Over 1,000 earthquakes have rocked Washington's Mount Rainier in the largest ever seismic swarm recorded at this active volcano, waiting to erupt.
Experts from the US Geological Survey (USGS) revealed that this record-breaking earthquake swarm started on July 8 and has continued ever since.
As of July 25, geologists have recorded at least 1,010 small earthquakes around the mountain, which is one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the US.
While the agency said that even more tremors will likely be added to this total, they'll be too small to cause any damage and likely won't even be felt by locals.
The most powerful of these earthquakes was measured at 2.4 in magnitude, which is weaker than what can typically be felt by people and rarely causes any damage.
These kinds of swarms can occur once or twice a year, but they normally only last a few days, leaving USGS researchers with a concerning mystery right now.
'Most swarms at Mount Rainier (there are 1-2 annually) last less than a week. That being said, we do not have a good estimate for how long this swarm may last, and whether it will intensify or peter out,' the agency admitted on Friday.
Although USGS added that an eruption doesn't seem imminent, Mount Rainier remains one of the most active volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest's Cascade Range, and a devastating eruption remains a real possibility in the near future.
Experts have warned that Mount Rainier would be an extremely major threat to the public during an eruption due to its volcanic mudflows known as lahars, ash fall, and pyroclastic flows.
This huge, active stratovolcano towers over millions of people in major cities such as Seattle, Tacoma, and Yakima in Washington, as well as Portland, Oregon.
Even though Mount Rainier has not produced a significant eruption in more than 1,000 years, experts have kept a very close eye on it due to its potential to blow at any time, and the widespread destruction such an event would cause.
When this volcano eventually blows, it won't be lava flows or choking clouds of ash that threaten surrounding cities, but the lahars.
These violent, fast-moving mudflows that can tear across entire communities in a matter of minutes. The largest lahars can crush, bury, or carry away almost anything in their paths.
'Based on our observations, we think the most likely cause of the earthquakes is water moving around the crust above the magma chamber,' researchers with the USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO) wrote in a statement.
For now, the USGS has kept their alert level at 'normal' despite the continued seismic activity around the mountain.
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