By Megan Boatwright, Local News 8 Reporter

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - Some pretty interesting things have been happening at Yellowstone National Park since December 26. Over the last week, geologists have recorded more than 400 small earthquakes. Quakes in that number are called an earthquake swarm.

For a quake to do damage it has to be at least a 4.0 magnitude. None of the recent Yellowstone earthquakes have, but every one has happened in the same spot underneath Yellowstone Lake. 

Robert Clayton has taught geology at Brigham Young University-Idaho for six years.

"When there's something really interesting happening, I post it on my office door so everyone can see," said Clayton. 

Things are definitely interesting right now.

"That's quite a number of earthquakes," said the excited geologist. "The ones in bold type are of greater magnitude."   

The incredibly long list represented 400 or more earthquakes that have happened under the lake.    

"We think it's where more magma heat and steam escaped through cracks in the crust," said Clayton. "That's probably what's causing the earthquakes."    

He said the last time Yellowstone saw this kind of activity was close to 20 years ago.

"What's interesting about this earthquake swarm is that it's in a very large and active volcano," described Clayton. 

The professor has been monitoring the quakes through Yellowstone's website and BYU-Idaho's own seismograph machine.  Although the U.S Geological Survey and the University of Utah -- two organizations responsible for monitoring the quakes -- haven't given an official explanation yet, Clayton has his own theory. 

"It's probably a little bit of magma moving through fractures. There's also a lot of ground water under Yellowstone and some of the shallower earthquakes may be steam explosions and fractures underground,' said Clayton.  "Those can have quite a force and send out shock waves that we record as earthquakes." 

The professor said if there was any room for worry, we would already know about it.

"An eruption in Yellowstone and anywhere else won't sneak up on us," Clayton said.  "Eruptions give lots of warning signs, and we've gotten good at reading those signs. So, just having a swarm of earthquakes by itself isn't something to be alarmed about." 

At the end of the day, the quakes amount to nothing more than a geological field day.  If you want to take a closer look at what's been happening in Yellowstone, visit www.volcanoes.usgs.gov.