Posted by Ranger Sally on October 12, 2001 at 10:43:47:
In Reply to: Yellowstone? posted by Nick Hawhtorne on October 12, 2001 at 09:41:36:
: Have any disasters happend in Yeloowstone?
Interesting question, Nick! Earthquakes occur in and around Yellowstone National Park every day. Most of these are too small to be felt, but occasionally we do have one that is larger in scale. Probably the most famous to date occurred on August 17, 1959 at Hebgen Lake, 12 miles outside the park's boundary. It had a magnitude of 7.5. Twenty-eight people died, dozens were injured and there was approximately $13 million in damage.
Volcanic disasters occured farther back in time, (between 2.1 and 630,000 years ago), when the Yellowstone was part of 3 super volcanoes. Some geologists estimate that together these three gigantic eruptions spewed out 907 cubic miles of ash and rock. That's like a wall of rock a mile high, a mile wide and stretching 907 miles! Yellowstone has also been the site of numerous smaller volcanoes in the past.