University of Utah professor Robert Smith says earthquakes have followed him all his life. It’s happened again. He was on vacation in Wyoming when the big series of small quakes hit Yellowstone on Friday December 26th.
By Friday, January 2nd, Smith said over 500 tremors had been recorded around the north end of Yellowstone Lake. The biggest quake was a magnitude 3.9 - not big enough to cause damage.
“This is a big deal”, said Smith, who has been studying the volcanic and geothermal activity at Yellowstone for over 30 years. There have been clusters, or “swarms” of quakes at Yellowstone before, but not this many for this long says Smith. “What’s important about them is that this is not normal, not usual to have these longer swarms so we pay particular scientific attention to them in terms of how they might relate to faults or to geysers or other hydrothermal features,” said Smith.
Smith said the cause of the quakes is not known and it’s not clear what effects the quakes will have. Still, he said Yellowstone is a volcanic area, its geysers and hot springs are a reminder of that.
For now he says he and others will continue to monitor the tremors for scientific and public safety reasons. The park is closed for winter and accessible only by snowmobile. At this point he says there is no danger. “We’re not offering any warnings we’re just taking precautions and keeping up with the data,” said Smith. Visitors should not be precluded from visiting Yellowstone.”
