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Since May 1, eight earthquakes have rocked the Yellowstone Caldera, located in Wyoming, United States, and scientists have already warned that a series of rumblings could be a warning sign. According to statistics from the US Geological Survey (USGS), the largest relatively small earthquake was recorded on May 4 at 2.4 on the Richter scale. Earthquakes in the region show no signs of slowing either, with 63 earthquakes occurring in April – the largest being 2.6.
This could be a sign of an imminent eruption, according to some scientists.
Scott Burns, a professor of geology at Portland State University, said earlier that a series of small jolts around a volcano usually meant that the magma and gases beneath the surface were starting to move toward their exit.
He said: "If you have swarms under an active volcano, the working hypothesis is that the magma moves below."
However, others are not in agreement as to whether a swarm of earthquakes near a volcano could be a sign of the future.
Jamie Farrell, from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, believes this is just part of the natural cycle of the Yellowstone Volcano. He states: "The earthquake swarms are quite common in Yellowstone.
"There is no indication that this swarm is related to the magma moving through the shallow crust."
If the volcano exploded in the same way as the explosion of 70,000 years ago – its last eruption – it would have killed 87,000 people and made two-thirds of the United States immediately uninhabitable.
The large amount of ash in the atmosphere would block sunlight and directly affect life below, creating a "nuclear winter".
The massive eruption could be 6,000 times more powerful than Mount St Helens in Washington in 1980, which killed 57 people and left ashes in 11 different states and five Canadian provinces.
If the volcano explodes, a climate change will ensue because it will reject massive amounts of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere, which can form a sulfur aerosol that reflects and absorbs sunlight.
Scientists also say that earthquakes in Yellowstone should be taken seriously for other reasons as well.
In a 2014 conference, Jacob Lowenstein, a leading scientist who oversaw Yellowstone, said major earthquakes in the region could cause landslides.
He said: "The last big event dates back to 1959 and caused a big landslide, killing about twenty people. This is a geological hazard much more present in the region than a volcanic eruption.
"People living in the area should know him."
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