ipl-logo

Mount St Helens Essay

780 Words4 Pages

Mount St. Helens is a massive active volcano right in the heart of Washington. During 1980 from March-May the volcano showed signs of an impending eruption. On March 27, a preliminary thick cloud of steam shot out of the volcano, throughout the following months a visually apparent bulge begin to form on the side of the mountain. On May 18, the volcano erupted with a lateral blast that was the largest in recorded history, and produced a 5.1 magnitude earthquake. The earthquake initiated a flank collapse that caused a landslide producing enough debris to fill 1 million Olympic sized swimming pools. The huge lateral blast formed deadly pyroclastic flows that traveled at 300 mph incinerating everything in their path and lasting 9 hours. The blast also sent ash clouds soaring15 …show more content…

In Yakima alone, it took 10 weeks to remove all the ash that had fallen. The volcano continued to erupt for 6 years after the initial blast. Violently at first, then slowly leaking lava that has now formed a lava dome that is 920 feet high (USGS). The eruption and secondary natural disasters served as hazards as they harmed and affected the people living nearby. This affliction to human health and well being has enabled policy change to better protect people living near this massive natural hazard. The eruption of Mount St. Helens was a hazard because is directly affected human health. The blast triggered many secondary hazards including lahars, landslides and mudslides causing a substantial amount of devastation. The explosion and following secondary hazards killed 57 people and left 200 without homes. Diagram two shows the destruction of a home caused by lahars from Mt. Saint Helens. The ash fall destroyed crops down wind and closed a major roadway I-90 for 10 days. The overall cost of the damage (1980 dollars) was $1.1 billion. The destruction, loss of life, and economic costs make the volcano a massive natural hazard to humans. Volcanic

Show More
Related
422 Words | 2 Pages

In the article, Mt. Vesuvius: Day of Disaster by Lauren Tarshis, it talks about what happened when this massive volcano erupted, in Italy, next to a town called Pompeii. At the time, they did not know that it was a volcano, or that it was going to become one of the most famous eruptions in history. The author walks the reader through what probably was going on before the eruption, and also made it seem like the reader was actually part of the story. She also tells the reader some facts that a lot of people may not know, such as some information on what happened before the eruption. In the end, Mt. Vesuvius ' eruption was one of the most famous and destructive eruptions in history.

Read More
822 Words | 4 Pages

From Old to New The article ‘The Really Big One’ written by Kathryn Schulz discusses the Cascadia Subduction Zone and its threat to the people of the Pacific Northwest. She uses the article to inform the public of how the zone was discovered, how devastating the earthquakes and tsunamis will be in this zone, and how most of the Pacific Northwest is not prepared for this zone to erupt. After Schulz article was published, it became a well known across the nation. Everyone who read the article became scared at the thought of this impending doom.

Read More
182 Words | 1 Pages

El Chichón is often overlooked in comparison to other historic eruptions, yet the 1982 eruptions provide important lessons on preparation for volcanic disasters and the influence volcanoes can have on climate. The 1982 eruption of El Chichón is the largest

Read More
842 Words | 4 Pages

This earthquake damaged 296 miles of the 800 mile long San Andreas Fault. The fire was started by the broken gas lines all throughout the 490 damaged blocks. The seventh great fire was reported to go on for about 4 days in total, before being put

Read More
531 Words | 3 Pages

The fire and explosions lasted for two days and were felt as far away as Newark. More than 30 million pounds of explosives were set off, damaging many houses and killing as many as 87 people. Damage was estimated at $18 million. An article in the New York Tribune described the destruction: “Besides the heavier blasts, caused by entire buildings exploding, there was the additional horror of shellfire. Hundreds of loaded shells were set off by the flames and soared through the air like monster rockets, exploding in the streets and over the roofs.

Read More
1095 Words | 5 Pages

Helens. The first major earthquake of which (on March 20th) registered at a magnitude of 4.2 on the Richter scale (8). The number of earthquakes increased over the course of the following week, amounting to hundreds of seismic events. The seismic frequency finally peaked on the 27th of March ultimately producing St. Helens' first (non-magmatic) eruption since 1856; a phreatic eruption i.e. a series of steam explosions which sent a cloud of ash ad steam roughly three kilometers into the atmosphere (4) and lay bare a 60x70 meter crater where once St. Helens' ice-cap covered peak had stood (8,9). This hydrothermal eruption had been triggered as a result of the contact between the rising magma in the conduit and the local groundwater; the heat of the magma causing the rapid phase change from surrounding water to steam

Read More
378 Words | 2 Pages

It destroyed over 230 square miles of land. The volcano destroyed two hundred and fifty homes. Not only that but killing fifty- seven people and around seven thousand big game within the area. Also, the eruption of Mt St Helens is the most studied volcanic eruption

Read More
506 Words | 3 Pages

Juneau is in a very unique situation. The city faces multiple geologic processes that could be dangerous. These processes can be very hazardous. Some of the hazards the city faces avalanches, earthquakes, heavy snow, landslides, and tsunamis. Although the city faces regular avalanches and the possibility of landslides the town’s major hazard is earthquakes.

Read More
480 Words | 2 Pages

The Kilauea volcano has about more than 24 craters. An event that occurred at the Kilauea volcano was the eruption of 1924.This eruption was explosive and one of the worst eruptions Kilauea Hawaii has ever experienced. Comparing how the volcano looks today to the past there can be a lot of changes because of so many volcanic events that occurred. The Kilauea volcano is also part of a hotspot.

Read More
457 Words | 2 Pages

In the city for many years, the people of Pompeii did not know that that Mount Vesuvius (the volcano) would erupt. Even seeing smoke coming out of the volcano they still did not know what the future would hold. When Mount Vesuvius was erupting, every second 1.5 million tons of ashes and rocks shot out of the volcano. Rocks that would shoot out of the volcano would reach about twenty miles high. Researchers estimated that 1,600 people died during Vesuvius 's eruption.

Read More
380 Words | 2 Pages

There are many natural disasters that affect the world, for example, volcanoes. Mount St. Helens is known to be the most active volcano in the Cascade Range in Washington; effecting the people and the state. It was first recognized as a volcano in 1835! Before the eruption on May 18,1980, Mount St. Helens was a beautiful symmetrical cone, 3,000 meters above sea level. For most of the 20th century, many people viewed this mountain and recreation area as a beautiful and peaceful place, but after the volcano erupted in 1980 that view point was shattered.

Read More
586 Words | 3 Pages

Yellowstone has up to 1000 to 3000 earthquakes a year.the highest point of the park is 11,358 at eagle peak and the lowest, at reece creek is 5,282. There are only 30 supervolcanoes on earth and yellowstone park is one of them and also the only one located on land. 80 % of the forested part of yellowstone is made of lodgepole. What i found very surprising is that yellowstone park is larger than Delaware and rhode island combined. Did you know that Yellowstone park is actually 80% forest, 14% water and only 6% grassland!

Read More
468 Words | 2 Pages

However, the eruption on May 18th was a true surprise. Within minutes, the mountain went from calm and quiet to become one of the greatest powerful natural disaster ever recorded in the U.S-

Read More
916 Words | 4 Pages

On the 21st of August 1986 in the northwest region of Cameroon, Africa, Lake Nyos released a cloudy mixture of carbon dioxide and water droplets which had a height of 100 meters. Carbon dioxide is odorless and heavier than air which can suffocate any mammal. A limnic eruption is a natural disaster that happens when dissolved carbon dioxide suddenly erupts from deep lake waters, forming a gas cloud that can suffocate wildlife, livestock, and humans. When Lake Nyos erupted, the fog killed all living things within a 25km radius of the lake, and the area is still highly contaminated. The toxic gas mixture travelled to near towns and farms and suffocated over 1,700 people during their sleep and over 3,500 livestock.

Read More
914 Words | 4 Pages

They had shut down all airways because of the voluminous ash clouds spurting from Iceland’s deathly volcano. Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, began erupting on March 20, 2010 with a basaltic fissure eruption that evolved into an explosive, phreatomagmatic event. Clouds of fine volcanic ash dispersed over mainland Europe, triggering an unprecedented closure of airspace. The massive plume of volcanic spread over much of northeastern Europe, extending to northern Italy and east to Ukraine.

Read More

More about Mount St Helens Essay

Related Topics

Open Document