Yellowstone Had Nearly 3,000 Earthquakes in 2021

A whole lot of shaking going on in Yellowstone, and that's not from the herds of bison, rumbling around the Cowboy State. There were nearly 3,000 earthquakes in Yellowstone in 2021.

That's a whole lot of shaking, going on. Sorry, couldn't help myself.

In a video posted on Yellowstone's Facebook page, Scientist In Charge, Mike Poland made a video, covering all the activities and more that happened in Yellowstone over the past year. The total number was 2,773 local earthquakes. If you ask me, that's a lot. If you ask the scientist in charge, not so much.

In a typical year, Yellowstone rumbles 1,500 to 2,500 times. Most of the activity is due to the water interacting with the fault lines. So, most of the earthquakes are happening in the water. There were 800 underwater earthquakes in July, which blows my mind.

Here, you can see Mike's video in full if you want to hear it from a scientist.

I'm glad to see that all of this activity is "normal" but it's still just stunning that there are that many earthquakes in a concentrated area. I grew up on the New Madrid fault line. I remember in college, waking up to my bed moving across the floor from a quake. I couldn't imagine that being a normal, daily event.

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The scientist in charge also went on to say that Steamboat Geyser, which has been active since 2018, only erupted 20 times in 2021. So, maybe it's starting to go dormant again? Who knows, probably Mike, the scientist in charge.