This is the second most active swarm of quakes since records began.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) has said that during September, there were 115 tremors – the biggest of these being a 2.3 quake.
A statement from the earthquake trackers read: “Including the events from the prior three monthly reports beginning on June 12, total swarm seismicity includes one earthquake of magnitude 4.4, 12 in the magnitude 3 range, and 185 earthquakes in the magnitude two range.”
GETTY
Is Yellowstone about to blow?
GETTY
The eruption would be catastrophic
He told Newsweek: “This is the sort of work that will happen in the months to come, as we gather up all of the available data and start crunching numbers.
“What we can say now is that through the end of September, the University of Utah has located 2,475 earthquakes in the swarm.
GETTY
There have been more than 2,700 earthquakes around Yellowstone
“[This is] certainly a fascinating event and one that we hope to learn more about through some post-swarm analysis.”
The Yellowstone Caldera supervolcano last erupted 70,000 years ago but a spike in seismic activity around the national park has unsettled nerves.
GETTY
Yellowstone could wipe out America
The large spew of ash into the atmosphere would block out sunlight and directly affect life beneath it creating a “nuclear winter”.
The massive eruption could be a staggering 6,000 times as powerful as the one from Washington’s Mount St Helens in 1980 which killed 57 people and deposited ash in 11 different states and five Canadian provinces.
If the volcano explodes, a climate shift would ensue as the volcano would spew massive amounts of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, which can form a sulfur aerosol that reflects and absorbs sunlight.
[Disclaimer]
