Scientists Bracing for Possible Massive Earthquake in Eastern Idaho

Since June, a swarm of more than 1,200 temblors have been rumbling near Yellowstone National Park, and now scientists are wondering if this could be an indicator of a larger one yet to come.

Idaho State University assistant professor of geological sciences Dr. David Pearson said those smaller quakes have been happening along a fault line that caused one of the largest earthquakes back in 1959 that measured-in at a 7.3 magnitude.

“That was one of the biggest earthquakes we’ve had in this portion of the world in historic times,” Pearson said.

He added, scientists are aware of where these active faults are, but they still have no way of knowing the timescale of when they might rupture.

“It could be in ten minutes of 10,000 years. We just don’t know. But, it’s always best to be prepared, regardless,” he said.

He informed, a “swarm” is a cluster of at least 1,284 earthquakes that don’t have any larger earthquake associated with it. That’s compared to a larger earthquake, followed by several smaller onces, which are called aftershocks. However, Pearson said there’s no way of knowing if a swarm could trigger the larger earthquake or not.

He said, there’s another active fault line that runs north of Logan, UT and through Bear Lake, which is expected to also reach a seismic strength of a 7.3 magnitude quake at some point.

While some people are tying this to the possibility of the famed “super volcano” erupting in that area, Pearson said there’s no need to worry about that, saying the last big eruption was about 630,000 years ago with a 700,000 year reoccurrence interval.

“There’s a low possibility the super volcano could ever erupt within our lifetime. It’s much more likely one of these active faults would rupture instead,” Pearson added.