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Yellowstone Earthquake Swarm Dwindles

By Beacon Staff

JACKSON – Yellowstone National Park earthquake researchers say a series of more than 1,800 small temblors that have rattled the park for nearly a month are dwindling.

The earthquake swarm began Jan. 17 near West Yellowstone, Mont. Robert Smith, a University of Utah professor of geophysics and coordinating scientist for the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, says it’s the largest swarm since a 1985 series that lasted three months.

The latest swarm is clustered in a region about six miles long and is focused about five miles below the surface of the earth. It’s included nearly a dozen earthquakes that were magnitude 3 or larger.

Smith says he doesn’t think the quakes have stopped altogether, but he says activity has diminished to the point where researchers are no longer filing daily swarm reports.