In this post I am going to talk about some of the recent seismicity at Yellowstone Caldera Super-Volcano in Wyoming. I will also show some info and data pertaining to a M3.1 that recently struck on the border of the Florida panhandle and Alabama. Also, the Tanaga Volcano in Alaska saw some interesting large, and somewhat deep, earthquakes. As always, please click the title of this post or "read more" to continue... Yellowstone Seismicity March 11-12, 2019 was somewhat of a busy day for Yellowstone Caldera. There was a very short, minor burst in seismicity just south of station YPM near the Lower Geyser Basin, as shown in the map above. It can barely be considered a swarm, but it was a micro-swarm nonetheless. This was not the only seismicity during those days! The northern tip of Yellowstone Lake also saw a micro-quake, rapid fire swarm. It was small, but it was also very energetic much like the many other rapid fire swarms that take place around West Thumb Lake and Yellowstone Lake. If you wish to see the past major rapid fire swarms for those areas, then please CLICK HERE. Now these earthquakes that occurred here, just south of YPM, were minor, the largest being two M1.4 events. Now although their sizes were not great, if you take a look at all of the stations in the area you will notice they traveled very far! Before any of these were reported, my guess is that the swarm took place directly between YPM and YMR since the arrivals were almost the same for both stations. Apparently, I was close but no cigar! I also theorized, due to how far they traveled compared to their amplitudes, that they struck between 11km to 15km in depth. Again, no cigar! However I was close. Now just before this burst in seismicity was spotted, there was a small M1.1 at 7.8km in depth far to the north near Maple Creek. Then, around 00:35UTC March 12, 2019, this minor burst in seismicity occurred. The events were reportedly, in order, a M0.6 at 10.6km in depth, a M1.4 at 10.3km in depth, and a M1.0 and M1.4 both at 11km in depth. Below I will detail this seismicity via custom-made helicorders and my 3-plot images I like to generate for seismic events. Again, this was not the only seismicity for Yellowstone during this day! If you wish to see the additional 2 reported earthquakes which occurred far to the south of station YTP, then please simply keep reading this post. If you wish to see the analysis I conducted on the rapid-fire micro-quake swarm that struck the northern tip of Yellowstone Lake, then please CLICK HERE. Two more quakes for Yelly: As you can see above, the Lower Geyser Basin area was not the only place to see seismicity on March 11-12, 2019. There were two reported earthquakes: a M1.5 at 8.9km in depth and a M1.7 at 9.0km in depth. Although these epicenters were far from the rapid fire micro-quake swarm epicenter, they very well could be connected. The M1.5, which struck on March 11, 2019 at 9:31UTC, occurred just about an hour before the small rapid-fire swarm appeared. The M1.7, which struck on March 11, 2019 at 11:32UTC, occurred a little less than an hour after the swarm somewhat calmed. Now the rapid-fire swarm I keep mentioning occurred far north of these earthquakes, striking right near Borehole 208 (B208) under the northern tip of Yellowstone Lake. If you wish to view the earthquake swarm that still has yet to be reported, please CLICK HERE. Again, if the "CLICK HERE" button did not work, then that means the post is not finished yet. However check back soon since it will be up soon. The exact epicenter of the swarm is unknown, since I am not able to accurately locate earthquakes and none have been reported yet, but according to the P wave arrivals on many stations it appears they occurred under the northern tip of Yellowstone Lake around 2km to 5km in depth, possibly striking a little bit farther to the NE than that. Below are the 3-plot images I generated for these 2 earthquakes. Now these are from station YTP. Although this station was the closest station to the epicenters, the events were detected much weaker than expected. That could have to do with their depths, but other stations that were farther away detected stronger amplitudes. Also, frequencies seem to be a little bit lower than usual. This station is perfect to use, but it seems events on this station are recorded slightly weaker with slightly lower frequencies. M3.1 in Alabama On March 11, 2019 at 18:36UTC a strong M3.1 struck on the border of the Florida Panhandle and Alabama. It struck at 5.0km in depth and over 14 people reported feeling this event. It is likely the felt count is higher now since it has been some time since I saved the event page shown above. Below are the 3 separate plots detailing this earthquake, along with the helicorder: M5.2 and others near Tanaga Volcano Some interesting deeper-than-normal earthquakes struck just to the south of the Tanaga Volcano which resides on the Aleutian Island chain of Alaska. If you wish to see info regarding the Tanaga Volcano, please CLICK HERE. Seismicity slowly increased with some small unreported quakes. Then, on March 11, 2019 at 6:23UTC, a M5.2 struck at about 47.8km in depth. Even though this area is very unpopulated, there was 1 felt report for this event. Later in the day, seismicity increased again. A few quakes were very small and unreported, but a M Below I will first show the helicorder which shows the earthquakes I mentioned, among a few others. Then I will show 3 of my 3-plot images, in slideshow format, detailing the 3 reported earthquakes. As always, remember to pay attention to chart labels and any captions beneath any images.
1 Comment
Michelle Batchelor
3/13/2019 02:45:49 am
Wow! The 3.1 had quite a bit of energy! The two separate EQs were felt by my sister who lives South of them in Pace. She was freaking out. So I looked up the states geology and I am so glad I did. Not that what I found out calmed her in any way. Living down here all you hear is that we live on an old coral reef that has become a swamp. The truth is quite different. The area used to be highly volcanic. What do you think caused these EQs Ben?
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AuthorBen Ferraiuolo is a fast learner and someone who will always stand for the truth. Visit "About Me" for more! Archives
November 2019
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