Earth Changes
But now a geologist has come to the area armed with decades-old charts, promises of millions of dollars in jobs and benefits and a theory about what may be tucked deep inside the crevices under the Mississippi River Valley and the New Madrid Seismic Zone.
Dramatic winter weather hit Spain, England, Belgium, France and Italy over the weekend leaving many commuters stranded due to the ensuing traffic chaos.
In southern Spain, a tornado with wind speeds of up to 180 kilometers (112 miles) per hour left at least 25 people injured in the coastal city of Malaga. The roofs of a bus station and parking garage in the city were blown off, billboards torn to the ground and windowpanes shattered. Two highways near Madrid had to be temporarily closed and the train between Malaga and Madrid was shut down due to rail damage from a fallen wall.
Yellowstone National Park is a restless place, even in the calmest of times. Tiny earthquakes - and sometimes not so tiny - are part of life in one of the world's most seismically active and mysterious regions.
But scientists said Monday that one of the biggest earthquake swarms ever recorded in the park took place in the last week of 2008 into early 2009, with 813 quakes in 11 days, most of them deep under Yellowstone Lake and felt by almost no one. Only one other swarm, in 1985, was more intense. Records go back to 1973.

Smoke billows from a crater of Mt.Asama, central Japan early Monday, Feb. 2, 2009. The mountain spewed volcanic smoke earlier this morning. The country's Meteorological Agency warned Sunday that the volcano was in danger in erupting after detecting an increase in seismic activity.
Mount Asama erupted in the early hours of Monday, belching out a plume that rose about a mile (1.6 kilometers) high, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.
There were no reports of injuries or damage from the eruption of the volcano, 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of Tokyo. It last erupted in August, 2008, causing no major damage.

An undated handout image shows a glass frog of the Nymphargus genus, which is potentially new to science, that was discovered in the mountains of the Darien region in Colombia. Ten new species of amphibians -- including three kinds of poisonous frogs and three transparent-skinned glass frogs -- have been discovered in the mountains of Colombia, conservationists said on February 2, 2009.
Ten new species of amphibians -- including three kinds of poisonous frogs and three transparent-skinned glass frogs -- have been discovered in the mountains of Colombia, conservationists said Monday.
With amphibians under threat around the globe, the discovery was an encouraging sign and reason to protect the area where they were found, said Robin Moore, an amphibian expert at the environmental group Conservation International.
The nine frog species and one salamander species were found in the mountainous Tacarcuna area of the Darien region near Colombia's border with Panama.
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has released photos from the first large-scale census of jaguars in the Amazon region of Ecuador - one of the most biologically rich regions on the planet.
The ongoing census, which began in 2007, is working to establish baseline population numbers as oil exploration and subsequent development puts growing pressure on wildlife in Ecuador's Yasuni National Park and adjacent Waorani Ethnic Reserve. Together, these two protected areas make up some 6,500 square miles (16,800 square kilometers) of wilderness.
The research is being carried out by a team led by WCS research fellow Santiago Espinosa. Espinosa's team, which includes several members of the Waorani indigenous group, set up a complex system of "camera traps," that photograph animals remotely when they trip a sensor that detects body heat. His work is being funded by WCS, WWF, and the University of Florida.
So far the team has taken 75 pictures of jaguars, which can be individually identified through their unique pattern of spots. Other images show jaguar prey species, such as white-lipped peccaries, and other rarely seen species, including two pictures of a short-eared dog, a relative of foxes and wolves.

Illustration of two Caspian tigers. New research shows that the Caspian tiger from Central Asia, which became extinct in 1970, was almost identical to the living Siberian, or Amur, tigers found in the Russian Far East today.
DNA from an extinct sub-species of tiger has revealed that the ancestors of modern tigers migrated through the heart of China - along what would later become known as 'the Silk Road' - a team of scientists from Oxford University and the NCI Laboratory of Genomic Diversity in the USA report.
In a study recently published in PLoS One the team show that the Caspian tiger from Central Asia, which became extinct in 1970, was almost identical to the living Siberian, or Amur, tigers found in the Russian Far East today.
The discovery not only sheds new light on how the animals reached Central Asia and Russia but also opens up the intriguing possibility that conservationists might repopulate tiger-less Central Asia with Siberian tigers from Russia or China.
Monday, February 02, 2009 at 17:53:23 UTC
Monday, February 02, 2009 at 12:53:23 PM at epicenter
Location 13.502°S, 76.508°W
Depth 25 km (15.5 miles) set by location program
Distances 40 km (25 miles) W of Chincha Alta, Peru
95 km (60 miles) NW of Ica, Peru
165 km (105 miles) SSE of LIMA, Peru
210 km (130 miles) SW of Huancayo, Peru

People walk in the snow on as they cross Westminster Bridge, backed dropped by the Houses of Parliament's St Stephens Tower, in central London, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2009.
Shops, schools and courts shut down and long trails of commuters trudged through the streets looking for scarce taxis or ways to work after more than four inches (10 centimeters) of snow fell overnight.
"We're not in Russia here," said Guy Pitt, a Transport for London spokesman. "We don't have an infrastructure built for constant snow."
Heavy snow continued Monday afternoon, with more forecast for the evening along with rain and sleet overnight, which could lead to hazardous icy conditions Tuesday morning.
A UN emergency co-ordinator told the BBC the insects in Liberia and Guinea were very different from armyworms.
He said experts had noted the insect has distinct feeding patterns, life cycle, habits, movement and appearance.
Specialists are studying the pest to find a way of controlling the swarm, which has affected 400,000 residents.