu...;jsessionid=0AE00A0FCEA1FE87DA7AE812F3C91C6C.quack_8?network=WY

All quiet again, last 20 minutes or so...

I find it interesting that Jake says this is not thought to be connected to the magmatic system. And the reason is simply because I am thinking the quakes are shallow from their signatures. Generally I always thought of tectonic based faulting movements as deeper, but in this case, not sure. I think seeing the depths of them is going to help, once UU starts reporting on them. No biggie, but one of those things I throw to the back burner.

reply to post by pacifier2012


This from the same guy who stated "A 5.1 occurs at least 20 times a day in the earth."
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Anyhow, thank you TA for your ever watchful eye.
You were up late last night, huh?

Originally posted by TrueAmerican
reply to post by wasobservingquietly

 

There's the stations:
www.iris.edu...;jsessionid=0AE00A0FCEA1FE87DA7AE812F3C91C6C.quack_8?network=WY

All quiet again, last 20 minutes or so...

I find it interesting that Jake says this is not thought to be connected to the magmatic system. And the reason is simply because I am thinking the quakes are shallow from their signatures. Generally I always thought of tectonic based faulting movements as deeper, but in this case, not sure. I think seeing the depths of them is going to help, once UU starts reporting on them. No biggie, but one of those things I throw to the back burner.

edit on Wed Jul 25th 2012 by TrueAmerican because: (no reason given)

Update TA? Anything to worry about?

Thank you again...you are one of my most respected members, and i appreciate your contributions.