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Yellowstone Quakes Spark Volcano Fears

By Harry Kimball, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 9, 2009 2:25 PM CST

(Newser) – The recent rash of earthquakes at Yellowstone National Park has geologists intrigued but unworried; that’s not the case with online doomsayers who think the park's volcano is getting ready to blow, the AP reports. About 900 quakes, most undetectable by humans, hit in the week following Christmas. “Something is brewing,” went a post on the aptly named Armageddononline.org, “especially considering that Yellowstone is over 40,000 years overdue for a major eruption.”

More disturbing was an evacuation warning “because of the danger in poisonous gasses that can escape,” posted on a site that erroneously bore the US Geological Survey logo. The earthquake “swarm” is the most energetic in 20 years, and scientists won’t know the cause for months. But “it would be surprising to see an eruption the next 100 years,” one geologist said.

[Images (5)]

[Quotes (1)]

The Old Faithful geyser. (AP Photo)

Seasonal ranger John Kerr in Yellowstone National Park. (AP Photo)

An explosion takes place at the base of the plume where molten lava is pumping into the ocean on the Island of Hawaii. (AP Photo)

The Llaima volcano in Chile. (AP Photo)

Volcanic activity in Hawaii. (AP Photo)

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I could come up with 100 different theories without any evidence for them and they would all be equally likely. Unless you have some reason to say that's what's going on, then you're not going to get a whole lot of people convinced.
- Jake Lowenstern, Volcano Observatory

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