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Giant Rock Growing in Mount St. Helens' Crater

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the ch-ch-ch-chia dept.

An anonymous reader writes to mention a CNN article about the huge geological formation growing in Mount St. Helens' crater. From the article: "The fin-shaped mass is about 300 feet tall and growing 4 feet to 5 feet a day, said Dan Dzurisin, a geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey. The rock in the crater began growing last November, steadily moving west and pushing rock and other debris out of its way as it goes." Scientists think the mountain will eventually replace the lave dome blown out by the original 1980 eruption.

9 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. Rebuilding by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I wonder how long it would take for the old dome to be rebuilt? Didn't find it anywhere in that article.

    1. Re:Rebuilding by anagama · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Looking at the wikipedia article I linked above, it looks like 40-50 years at current rate to replace the dome (look at "2004-present activity" section). One nice thing is that there is a high res picture on wikipedia of the formation as opposed to CNN's thumbnail shots about 2/3 the size of their ads. A picture 3000 pixels wide is way more enjoyable than one 75 or 80 pixels wide -- you'd think CNN could foot the bill for an extra kb or so and post real pictures.

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    2. Re:Rebuilding by pizzaman100 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I was in 4th grade when it blew. We lived about a 100 miles east (Sunnyside, WA). It looked like an atomic mushroom when it erupted. We got an inch of ash. In the middle of the day it was pitch black - pretty freaky. They closed school for a few days. The ash was mostly iron, so you could put a cow magnet in the dust and get all kinds of cool formations. Pretty fun for a kid.

  2. I was living in Seattle when St. Helens blew by spun · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It was on a Sunday if I recall (I was all of 9 years old)and I slept right through it. Some people claimed they could hear it, and you could see a funny shaped cloud on the horizon if you squinted real hard. I kept waiting for the predicted ash fall, but it never got as far as Seattle.

    I visited the mountain some years later, and I can't begin to describe how small I felt looking at the devestation. Miles and miles of forests flattened, all the trees lined up in the same direction, following the contours of the hills. Everything coated in a layer of fine ash. Scary, in a "look how freakin' insignificant you are" kinda way.

    If you ever go, be sure to bring a lantern and visit Ape Caves, a 5 mile long lava tube near the base of the mountain. It's an easy hike even if you've never been in a cave before, and unlike most caves the sole improvement is a rickety metal staircase leading down in the middle. You can hike 2.5 miles up and exit out where it collapsed, and/or hike 2.5 miles down and it gets really narrow and stops. (By "up" and "down" I just mean the thing runs down the side of the mountain, so one end is higher than the other, not that it goes straight up and down.)

    As for this latest development, 5 feet per day?! Wow, that's pretty dang fast. I'd heard a new lava dome was growing, but this speed is certainly a new develpment. Still, it will take a long time to get back to its former size. Over 1,000 vertical feet of mountain got blown off the top, and most of one side slid away.

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  3. 3d info - fly throughs by drDugan · · Score: 3, Interesting

    it seems that 3d virtual environments are getting pretty good. lots of people playing WOW and 2nd life, simms...

    When I see an article like this - I want a 3D environment. I want to download the "map -o- the crater" and be able to fly around and see what it's really like there.

    it wouldn't need to be that detailed, or be a replacement for pictures. it's just that I can't seem to get a sense for the size or the scope of what we're talking about.

    3D standards litter the last 10 years like dead bodies in war zones - but it still is nice to dream.

  4. Re:Is that a rock in your pocket.... by peacefinder · · Score: 4, Interesting
    "Or maybe it's that sexy mountain next door."

    Maybe so.
    "Northwest Indians told early explorers about the fiery Mount St. Helens. In fact, an Indian name for the mountain, Louwala-Clough, means "smoking mountain". According to one legend, the mountain was once a beautiful maiden, "Loowit". When two sons of the Great Spirit "Sahale" fell in love with her, she could not choose between them. The two braves, Wyeast and Klickitat fought over her, burying villages and forests in the process. Sahale was furious. He smote the three lovers and erected a mighty mountain peak where each fell. Because Loowit was beautiful, her mountain (Mount St. Helens) was a beautiful, symmetrical cone of dazzling white. Wyeast (Mount Hood) lifts his head in pride, but Klickitat (Mount Adams) wept to see the beautiful maiden wrapped in snow, so he bends his head as he gazes on St. Helens.

    -- Excerpt from: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Gifford Pinchot National Forest "Mount St. Helens" Brochure, 1980
    --
    With reasonable men I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter. -- William Lloyd
  5. volcano cam by drDugan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    TFA links to a "volcano cam"

    http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/

  6. before and after pics by drDugan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    reading more into the eruption... found some cool before and after pics

    Before:
    http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Imgs/Jpg/MSH/Images/MSH8 0_st_helens_from_johnston_ridge_05-17-80_med.jpg

    After:
    http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Imgs/Jpg/MSH/Images/MSH8 0_st_helens_from_johnston_ridge_09-10-80_med.jpg

    wow

  7. -- I was camping near the blast zone by kefler · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I was pretty young.. but I sort of remember..

    It was a Sunday (for the first bigger eruption in 1980). We were supposedly in the 'safe zone', but we all know how that went. We had just gotten up out of the tents when the ground shook continuously for minutes like an earthquake.. Then we could see a grey cloud rising up near the horizon.

    Very quickly, the cloud appeared to go so high that it was over us. There was lightning at the edge of the cloud. Rain began to fall immediately, I remember it was warm and black.. Looking closely at a drop you could see the individual ash particles.

    By that time, we had pulled up the tent with everything in side it and threw it in the back of the truck in a single motion.

    The ride back to Yakima, WA was slow, and the visibility was just about zero. It was hard to breath and the roads were jammed with panic'd people.. We later found out that the campground we were at was covered in a large amount of burning hot mud.

    When we got home there was ash everywhere, and it stayed dark for what seemed like days. I remember wearing a mask for weeks afterwards to go outside.