Reply #11: What is really scary is this:

[smirkymonkey]

Alaska earthquake put geysers in Yellowstone on new schedule

http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/5136851p-5065924c.html

RESEARCH: Effects included flurry of small quakes in the park.

By BECKY BOHRER
The Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. -- The major earthquake that hit Alaska in 2002 and set off a flurry of smaller quakes in far-off Yellowstone National Park also altered activity of hydrothermal features there, causing some geysers to go off more often, new research shows.

Scientists say the Denali fault earthquake, which registered 7.9 and hit in November 2002, is believed to be the first in modern times in North America triggering such large-scale changes so far away.

"What's really kind of interesting ... is the recognition that large earthquakes at very large distances can have really profound effects on Yellowstone geysers, given the orientation of the waves and the amplitude of the particular earthquake," said Robert Smith, a professor of geophysics at the University of Utah who was among those who worked on the study appearing in the June issue of the journal Geology.