Is Yellowstone's Super Volcano Going to Erupt?

For those that follow and study earthquakes and volcanoes - this has surely got to be the question of the day: Is the super volcano at Yellowstone Park becoming active? Is the old man about to get out of his chair and give us a worldwide show?

From Associated Press:

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - "Scientists are closely monitoring more than 250 small earthquakes that have occurred in Yellowstone National Park since Friday. Swarms of small earthquakes happen frequently in Yellowstone. But Robert Smith, a professor of geophysics at the University of Utah, says it's very unusual to have so many over several days.

The largest tremor was Saturday and measured magnitude 3.8.

Smith says it's hard to say what might be causing the tremors but notes that Yellowstone is very geologically active. An active volcano there last erupted 70,000 years ago."

The interest in super volcanoes and earthquakes has been spiked (pardon the pun) by this unusual swarm of earthquakes in Yellowstone over the last few days. Although earthquakes in the park are NOT unusual and there have been swarms before, this particular swarm has the scientists concerned enough to be keeping a close eye on it.

The location of the earthquakes is right where a huge "bulge" was found under Yellowstone lake a few years back that caused much speculation. The " bulge" under the lake is estimated to be 100 ft. tall at some points, and the reason for the massive bulge is yet unclear. Is it building in anticipation of pressure below? Has it been there alot longer then we realize? There are many unanswered questions that have scientists scrambling to find out answers.

The reason the Yellowstone National Park "super volcano" attracts so much attention is because it's no ordinary volcano. This is a volcano which upon eruption could become a "cataclysmic" - and perhaps - extinction level event. The last time the volcano erupted was about 640,000 years ago, and according to scientists it blows about every 600,000 to 650,000 years. So there are some people that believe we are overdue for an eruption from Yellowstone - and that perhaps this event will be something we may witness in our lifetime.

Being an avid researcher of natural disasters and climate change, I stumbled upon Yellowstone's supervolcano many years ago. I am now quite intrigued by the fact that one of the leading researchers at the lake, Robert Smith, even issued a press release from the Yellowstone Observatory stating that this "swarm" of earthquakes in Yellowstone is quite unusual. Well, in the fairness of science, there are many many things that are quite unusual that occur on earth that we don't quite understand. And it's not like we can look back 600,000 years and talk to people about the signs and symptoms of a super volcano about to explode. All we can really rely on is what scientific evidence we have gathered in our brief time here on earth, and hope that with that research we can make better decisions and observations.

As for Yellowstone's Super Volcano? Well... what can we really do other than follow the news, track observations and come to our own conclusions on any actions - if any - that we should be taking to protect ourselves and our families? Chances are if this son of a gun blows it could be so fast that we wouldn't even have a chance to blink an eye anyway - or even make preparations. Nature doesn't follow any rules and it's not like we can demand the Yellowstone Super Volcano to just calm down. The only ones we can tell to calm down is ourselves.

And I'm sure the mainstream media would not announce: "Hey there is about to be a cataclysmic event that might possibly happen but we're not sure because we don't have enough evidence of other cataclysmic events to draw from - so just be alert that something might happen".... Let's just hope that TPTB at least give us some type of heads up so we can run to our bunkers....or at least into our basements. I'd rather be in a basement thousands of miles away then close to the park observing Old Faithful.

(There is a very good list of comprehensive links for monitoring earthquakes at Yellowstone below this article - this would be a good article to bookmark and save for future reference - let's hope we don't need to but wisdom is power)