USGS Volcano Notice - DOI-USGS-YVO-2023-08-01T05:06:12-07:00

Recent Work and News

Steamboat Geyser did not experience an eruption in July, and the total number of eruptions for the year remains at five.

The thermal features near Doublet Pool on Geyser Hill, not far from Old Faithful, that formed and became more active in late May and early June were dormant by the end of July.  A small section of boardwalk between Sponge Geyser and Doublet Pool remained closed during July due to the proximity of thermal features that had been spattering hot water and some debris onto the pathway, but that closure will be lifted soon.

Summer field work by Yellowstone Volcano Observatory scientists during July included maintenance on geophysical and geochemical sensors, water sampling, and geological studies of hydrothermal explosion craters and glacial deposits.  Additional maintenance of geophysical monitoring stations is planned in August.

Seismicity

During July 2023, the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, responsible for the operation and analysis of the Yellowstone Seismic Network, located 88 earthquakes in the Yellowstone National Park region. The largest event of the month was a minor earthquake of magnitude 2.2 located about 14 miles north-northwest of Lake, Yellowstone National Park, on July 25 at 8:52 PM MDT.  

July seismicity in Yellowstone was marked by a swarm of 12 earthquakes, located approximately 10 miles northeast of West Yellowstone, MT, during July 10–13. The largest earthquake in the sequence, a magnitude 1.5, occurred July 10 at 11:09 PM MDT.

Yellowstone earthquake activity is currently at background levels.

Ground Deformation

During the month of July, continuous GPS stations in Yellowstone Caldera recorded a pause in long-term ground subsidence, which has been ongoing since 2015 at rates of a few centimeters (about 1–2 inches) per year. A small amount of seasonal uplift of about 1 cm (0.4 inch) has been recorded as water from snowmelt and runoff percolates into the subsurface, causing the ground to swell like a wet sponge—a style of deformation that occurs each summer.  A GPS station near Norris Geyser Basin did not record any deformation during the past month after seeing steady subsidence totaling about 3 cm (slightly more than 1 inch) between October 2022 and June 2023.

An example of GPS data can be found at http://www.unavco.org/instrumentation/networks/status/pbo/data/NRWY (click on Static Plots / Cleaned)