– Swarm of 200 Earthquakes Hits Yellowstone – Here’s What That Means:
A swarm of more than 200 earthquakes struck Yellowstone National Park over the past two weeks, but that probably doesn’t mean the “big one” is coming anytime soon, according to geologists from the park.
The 200 temblors began on Feb. 8 and ramped up on Feb. 15 in an area about 8 miles (13 kilometers) northeast of West Yellowstone, Montana, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). In reality, many more tiny quakes hit the region but were simply too small for seismometers to pick them up, according to the USGS.
But while the swarm is bigger than the everyday seismicity in the park, it’s not a sign of a major quake, said Michael Poland, scientist-in-charge of the USGS Yellowstone Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington.
“This is what Yellowstone does; this is Yellowstone being Yellowstone,” Poland told Live Science. “It experiences swarms all the time.”