Posted on 09/24/2004 1:55:00 PM PDT by datura
I apologize for the vanity post, but there is an earthquake swarm in progress at Mt. St. Helens - several hundred shallow quakes in the last day now. None are large in magnitude, more of the type resulting from movement in the magma. Here is the current seismograph for Mt. St. Helens "Dome Station" which is monitoring the actual lava dome in the caldera:
Sweet. I need to find an out of state TDY or deployment to get on, and quick.
What do you think will happen, another eruption?
ping
Definitely a valuable vanity. Don't apologize.
It should be interesting to see what follows this swarm. I was in a swarm here back in 1990. It went on for about four hours, and was decidedly unnerving. But we don't have a volcano here.
Bill's in town, is he?
Never having been in an earthquake, what exactly is a swarm?
Are they small quakes closely following one another?
At what interval usually?
How do these quakes rate on the Richter scale?
Anyone?
From where - to where? (we all wonder)
Probably just building of the lava dome. But then again, who knows - the UW isn't saying much about it and neither is the government. I certainly wish I could say what's going on.
The last time there was an earthquake swarm similar to this was in 2001, which just added height to the dome as well as threw some rocks several hundred meters. It would be nice to say that there isn't enough left of it to be dangerous, but look at Crater Lake..........
I think this is where the Autobots and the Decepticons wake up in the Ark, and start fighting.
I was at St. Helens earlier this summer. It is a MUST SEE if you are in the area. Seeing it for yourself is beyond words.
Possibly, though -- I would wager -- nothing nearly as spectacular as we saw back in 1980. Probably more gas venting and a transient increase in magma outflow.
We're in Orlando. Want to trade an earthquake for a hurricane?
The graph represents the real time meltdown happening in the minds Democrats as the Kerry campaign sinks further into oblivion.
"My" swarm had quakes as big as 5.7, 5.0, 4.8, etc. Mixed in with a bunch of smaller ones. They were hitting about two minutes apart for about four hours, then started slowing down before ceasing entirely. I was in and out of the door so much, I finally got a chair and straddled the doorsill with it. Easy exit that way.
And to make things even more creepy, this was on the anniversary of the '06 San Francisco quake. Too weird.
WA State ping....
OK, now I guess I can tell you guys why I moved...
I would think that if you were in the caldera - or anywhere on the mountain - the ground would not stop moving for very long. Being in an earthquake is "disconcerting" to say the least. After all, your mind doesn't tend to accept that the ground is capable of rolling in waves just like the ocean.
These quakes are extremely shallow in depth, basically ranging from the surface down to several hundred meters on average. That says to me that the magma is very close to the surface right now, and with the recent snowfalls there must also be some steam explosions taking place.
I got to see Mt. St. Helens in '95. What a sight -- half the side of that huge mountain just gone. Swarms like this are not all that uncommon and are actually a good thing. The mountain is relieving pent-up stresses via a bunch of small quakes instead of ripping itself apart in one big one. I'm curious about the -- whadyacall it? The magma dome? Is it still continuing to grow?
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