An earthquake swarm began at Mount Rainier, Washington, at 1:29 a.m. PDT (08:29 UTC) on July 8, 2025.  An earthquake swarm is a cluster of earthquakes occurring in the same area in rapid succession. Currently, there is no indication that the level of earthquake activity is cause for concern, and the alert level and color code for Mount Rainier remain at GREEN / NORMAL.

The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network is in the process of looking at each earthquake and identifying its location, depth and size, if possible. This process is called locating. Some earthquakes are too small to locate. You can follow along in that process and watch the data on their website https://pnsn.org/volcanoes/mount-rainier.

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Source: https://www.usgs.gov/observatories/cvo/news/monitoring-stations-detect-small-magnitude-earthquakes-mount-rainier

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Yes, the caldera is changing shape. Sure, eruptions might prime over just a few decades. Alright, there was that earthquake swarm last month. Now, we’ve got a new one for you. Yellowstone’s heat source could be coming from much deeper in the Earth than previously believed.

Researchers from the University of Texas discovered fresh evidence of a gigantic plume that extends from the core-mantle boundary (CMB) – the solid Earth between the core and mantle – beneath the park to the California-Mexico border.

If accurate, it backs up the hotly debated plume theory developed in the 1970s, which says the heat that drives activity – like geysers and hot springs – comes from magma rising upward from within the Earth to its crust.

But finding these deep mantle plumes is no easy task. Typically, scientists measure the arrival of seismic waves from earthquakes to measure the Earth’s interior. Different arrival times lets them see the type of material waves pass through. Here’s the catch: Seismic waves travel horizontally through thin, vertical plumes, which means the waves aren’t really affected by the plume’s presence.

This time around, researchers gathered data from EarthScope’s USArray that records how a seismic wave reflects off and travels through the Earth’s core. These waves traveled slower in a “long, thin, sloping zone,” suggesting a section of the mantle is between 600 and 800°C warmer than the surrounding area. And voila! A 350-kilometer (215-mile) cylinder emerged beneath Yellowstone that runs all the way to Mexico.

The volcanic island chain that makes up the Hawaiian archipelago is a classic example of a plume story. Tectonic plates gradually drift over the malleable part of the mantle, but the superheated mantle plumes remain in a fixed position. This means that you get a chain of volcanoes, with old ones losing their heat source as new ones emerge further along the line.

“There are many suspected plumes, or hot spots, around the Earth,” said Michael Poland, scientist-in-charge at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, who was not part of the study, in an interview with IFLScience. “Yellowstone is one of them, but it’s a bit more complex.”

Yellowstone isn’t so different from other hotspots in general, but as the authors note in their paper, it does possess “features not in accord with classical plume theory,” including, but not limited to, a second hotspot track “propagating in the opposite direction” to the primary one.

You may be asking yourself: What does this new research, which constrains the dimensions of the suspected plume somewhat, mean for the Yellowstone supervolcano?

Well, we have good news.

“It means nothing at all. The plume has always been there, it’s just that we haven’t been able to see it very well,” Poland told IFLScience. He continued that the research gives more insight into what’s driving the whole process.

“This kind of structure works on the order of millions and millions of years and has no impact on our understanding of how Yellowstone works in terms of eruptive cycles, just their driving forces,” he says. “It doesn’t change our perception of volcanic activity at all.”

Poland and the researchers agree: The study raises more questions than it does answers. They hope further research and new methods for imaging the Earth’s core will help clarify some of them.

The study was published in Nature Geoscience.

Source: http://www.iflscience.com/environment/evidence-of-vast-magma-plume-discovered-stretching-from-the-yellowstone-supervolcano-to-mexico/all/

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SOMETHING is causing the Yellowstone supervolcano to stir in it sleep.

A swarm of some 200 earthquakes has been detected beneath the slumbering giant since February 8. The number of accompanying tremors is countless.

Given the Earth-shattering power of this super volcano — which is capable of covering much of the United States under a thick blanket of lava and ash — it’s enough to raise some serious eyebrows.

View image on Twitter

But none of the quakes have been huge: the biggest came in at just magnitude 2.9.

This means the shake was just strong enough to be barely felt by some people. But there was no damage to any structures.

EXPLORE MORE: NASA wants to save the US from Yellowstone

And the underground movements that caused them are not likely to have had any impact on the 250 billion cubic kilometre ticking time bomb of molten rock.

That we know of.

Fragile beauty … Yellowstone National Park sits atop one of the most unstable parts of our planet. Picture: iStockSource:Supplied

SHAKE AND BAKE?

The United States Geological Service says most of the flurry of activity came at a depth of about 8km, near West Yellowstone, Montana.

Earthquake swarms are nothing new.

Especially in Yellowstone.

They can be triggered by a shift in pressure along a fault line.

View image on Twitter

This can be caused by changes in the amount of nearby subterranean water or gas. As well as movements of magma.

Yellowstone has an excess of all three.

Movements in the massive tectonic plates that shape our planet’s surface can also play a part.

One of these is also at play under Yellowstone.

Grand Prismatic Spring In Yellowstone National Park is a mere pimple compared to what lies beneath. Picture: GettySource:Supplied

DEVIL IN THE DETAIL

The US National Parks Service says that, on average, Yellowstone is generally shaken by between 1000 and 3000 quakes every year.

“It is not an imminent hazard,” volcanologist Guillaume Girard told National Geographic. “Every study has concluded that there is no magma that is ready to erupt within any foreseeable future.”

DELVE DEEPER: Yellowstone’s supervolcano is twice as big as thought

But last year, 2400 earthquakes registered on seismic sensors between June and September alone.

“This is what Yellowstone does; this is Yellowstone being Yellowstone,” scientist-in-charge of the USGS Yellowstone Volcano Observatory Michael Poland told Live Science. “It experiences swarms all the time.”

YMC seismic record for 24-hour period during Feb 17-18, 2018, showing swarm-related quakes.

The biggest quake last year was magnitude 4.4: a strength people would feel, but not likely to cause anything more than minor damage.

So far, the biggest recorded quake in the supervolcano was a magnitude 7.3 in 1959. Dozens of people died in landslides. At this level, most buildings within the affected area were seriously damaged, or collapsed.

“One of the potential explanations for why this area is so swarmy is that the whole crust in the area is still adjusting to the big earthquake in 1959,” Poland says.

Lava is seen flowing out of a volcanic ash cloud. Yellowstone is far more likely to experience devastating earthquakes than an eruption, scientists say. Picture: APSource:AP

SIGN OF THINGS TO COME

“People tend to focus on the possibility of a huge eruption, which is vanishingly small,” Poland told Live Science.

But the real threat comes from a more traditional, but still extreme, earthquake.

Something in the area of a magnitude 7, for example.

“When they do happen, they’re going to shake the region pretty severely, so people should be prepared for that,” Poland says.

But the fact there is a supervolcano right there will continue to play on everybody’s mind.

It blew big time 630,000 years ago. Most of the current national park sits in its enormous caldera. Its ancient ash and lava flows can be found over almost all of the continental United States.

RELATED: Rising dome reveals supervolcano strengthening beneath Japan

It last experienced an eruption — a much smaller one — about 70,000 years ago.

When it comes to supervolcanos, there is as yet no way to tell when an explosion is due.

So US scientists are constantly watching the three fault lines that cross the park.

And every tremor adds to their understanding of what lies beneath.

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Source: http://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/natural-wonders/yellowstone-supervolcano-spate-of-quakes-reveal-a-restless-beast/news-story/4f48bc3fdd4708bc77677b3d767c7573

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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.”

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