Posted on 09/27/2004 1:00:07 PM PDT by datura
The swarm continues beneath Mt. St. Helens again today - it's been a long one indeed. The quakes are growing somewhat in size, with mid to upper 2's on the Richter scale beoming more common. The depths of the quakes is remaining at or near the surface for the most part, yet not all of them in the last two hours have been in the caldera. There is some movement as you can see from the map posted. Below are the current seismograph and the current seismicity map.
Perhaps I should cancel my road trip ;)
At the risk of being Punny!
I would say that there is a whole lot of shaking going on!
ok I will admit that was bad. Hopefully these are not the typical precursors of eruption.
What was the pattern of quakes prior to the first visible activity in 1980?
"Dreams of mountains, as in their sleep they brood on things eternal."
Hey, I was in tiny Packwood, WA about 8 months ago...pretty area.
About 10 years ago we flew fairly close to Mt St Helens. I'll bet an eruption would blow your airplane out of the sky. Maybe driving would be better.
"don't blow, don't blow, don't blow..."
The swarm might be our fault, this summer Mrs. Andyman and I went to say neener, neener, neener to the peak.
SEATTLE - Seismologists believe there's an increased likelihood of a hazardous event at Mount St. Helens due to recent changes in the mountain's seismic activity, and a notice of volcanic unrest was issued Sunday afternoon by the U.S. Geological Survey.
"The key issue is a small explosion without warning. That would be the major event that we're worried about right now," said Willie Scott, a geologist with the USGS office in Vancouver.
The trails on the mountain are closed to climbing as a precaution. Existing climbing permits have been cancelled and Jacks Restaurant and Store has stopped issuing new permits....
Prior to the big eruption in 1980, over a two month period there were 10,000 small quakes. The eruption started with a 5.2 quake that opened up the mountain.
What's the big mountain that you can see in Seattle?
God's probably just upset that they're leaning towards Kerry. Look what happened to us in Florida when we were favoring Kerry? Now we're leaning towards Bush the hurricanes are fewer and less destructive...
Answering my own question:
The "activity" started two months prior, with a 4.1 quake followed by several per hour in the 2.0 range over the next weeks. Quakes in the range of 4.0 started regularly, and there were 100 over 3.5 in the first 10 days. Then a 4.7 quake and the first eruption, with release of sulfur dioxide, an indicator of volcanic activity. Craters started to open up and eventually merge.
There's a week by week account of the two months leading up to the big blast in 1980 at
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/May18/MSHThisWeek/31521/31521.htm
I still remember the old inn operator named Harry Truman, who refused to leave the area and died in the May eruption.
Based on all this, we'll see a lot more activity, including small eruptions, craters appearing, and stronger earthquakes, before any subsequent major eruption occurs.
I've driven up the forest roads to Spirit Lake twice. It's really a remarkable sight, you turn a corner and pass the crest of a hill in a thick forest, and suddenly you're in the midst of the devastation. What's remarkable is all the new growth amid all the dead trees. It's really worth the visit, though probably not while the mountain's acting up.
Mt. Rainer, another active volcano.
No, the mountain you can see from Occupied Seattle is Mt Rainier. I live down near Eatonville (it's on the map above), with a clear view of Mt Rainier. Mt. St. Helens is now only a much smaller version of itself - approximately 2,500 feet of it came off in 1980. St. Helens is visible from I-5 in a few places.
That's Rainier.
How far is Rainer from St Helens?
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