On Aug 17, 1959, Hebgen Lake was hit by one of the largest and most destructive earthquakes in US history. The epicenter of the magnitude 7.5 earthquake was approximately 15 miles north of West Yellowstone, Montana (later revised by the U.S. Geological Survey to magnitude … Yellowstone Caldera Chronicles is a weekly column written by scientists and collaborators of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. [7] After the quake, the U.S. Forest Service built the Quake Lake visitor center on top of the landslide[4] which was completed in 1967. At 11:37 p.m. a 7.3 magnitude earthquake devastated Hebgen Lake, Montana, located in Yellowstone’s northwestern region—in comparison, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti registered at a 7.0 magnitude. 32,000 acres (130 km 2) of the area near Hebgen Lake subsided more than 10 ft (3.0 m). Public domain.). [14] In West Yellowstone, the earthquake damaged a courthouse[7] and a railroad station. [6][page needed], The Yellowstone County Chapter of the American Red Cross, Salvation Army and various other local, national, and organizations from multiple states sent aid to the victims of the earthquake. [6][page needed] The Hebgen Lake area also experienced earthquakes again in 1964, 1974, 1977 and 1985. In addition, the sudden northward tilting of the basin caused Hebgen Lake to slosh back and forth. The Red Cross also set up temporary housing in Bozeman and the Wyoming Department of Health sent 200 trailers to the Yellowstone area to be used as hospitals. Following the quake, and until September 5, it surged 6 to 8 feet high constantly. Overall repairs to the Yellowstone National Park amounted to US$2.6 million (equivalent to $22.8 million in 2019). State Highway 287 slumped into Hebgen Lake; damage from the August 1959 Hebgen Lake (Montana-Yellowstone) earthquake. - cized, and as a result of the public's keen interest in the geologic features formed during the earthquake, … During the first few days after the earthquake, most springs began to clear, but several years passed before clearing was generally complete. In the next section we will provide the impact studies conducted on each of the faults in Washington State. The U.S. ", "State of Montana Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan", "16 REPORTED DEAD AS QUAKES SMASH WEST YELLOWSTONE AREA: DAM CRACKED; MOUNTAINS FALL", "QUAKE HITS HEBGEN: DEATH TOLL MOUNTS IN FACE OF MAJOR MONTANA DISASTER", "SEVERE EARTHQUAKE ROCKS BUTTE: MINOR DAMAGE WIDESPREAD IN MINING CITY", "QUAKE JOLTS WESTERN STATES: HEBGEN DAM OPEN, VACATIONERS HURT", U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Earthquake Lake, People associated with Yellowstone National Park, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1959_Hebgen_Lake_earthquake&oldid=997655322, 1959 natural disasters in the United States, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from August 2020, Articles lacking page references from August 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 1 January 2021, at 16:26. quake, centered near Hebgen Lake, Montana, shook Yellowstone National Park, and abruptly brought to an end the bustling 1959 tourist season. By September 1 it had increased to 62.1 minutes. Several nearby campgrounds were occupied by vacationing campers and tourists at the time. But while Hebgen Lake miraculously remained, the earthquake left plenty of geographic scars. An example of a large Basin and Range Province earthquake is the 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake, which registered a magnitude of 7.3 and had an epicenter about 15 miles northwest of West Yellowstone, Montana. Levels in nearby Idaho fluctuated as much as 10 ft (3.0 m). A few years later, it had changed into a very vigorous geyser that erupted to heights up to 50 feet and excavated a vent with a maximum diameter of ~40 feet and more than 20 feet deep. (Credit: J. R. Stacy, USGS. The building is on the Blarneystone Ranch, about 10 miles north of West Yellowstone, Montana, and 1-1/2 miles west of the west boundary of Yellowstone National Park. [12] The Montana National Guard was called to the quake area to prevent looting of campsites left abandoned by the quake. What was the impact after wards? [7] The quake also knocked out telephone communications between Bozeman and Yellowstone, with the city of Bozeman itself suffering moderate quake damage to homes and buildings. Weather Bureau reported that the quake lasted 30–40 seconds. At 11:50 p.m., another amateur in Idaho contacted the Idaho State Police who in turn contacted their headquarters in Boise. Aftershocks from the deadly 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake in Yellowstone National Park have been detected more than 60 years later, according … The more we are prepared for earthquakes, the better we will be after one happens. It was and is a popular vacation and fishing spot, near Yellowstone National Park. The Hebgen Lake earthquake—as it is known—occurred on August 17, 1959 at 11:37 p.m. MST in Madison Canyon, just outside the western boundary of Yellowstone National Park. Hebgen Lake shook so violently it almost breached its dam. The evacuation was subsequently called off when it became known the landslide had blocked the river's flow. Two hundred and fifty-five eruption intervals timed during the last 10 days of December showed an average interval of 67.4 minutes. The official magnitude of the earthquake is 7.3, and it was located just outside the western boundary of Yellowstone National Park, ~6.5 miles WNW of West Yellowstone, Montana. We should expect similar effects if another earthquake of this size would to happen today, except there are many more people visiting the area today than there were in the summer of 1959. 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