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February 9, 2026<\/p>\n
2 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Yellowstone\u2019s earthquakes spark microbial boom deep underground<\/p>\n Earthquake swarms can supercharge microbial growth<\/p>\n By Damien Pine edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier<\/span><\/p>\n A swarm of 2,182 earthquakes at Yellowstone National Park was key for a new finding about microbes.<\/p>\n Cheryl Ramalho\/Getty Images<\/p>\n With some luck, specialized equipment, a supervolcano and a narrow hole 30 stories deep, researchers demonstrated that earthquakes shake up more than just rocks\u2014they also boost microbe populations living underground.<\/p>\n Up to 30 percent of life on Earth doesn\u2019t ever see sunlight; instead these organisms get energy by chowing down on hydrogen generated through chemical interactions between water and rocks. Earthquakes fracture rocks, creating fresh reaction surfaces and shifting the pathways water travels along, which increase hydrogen production. For a study in PNAS Nexus, researchers tracked the effects of such shake-ups on microbes at the bottom of a 100-meter-deep borehole in Yellowstone National Park.<\/p>\n The scientists made a 10-hour round-trip trek to and from the test site seven times over seven months. There they collected samples of rock, dissolved gas and microbes, overcoming equipment malfunctions, logistical difficulties, and more along the way. The group was lucky enough to be taking measurements at just the right time\u2014and in the ideal location\u2014to perfectly catch the rise and fall of a rare \u201cswarm\u201d of 2,182 earthquakes. Yellowstone endures a lot of earthquakes, but swarms this powerful tend to occur every five to 10 years, says Montana State University geomicrobiologist Eric Boyd, the study\u2019s lead author.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n During the swarm, the amount of microbial life present increased by 6.5 times before dropping back to normal after the tremors subsided. Hydrogen levels also increased, and the types of microbes observed changed. \u201cAll the pieces fit together nicely,\u201d Boyd says. \u201cWe put all of these data together, and we\u2019re like, holy cow!\u201d<\/p>\n The results might offer clues for finding life thriving under otherworldly surfaces, too. \u201cExtrapolation to other planets and moons suggests that subsurface life might be most easily found in seismically active locations,\u201d says Steven D\u2019Hondt, who studies below-seafloor life at the University of Rhode Island and was not involved with the work. \u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful study,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n Caroline Freissinet, an astrobiologist at French research institute LATMOS who was not involved with the work, says that although it\u2019s a great result for understanding Earth, the study is unlikely to change much about the search for life on our nearest neighboring planet, Mars, because of its \u201chellish subsurface conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMars in the past was wetter,\u201d she says, \u201cbut what would be left today of this temporarily enhanced activity, four billion years later?\u201d<\/p>\n The Yellowstone study was \u201ca really difficult project but a really meaningful one,\u201d Boyd says. \u201cNobody had done this before.\u201d He\u2019s now working on developing an automated sampler triggered by earthquakes to dramatically increase data collection.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. 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I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" February 9, 2026 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Yellowstone\u2019s earthquakes spark microbial boom deep underground Earthquake swarms can supercharge microbial growth By Damien Pine edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier A swarm of 2,182 earthquakes at Yellowstone National Park was key for a new finding about microbes. Cheryl Ramalho\/Getty Images With some luck,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[710,5604,14311,12559,1690,5522,22950],"class_list":{"0":"post-44083","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-boom","9":"tag-deep","10":"tag-earthquakes","11":"tag-microbial","12":"tag-spark","13":"tag-underground","14":"tag-yellowstones"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
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