Yellowstone National Park earthquake shakes hottest and oldest geothermal area

News
By published

A minor earthquake has hit Yellowstone National Park, and some people in the region experienced a tremor. The magnitude 3.9 earthquake struck near Norris Geyser Basin, which has a history of quakes.

A geyser in Norris Geyser Basin, close to where the Yellowstone National Park earthquake struck.
A geyser in Norris Geyser Basin, close to where the Yellowstone National Park earthquake struck. (Image credit: Stevedunleavy.com via Getty Images)

A minor earthquake has hit Yellowstone National Park, shaking the hottest and oldest geothermal area in the region.

The magnitude 3.9 tremor hit near Norris Geyser Basin in Wyoming on Tuesday (Jan. 28) at 6 p.m. Mountain Standard Time (8 p.m. EST).

Scientists rate the size of earthquakes with the magnitude scale. Earthquakes with a magnitude of around 4 are minor quakes that can be felt by humans. The earthquake in Yellowstone was normal for the region, according to USGS.

Related: Scientists find hidden mechanism that could explain how earthquakes 'ignite'

Yellowstone is seismically active and experiences about 1,500 to 2,000 earthquakes each year. Most of these shakes are up to magnitude 2, but some are higher, like the one in Norris Geyser Basin on Tuesday.

Norris Geyser Basin is the hottest and oldest geothermal area in Yellowstone and home to the tallest geyser in the world, which shoots hot water and steam 300 to 400 feet (90 to 120 meters) into the air, according to the National Park Service. The basin sits at the intersection of two faults — fractures between two blocks of rock that can slip past one another and cause earthquakes.

The largest earthquake ever recorded within the park struck close to Norris Geyser Basin in 1975. That earthquake was a magnitude 6, but there was little damage and no injuries reported at the time, according to USGS's Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

There are about half a million minor earthquakes within the 2.5 to 5.4 magnitude range every year worldwide. Those in the magnitude 6 range usually number about 100 and can cause significant damage to populated areas. Scientists consider less-common magnitude 7-range earthquakes to be major earthquakes, while the exceptionally rare magnitude 8 earthquakes — averaging about one per year or every other year — are great earthquakes, according to Michigan Technological University.

The largest recorded earthquake in U.S. history had a magnitude of 9.2. Hitting Alaska in 1964 and triggering a tsunami, this great earthquake resulted in the deaths of 128 people and about $311 million in property loss.

Patrick Pester
Patrick Pester
Trending News Writer

Patrick Pester is the trending news writer at Live Science. His work has appeared on other science websites, such as BBC Science Focus and Scientific American. Patrick retrained as a journalist after spending his early career working in zoos and wildlife conservation. He was awarded the Master's Excellence Scholarship to study at Cardiff University where he completed a master's degree in international journalism. He also has a second master's degree in biodiversity, evolution and conservation in action from Middlesex University London. When he isn't writing news, Patrick investigates the sale of human remains.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.