Map of seismicity (red circles) in the Yellowstone region during 2023. Gray lines are roads, black dashed line shows the caldera boundary, Yellowstone National Park is outlined by black dot-dashed line, and gray dashed lines denote state boundaries.
Why do some earthquakes disappear from the map/list?
The USGS and networks contributing to the Advance National Seismic System (ANSS) take great effort to provide accurate and timely earthquake information. Occasionally our systems produce erroneous information that is released to the public via our web pages or Earthquake Notification System. These mistakes are generally promptly identified by seismologists, removed from our web pages, and “delete” e-mails are sent through ENS. The event webpage will have a note on it indicating that the event was deleted and in some cases the reason for the erroneous event and subsequent removal.
In the interest of rapidly providing earthquake information to the public, most of the information about earthquakes that occur in the USA is automatically posted to the web and ENS if it meets quality standards. There is a trade off between the speed of our earthquake notifications and number of false alarms in the same way that any kind of "breaking news" story may have substantial changes or corrections as more information is received. The faster we release earthquake locations and magnitudes, the more likely it is that the information may be erroneous. Experience demonstrates that imposing more restrictive quality standards prevents the release of legitimate earthquake information.
There are multiple causes of false earthquake reports. Automatic systems are particularly prone to errors following large earthquake when earthquake location algorithms misidentify reflected and refracted seismic waves created by a single earthquake. In this case, one earthquake can turn into "events" located in areas far from the earthquake. In other cases, noise in legacy analog telephone circuits that bring the data from seismometers to computers can be misidentified as earthquakes. Software optimized to locate local earthquakes by ANSS “regional” seismic networks in the USA occasionally may mislocate a large earthquake occurring on the other side of the Earth (e.g., China) deeply beneath the seismic network. Adding to this complexity, there are multiple seismic monitoring networks that contribute their earthquake locations and magnitudes to the ANSS system. These networks use different data and algorithms to locate the earthquakes, and sometimes the spatial separation of the contributed locations is so large that our systems interpret the independent solutions as distinct earthquakes of similar magnitude and location. In this situation, a delete message will be sent for one of the earthquake solutions but an earthquake did occur.
We are continuously improving our automatic systems and manual procedures to reduce the number of false earthquake reports. However, with the advent of rapid distribution methods like RSS/ATOM feeds and the re-distribution of our alerts through social media sites, our errors are more widely seen and more difficult to retract completely. For these reasons, it is very important to remember that this data is preliminary and users should check our web site for the most recent updates.
Related
Where can I find current earthquake lists and maps for the world or for a specific area?
Did I feel an earthquake? Can I report feeling an earthquake?
Why is the earthquake that was reported/recorded by network X, or that I felt, not on the Latest Earthquakes map/list?
Why isn't the fault on which the earthquake occurred or the distance to the nearest fault provided?
Can I get on a list to receive an email message when there is an earthquake? How do I sign up for earthquake notifications? Are there any Feeds I can subscribe to?
Why/When does the USGS update the magnitude of an earthquake?
Why do so many earthquakes occur at a depth of 10km?
How quickly is earthquake information posted to the USGS website and sent out via the Earthquake Notification Service (ENS) and other feeds?
Where can I see current or past seismograms?
Why do USGS earthquake magnitudes differ from those published by other agencies?
What is UTC, and why do you report earthquakes in UTC?

Map of seismicity (red circles) in the Yellowstone region during 2023. Gray lines are roads, black dashed line shows the caldera boundary, Yellowstone National Park is outlined by black dot-dashed line, and gray dashed lines denote state boundaries.
Title: Where Earthquakes Hide in the Desert: What we've learned from recent fault ruptures in the western U.S.
By Austin J. Elliott, USGS Research Geologist
Title: Where Earthquakes Hide in the Desert: What we've learned from recent fault ruptures in the western U.S.
By Austin J. Elliott, USGS Research Geologist

Earthquake hazard map showing peak ground accelerations having a 2 percent probability of being exceeded in 50 years, for a firm rock site. Black box outlines Yellowstone region. The map is based on the most recent USGS models for the conterminous U.S. (2018), Hawaii (1998), and Alaska (2007).
Earthquake hazard map showing peak ground accelerations having a 2 percent probability of being exceeded in 50 years, for a firm rock site. Black box outlines Yellowstone region. The map is based on the most recent USGS models for the conterminous U.S. (2018), Hawaii (1998), and Alaska (2007).
HayWIred scenario earthquake map.
HayWIred scenario earthquake map.
Title: The 150th Anniversary of the Damaging 1868 Hayward Earthquake: Why It Matters and How We Can Prepare for Its Repeat
Title: The 150th Anniversary of the Damaging 1868 Hayward Earthquake: Why It Matters and How We Can Prepare for Its Repeat

Examples of seismograms of different types of earthquakes and tremor (constant ground shaking) recorded in Hawai‘i.
Examples of seismograms of different types of earthquakes and tremor (constant ground shaking) recorded in Hawai‘i.
Earthquake information products and tools from the Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS)
United States Geological Survey (USGS) Natural Hazards Response
Earthquake hazards: A national threat
ANSS-Advanced National Seismic System
USGS National Seismic Hazard Maps
Earthquake Information For the World
NEIC - the National Earthquake Information Center
Related
Where can I find current earthquake lists and maps for the world or for a specific area?
Did I feel an earthquake? Can I report feeling an earthquake?
Why is the earthquake that was reported/recorded by network X, or that I felt, not on the Latest Earthquakes map/list?
Why isn't the fault on which the earthquake occurred or the distance to the nearest fault provided?
Can I get on a list to receive an email message when there is an earthquake? How do I sign up for earthquake notifications? Are there any Feeds I can subscribe to?
Why/When does the USGS update the magnitude of an earthquake?
Why do so many earthquakes occur at a depth of 10km?
How quickly is earthquake information posted to the USGS website and sent out via the Earthquake Notification Service (ENS) and other feeds?
Where can I see current or past seismograms?
Why do USGS earthquake magnitudes differ from those published by other agencies?
What is UTC, and why do you report earthquakes in UTC?

Map of seismicity (red circles) in the Yellowstone region during 2023. Gray lines are roads, black dashed line shows the caldera boundary, Yellowstone National Park is outlined by black dot-dashed line, and gray dashed lines denote state boundaries.
Map of seismicity (red circles) in the Yellowstone region during 2023. Gray lines are roads, black dashed line shows the caldera boundary, Yellowstone National Park is outlined by black dot-dashed line, and gray dashed lines denote state boundaries.
Title: Where Earthquakes Hide in the Desert: What we've learned from recent fault ruptures in the western U.S.
By Austin J. Elliott, USGS Research Geologist
Title: Where Earthquakes Hide in the Desert: What we've learned from recent fault ruptures in the western U.S.
By Austin J. Elliott, USGS Research Geologist

Earthquake hazard map showing peak ground accelerations having a 2 percent probability of being exceeded in 50 years, for a firm rock site. Black box outlines Yellowstone region. The map is based on the most recent USGS models for the conterminous U.S. (2018), Hawaii (1998), and Alaska (2007).
Earthquake hazard map showing peak ground accelerations having a 2 percent probability of being exceeded in 50 years, for a firm rock site. Black box outlines Yellowstone region. The map is based on the most recent USGS models for the conterminous U.S. (2018), Hawaii (1998), and Alaska (2007).
HayWIred scenario earthquake map.
HayWIred scenario earthquake map.
Title: The 150th Anniversary of the Damaging 1868 Hayward Earthquake: Why It Matters and How We Can Prepare for Its Repeat
Title: The 150th Anniversary of the Damaging 1868 Hayward Earthquake: Why It Matters and How We Can Prepare for Its Repeat

Examples of seismograms of different types of earthquakes and tremor (constant ground shaking) recorded in Hawai‘i.
Examples of seismograms of different types of earthquakes and tremor (constant ground shaking) recorded in Hawai‘i.