New website to track Montana earthquakes

Ever wonder where all the earthquakes are happening in Montana? There's a new website that makes them easy to find. MTN's John Emeigh has the story.

Butte's Montana Tech has been the epicenter of earthquake studies for years at its Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology Department and now, with the department's new Website, anyone anywhere can see seismic activity.
Tech's earthquake expert Mike Stickney says the website, called the Seismic Mapper, is a user-friendly way to find more than three decades worth of earthquake data.

"The bureau has been collecting earthquake information, analyzing earthquakes now for 32 years," said Stickney. "During that time we've located the times, positions and magnitudes of almost 40,000 earthquakes in and around Montana.

Even though the Mining City is located near a major fault line, Stickney says Butte doesn't experience a lot of major seismic activity.

"Actually, one of the things we've learned through this seismic monitoring is that we have relatively few earthquakes that are centered right here in Summit Valley under Butte," he said. "You don't have to go very far to the east like about Whitehall or Pipestone hot springs before you see more frequent small earthquakes."

Other parts of Montana haven't been so lucky. The new website also shows the spots were historic earthquakes occurred, including the deadly 1959 quake at Hebgen Lake that had a magnitude of about 7.5 and resulted in more than 27 deaths.

"It was the earthquake that produced the Madison Canyon landslide which came down and buried part of the Rock Creek Campground which was fully occupied at the time of the earthquake," Stickney said.

The website also features a Seismic Hazard Map that shows areas earthquakes are likely and how the strong that could be over the next 50 years.

"It doesn't forecast where an earthquake will occur but it shows areas most likely to be shaken by an earthquake and that could be a small earthquake nearby or big distant earthquake," Stickney said.

Click here to check out the website.