There were over 91 quakes registered in the past 72 hours in Yellowstone, specifically in the region just south of Yellowstone Lake. While none of them were particularly large (the largest being around 2.9 on the Richter scale), it does represent a slightly larger than average number of earthquakes in the Yellowstone caldera, which is famous for its tempestuous seismic activity.
See the United States Geological Survey map of the earthquakes below:
The USGS has issued a Facebook post about the earthquakes, saying: "Right now at Yellowstone, scientists from the University of Utah and University of New Mexico are conducting a major seismic experiment. In late August, they deployed hundreds of small “nodal” seismometers – each about the size of a coffee can -- throughout the park. This week, a special “vibroseis” truck is in park generating synthetic earthquakes by shaking the ground with low-frequency waves. You can see these human-generated earthquakes on some of the Yellowstone permanent seismic stations!"
Even so, Montanans and, we suppose, a good amount of the Pacific-Northwest and Mountain West live in, if not perpetual fear then at least perpetual exhiliration at the idea of the Yellowstone volcano (one of the largest in the world) erupting in a fiery cataclysm.
Consequently, many Montanans keep a watchful eye on Yellowstone's seismic activity in the interest of predicting when such a moment may come. And there are persistent claims that the Yellowstone system is overdue to erupt. Scientists say that that these sorts of fears are unfounded, and that though they cannot predict when it will next erupt it is likely hundreds if not thousands if not hundreds of thousands of years away.
Even so, the prospect of Yellowstone turning Montana into the modern Pompeii looms large in our imagination. Just look at this scene from the movie 2012, in which the supposed Mayan prediction of worldwide calamity is realized by, well, Yellowstone exploding like a big dumb movie special effect.
The earthquakes seen today in no way point to something like this happening. Right?