Idaho was jolted by an earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale on April 1. It was so powerful and tremors were felt even in Canada. This has prompted many people to claim that the powerful seismic activity could result in a volcanic eruption in the Yellowstone volcano located in Wyoming, the nearby state of Idaho.
Does the Idaho earthquake raise the chances of eruption?
Soon after the earthquake, many people wrote on their social media pages that the earthquake will soon trigger a volcanic eruption in Yellowstone. They added that the government was not divulging more details to avoid panic among people.
However, geologists assert that a volcanic eruption is not going to happen anytime soon. Experts revealed that earthquakes will not trigger a volcanic eruption, but will cause changes in the geyser behavior.
"There's always rumors about Yellowstone erupting. Earthquakes don't trigger eruptions. They don't trigger volcanic activity. But they can trigger changes in geyser behavior. So what's probably happening is that the shallow conduits that feed the hot springs and geysers are sort of broken up by the shaking and that causes the hot water to find other ways out," said Michael Poland, a geophysicist working at the USGS, NBC reports.
Mysterious breathing in Yellowstone National Park
The Yellowstone volcano erupted previously around 6,40,000 years back. Even though the volcano is edging closer towards an explosion, experts believe that it will not happen in the next thousand years or so.
A recent study revealed that a region in the Yellowstone National Park, known as Norris Geyser Basin, has been inflating and deflating in the past decade due to the pressure exerted by magma on the rocks.
