The Mud Volcano hydrothermal area in Yellowstone National Park is near the intersection of a 20-km-long zone of northeast trending normal faults with the eastern resurgent dome within the 600,000-year-odd Yellowstone caldera. Recent crustal uplift along the northeast trending axis of the caldera is at a maximum (700 mm since 1923) near the Mud Volcano area. From 1973 through April 1978, less than 10 earthquakes (largest M 2.4) were located within 3 km of the Mud Volcano area. In May 1978, earthquakes began occurring beneath the hydrothermal area at depths of 1 to 5 km. The seismic activity continued until the end of November with intense swarms (100 events per hour) occurring on October 23 and November 7. The largest event (M 3.1) occured on November 14 and at least 8 events were M 2.5 or larger. In December 1978, heat flux in the Mud Volcano hydrothermal features began increasing along a 2-km-long northeast trending zone. Existing mud cauldrons became more active, new mud cauldrons and fumeroles were formed, and vegetation (primarily lodgepole pine) was killed by increased soil temperature. The increase in heat flux continued through July 1979 then gradually declined, reaching the early 1978 level by June 1980. The spatial and temporal association of earthquakes and increased hydrothermal activity at Mud Volcano suggests that the seismic activity expanded preexisting fracture systems, premitting increased fluid flow from depths of several kilometers.