New vent at Kiluaea
Yellowstone Earthquakes Raise Fears
(Jan. 3) - Several more earthquakes rattled Yellowstone National Park on Friday, raising fears over the recent geological activity in the area.
Since Dec. 26, about 400 temblors have rumbled under the park, centered under the northern end of Yellowstone Lake. The small quakes Friday registered up to a magnitude of 3.5.
Swarms of small earthquakes happen frequently in Yellowstone, but it's very unusual for so many earthquakes to happen over several days, says Robert Smith, a professor of geophysics at the University of Utah.
"They're certainly not normal," Smith said. "We haven't had earthquakes in this energy or extent in many years."
"Could it develop into a bigger fault or something related to hydrothermal activity? We don't know. That's what we're there to do, to monitor it for public safety."
Smith said it's difficult to say what might be causing the tremors. He pointed out that Yellowstone is the caldera of a volcano that last erupted 70,000 years ago.
Yellowstone has had significant earthquakes as well as minor ones in recent decades. In 1959, a magnitude 7.5 quake near Hebgen Lake just west of the park triggered a landslide that killed 28 people.
As we have witnessed in the past year, a number of "inactive/dormant" volcanoes have come to life and erupted. Some of these recent ones have been dormant for up to ten thousand years. The one in Yellowstone that could possibly be coming to life, is so old that it does not even have a name. I, and a few informed awake friends, suspect that all of this volcanic activity, along with other events taking place, is part of a cyclical change and shift that the planet is going through. Be awake, and, pay attention!
7.2 Earthquake Strikes Eastern Indonesia
JAKARTA, Indonesia (Jan. 3) - A strong earthquake in remote eastern Indonesia cut power lines, cracked building walls and sent panicked residents running out of their homes toward higher ground Sunday, authorities and witnesses said.
The Indonesian Meteorology and Seismology Agency warned that with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2 it was strong enough to cause a tsunami. However, there were no immediate reports of giant waves and the warning was lifted within an hour.
The tremor struck at 2:43 a.m. local time, around 85 miles off the coast of Manokwari, Papua, at a depth of 6 miles.
The U.S. Geological Survey put the strength at a more powerful 7.6 magnitude and nearly three times the depth. Shallow earthquakes generally cause more damage than deeper ones.
Electricity went off and people fled their homes in the dark, fearing a tsunami, said Hasim Rumatiga, a local health official.
In the town of Sorong, very near to the epicenter, a resident told El Shinta radio buildings and houses had been slightly damaged.
Indonesia straddles a chain of fault lines and volcanoes known as the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and is prone to seismic activity. A huge quake off western Indonesia caused the 2004 Asian tsunami that killed around 230,000 people, more than half of them in Sumatra.
This is probably one of the worse places YOU could be if the planet is going to go through it's normal cycles and shifts. Just for the simple fact of it being in the "Ring Of Fire" area of the Pacific. With the fault lines and major volcano prescence, it is a major disaster area. Take heed and be vigilant!
"The Planet calls the shots, NOT Us",
