What’s normal for a volcano? How CalVO scientists decide when to raise an alarm (or not)
In this spectrogram from November 30, 2024, at Mammoth Mountain, earthquakes in a swarm appear as bright blips of color, arriving rapid-fire and very close in time at nearby stations. Every day, CalVO duty scientists check the number, intensity, and character of earthquakes happening at our volcanoes. It's actually quite common for an active volcano - meaning one that has eruptible magma somewhere in its plumbing - to experience small quakes and shakes. There's always something going on, whether it's magma gurgling, gases and fluids flowing through a hydrothermal system, or the bulk of the volcano settling and shifting. The
Earthquakes can strike faster than a New York minute – What to do when the ground shakes…
New York City, with its towering skyscrapers and bustling streets, is probably not the first place people think of when they think about earthquakes. Yet, as surreal as it sounds, earthquakes do rattle New York on occasion and we’re not just talking about in hokey disaster movies. For example, on August 10, 1884, a magnitude 5.2 quake struck near Coney Island, shaking homes, crumbling chimneys, and leaving many confused by what had happened. Would people be any less baffled if a large earthquake struck the city today? Unlike other natural disasters, earthquakes strike without warning (with limited exceptions for a
So, when will the next eruption at Yellowstone happen?
Yellowstone Caldera Chronicles is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. This week's contribution is from Mark Stelten, research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and deputy Scientist-in-Charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. People visit Yellowstone National Park every year to observe its wildlife and vast array of hydrothermal features. One question that lurks in the back of many visitors’ minds as they traverse through one of the world’s largest active volcanoes is: when is Yellowstone’s next eruption going to be? When a volcano is restless, this question can be addressed by examining trends