Week 4 - David Clark - Volcanoes (Mt St. Helens)

60 miles from my home is Mt St. Helens, which was the most destructive eruption in US history. I am learning that Washington state is home to many geologically interesting specimens, with this being one of them. The photo above is a before and after of the mountain, the difference is startling.

Another week of quarantine so I decided to hop into the car and take another trip. This time, neither my daughter or dog would attend, but my cat, Arya. We loaded up and headed southeast to Mt St. Helens. The drive didn't take long, which made it a little unnerving to know how close I live to an active volcano. We paddled out onto the lake pictured about and sat in the boat, enjoying nature. She meowed twice, which meant she was asking why the volcano is even there in the first place. I told her it is a part of the cascade mountain range, which itself is part of the Pacific ring of fire. She meowed once in acknowledgement. The cascade range is being fueled by the subduction of the Juan de Fuca oceanic plate beneath the North American plate. And yes Arya, the volcano is still active! She let out a series of meows, obviously disturbed that I have taken her so close to an active volcano. I told her that in 1980, the volcano looked very different, it was a beautiful conical shaped volcano. However, on May 18th, it exploded in a massive lateral eruption equivalent to 1500 Hiroshima atomic bombs. The cause for the explosion was pent up gas that was created by lava in the volcano inching towards the surface.

She looked at me, nodded her head, and meowed solemnly. I told her that people died, the area hit by the blast was decimated, and that a "lahar" was created from all the melted ice water and volcanic ash and debris. This lahar flooded rivers and poured through valleys. Taking rocks, cars, trees, and anything else unlucky enough to be in it's way. The ash from the explosion rose high into the sky and rained down upon the land in a six-hundred-mile radius, turning day into night. She let out a long, loud meow. She wanted to know if it could happen again. Indeed Arya, this is an active volcano, so it could happen again. In fact, even more disturbing is Mt St. Helens brother, Mt Rainer. He is also an active volcano, due for an eruption. Basing what we know from St. Helens, the devastation could be very similar. However, the mountain will let us know of an impending eruption in the form of earthquakes, gas release, and increase of temperatures. Lucky for us, the mountain has shown no sign of these symptoms. Arya and I headed home, still uneasy about our close proximity to the volcanoes, but glad we understand their underlying behaviors.