Posted on 10/21/2004 6:42:26 PM PDT by cmsgop
St. Helens Lava Dome: The Size Of The Carl Vinson... Almost
October 21, 2004
By KOMO Staff & News Services
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VANCOUVER, WASH. - The new lobe on the lava dome at Mount St. Helens has grown to about the size of an aircraft carrier.
After getting a good look in the crater of the volcano in Wednesday's clear weather, the U.S. Geological Survey says the new extrusion is about 900 feet long, 250 feet wide and 230 feet high. (For comparison, the USS Carl Vinson is about 1,100 feet long, 200 feet tall and 260 feet wide.)
A copter hauling a bucket on a 100-foot line was able to scrap up fresh rock samples, which turn out to be typical Mount St. Helens lava.
Scientists say earthquake activity indicates magma is still pushing into the volcano where it continues to build the lava dome as it has for more than a week.
They say a more violent eruption is a possibility at any time.
Scientists were able to test a remote controlled 5-foot plane Wednesday, but it was too cloudy for a flight Thursday. They hope to use the plane to collect gas samples.
For More Information:
St. Helens Info -- vulcan.wr.usgs.gov. Live Web Camera Of Mt. St. Helens -- www.fs.fed.us UW Real-Time Seismology Graphs Of Mt. St. Helens -- www.pnsn.org What To Do In Case Of Ash Fall -- vulca
Now had it been Mt. Etna lava, that would have been worth noting!
True,True....
Wonder what that guy's SATs were?
And as a former chopper pilot I mean that in a good way.
Especially coming out of St Helens!
Ping!
Is this thing going to blow up or just ooze?
It'll blow on election day..Dems will blame Bush..
They risk all that for just typical Mount St. Helens lava. They need to keep sending the chopper back until they find some atypical lava.
...Depends on how John Kerry sweet talks it.
They say a more violent eruption is a possibility at any time
Are they talking about the volcano or Teresa's mouth?
It's going to blow up after it doesn't blow up.
Well, it's more likely to ooze than blow up.
If it blew up ALL the time it would be a hole in the ground, instead of a mountain.
The Cascade volcanoes mostly ooze, and only sometimes blow themselves apart, so on balance they get taller and stand out as mountains...however, it can be 3 steps forward and 1 step back, etc. Mt. Rainier is to believed to have been 16,000 feet at one time, instead of its current 14,000 or so.
The absolute most dangerous volcanoes in the world tend not to be that impressive looking. Mt. Pinatubo in the Phillipines DOES seem to blow up every time it erupts. Before it erupted the last time it was a barely noticeable mountain.
Krakatoa is a few small islands in a ring with a small island in them middle; it keeps blowing up, hence it isn't some impressive mountain.
What?!
Not green cheese?
The Cascades are known in history for explosive events - note Crater Lake. Out of all the volcanoes on Earth, Yellowstone wins hands down. A 60 mile wide caldera?
Krakatoa is an impressive mountain, just mostly underwater.
It sounds as though St Helens is merely filling the magma chamber, without having to break any rock. So that chamber must've been an empty void. Last estimate I read was that the amount of magma moving was 2 million cubic yards per day. That is the equivalent of 166,667 dump truck loads of magma every day. Once that chamber gets full and she starts to pressurize again, it could get real interesting.
We've not seen this much lava being exposed in Mt. St. Helens before. If the lava that is glowing red hot and making the clouds around Mt. St. Helens turn bright pink, keeps oozing and oozing, building up the dome, the upper layers that are exposed to the atmosphere will cause a plug to form causing a build up of pressure, not of ash, but of magma which could, and I say could not would, cause a lava eruption of Mt. St. Helens for the first time. This would be dangerous because Mt. St. Helens is located in an area of the Cascades surrounded by acres and acres of trees that have been blown down in the initial eruption, and would burn hot and fast, spreading the fires throughout the cascade and into surrounding towns, and if their is an ash eruption along with this lava eruption, it could hamper fire crews from fighting the fires started by this lava eruption.
From what I have read, Mt. St. Helens will not ooze...it will blow! It isn't capable of just oozing. Not sure where I read it, but I think it was here.
I recently watched a show (discovery channel) about a super volacno in Yellowstone Park. The dimensions of the crater were 60 by 90 miles. It was stated that an eruptiuon of a volcano this size would expell enough material into the atmosphere to change global cliamte. However, it could happen in fifty years, or 10,000 years! It is simply mind boggling to fathom such a natural disaster. I love learning about mother earth's awesome potential for destruction... makes me feel insignificant by comparison, and puts things in perspective.
..surrounded by acres and acres of trees that have been blown down in the initial eruption, ..
From what I've seen, most of the wood has been harvested out.
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