Scientists eye unusual swarm of Yellowstone quakes( well gosh did it ever occur to those scientis that there is a supervolcano building under Yellowst

Scientists eye unusual swarm of Yellowstone quakes
By MEAD GRUVER, Associated Press Writer Mead Gruver, Associated Press Writer Mon Dec 29, 9:17 pm ET
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Yellowstone National Park was jostled by a host of small earthquakes for a third straight day Monday, and scientists watched closely to see whether the more than 250 tremors were a sign of something bigger to come. Swarms of small earthquakes happen frequently in Yellowstone, but it's very unusual for so many earthquakes to happen over several days, said 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."
Smith directs the Yellowstone Seismic Network, which operates seismic stations around the park. He said the quakes have ranged in strength from barely detectable to one of magnitude 3.8 that happened Saturday. A magnitude 4 quake is capable of producing moderate damage.
"This is an active volcanic and tectonic area, and these are the kinds of things we have to pay attention to," Smith said. "We might be seeing something precursory.
"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."
The strongest of dozens of tremors Monday was a magnitude 3.3 quake shortly after noon. All the quakes were centered beneath the northwest end of Yellowstone Lake.
A park ranger based at the north end of the lake reported feeling nine quakes over a 24-hour period over the weekend, according to park spokeswoman Stacy Vallie. No damage was reported.
"There doesn't seem to be anything to be alarmed about," Vallie said.
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.
He said Yellowstone remains very geologically active — and its famous geysers and hot springs are a reminder that a pool of magma still exists five to 10 miles underground.
"That's just the surface manifestation of the enormous amount of heat that's being released through the system," he said.
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.

I did it!

This is completly off Topic but i did it!!! i got into college! This school is my #2 choice named cazenovia. There equestrian team almost made it to nationals last year and there equine major program had a waiting list of 30+ but besides all those factors i got in. Now my only problem is that my #1 school is the Smallest public in the U.S it was based off of Outward bound Program and you can guess that it is all outdoors oriented. My Dream was to be a Mounted Backcountry Ranger and my #1 Sterling has horses but they are draft. I order to really succed with my major there i would have to bring one of my own horses up. Cazenovia on the other hand has a Equine Buiss major and a a biology minor so i could kind of be doing a outdoor oriented prgram. But also Cazenovia has an equestrian team. ANd they are also recruiting me for swimming. I plan to do an overnight at Cazenovia and i don't find out till January 15th if i get into Sterling but if i did i would do an overnight there. It is a hard descion becasue Cazenovia has more to offer but Sterling Has the resources that i want.

Here are the links to both colleges.

http://sterlingcollege.edu/
http://cazenovia.edu/