Causes Of 1980 Mt. Helens Eruption

Let’s begin with Mount St. Helens which is located in the pacific northwest of the United States. To be more specific it is located in Washington State and is a part of the Cascade mountain range that spans from California to Canada. It is a composite volcano, which has steep sides that are formed by alternating layers of lava

A volcano is an earth hazard that occurs on faults between tectonic plates on a destructive boundary and an eruption is a natural disaster. A primary impact happens immediately after the disaster and before any response like death or collapsing or destruction of buildings. A secondary impact occurs later after the disaster, such less farm produce or a reduction in tourism. The severity of these impacts will differ considerably in a MEDC and LEDC where volcanic eruptions have taken place. These may be seen in the Mount St. Helen volcano eruption as well as in the Iceland volcanic eruption. They may also

A hazard is a situation that poses a level of threat tolife, health, property or environment. The level of hazard posed by different volcanoes can very greatly, from a weak eruption with minimal impact that causes little damage, to a voilent and life threatening explosion. Most of the sixty-plus volcanoes that erupt each year are low risk, however a combination of factors can cause a volcano to be a serious hazard. The factors causing these variations will be explained in this essay.

Have you ever been near a volcano when it erupted? Most of us haven't, but if you're unlucky enough, you just might have. Many people think it would be cool, but it is indeed not. In fact, the people of Pompeii were very unlucky when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. Nearly two-thousand people died. Although that eruption was very similar to the 1980 eruption of Saint Helens, it was also very different.

St.Helens is almost twice the elevation of vesuvius, and “Mt st helens is also almost 23,000 years older than vesuvius. St helens first eruptions of st helens occurred almost 40,000 years ago, and over time those grew into an eruptive series,” this info was according to geology.com. Finally Mount St helens is “exuptive volcanic cone built from over layered ash, pumice, lava flows and volcanic domes and other deposits.” However mount Vesuvius is “part of Campanian Volcanic Arc this is a of line of volcanoes formed over substances zone created by convergence of African and Eurasian

Volcanology – This is another discipline of Geology that studies the Volcanoes and their energy, energy that comes from the heat from inside the Earth and causes eruptions. This studies the volcanoes and its impacts.

“1980 Eruption of Mount St. Helens.” American Disasters: 201 Calamities That Shook the Nation, Checkmark Books, 2008, pp. 370–372.

It was May 18th, 1980. The eruption of Mount St. Helens occurred in Washington,United States. The exact time it had happened is at 8:32:17. The eruption happened 96 miles out South of Seattle, Washington and 50 miles northeast of Portland,Oregon. Many people died during this time. About 50 people had died. 250 homes were destroyed. Along with 47 bridges, 15 miles of railways, 185 miles of highway was also destroyed. Many tiny earthquakes had happened a couple days before the eruption had happened.

Part of St. Helens history is that on November 5, 1805, the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through this area on their way to the Pacific Ocean. In fact, the local Elementary School was named Lewis and Clark Elementary after this historical event. Do not forget the historic Lewis Clark Trail located in St. Helens as well.

Mount St Helens erupted on the 18th May 1980 at 9am and is an active strata volcano Washington State USA, a MEDC. Where as on 18th July 1995, during the daytime, Montserrat, a LEDC during the day, Montserrat's Soufrière Hills composite volcano of a height 1050m, meaning sulphur hills, dormant for centuries, erupted and produced a phreatic eruption. The volcano is a strata volcano also. Mount St. Helens is a composite volcano which lies near to a destructive plate boundary where the small Juan de Fuca Plate is being subducted underneath the North American Plate where as the eruption

It goes on to explain some of the Europeans to first record the sighting of the mountain which happened May nineteenth seventeen ninety-two during the surveying of the northern Pacific Ocean. It was named by Vancouver for a British diplomat, "1st Baron St. Helens," on October twentieth seventeen ninety-two, but before this local Indians had already named it louwala-clough or smoky mountain. In eighteen twenty-nine Hall J. Kelley led a campaign and planned to rename this mountain and all others after one of the United States president, he had tried to rename Mt. St. Helen to Mount Washington. As horrible as the explosion in May og nineteen eighty claimed lives the paper says if the explosion had waited just one day later on Monday rather Sunday when all the people were at work such as loggers they believe the death poll would have been much more higher. A second eruption was noted to had occurred on may twenty-fifth, noone was thankfully hurt and a rather popular film was then created named The Eruption of Mount St. Helen. After all that occurred with the volcano and all it put everyone through president Ronald Reagan in nineteen eighty-two established the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, which still to this day remains a famous natural laboratory for the study of earth processes,nature, and catastrophes. The volcano and the area surrounding still have a long way to go before it recovers and has all the things it had

May 18, 1980 was a day that dawned sunny and beautiful. Mt. St. Helens stood out beautifully against the blue sky. The mountain had been rumbling quite a bit the past few days, and geologists were watching it carefully and monitoring vibrations. There had been a series of earthquakes from around March 12, up until present day. Over 170 earthquakes hit that were higher that 2.5 on the Richter scale in that short period of time. The earth shook with an earthquake that hit 5.0 on the Richter scale, at around 8:32 in the morning. That did it. Mount St. Helens blew apart with the force of over 500 times more powerful than the atomic bomb. The lateral blast traveled at over 300 miles an hour, and destroyed 230 square miles of forest in just 3 minutes.

Mount St. Helens Location: Washington, United States Latitude: 46.20 N Longitude: 122.18 W height: 2,549 meters or 8,364 feet - 9,677 feet before May 18, 1980 Type: Stratovolcano Number of eruptions in past 200 years: 2-3 Latest Eruptions: Between 1660-1700, around 1800-1802, 1831, 1835, 1842-1844, 1847-1854, 1857, 1980-? Present thermal activity: strong steaming Nickname: Mount Fuji of the West Remarks: continuous intermittent activity since 1980 with occasional eruptions of steam and ash; occasional pyroclastic flows; intermittent dome forming. MSH is considered a young volcano that developed over the last 40,000 years and is one of the most active volcanoes in the Cascade Range. Geologists predicted that the

At 8:32am on May 18th, 1980, a massive earthquake that registered a 5.1 on the Richter scale violently shook the mountain. Within 15 seconds of the quake, the entire north face of Mount Saint Helens began to shift and then slide down the mountain, creating the largest landslide in recorded history. The landslide swept down the mountain at speeds between 70 and 150 miles per hour, and consisted of about 23 square miles of material from the mountain (Smith 2006).

Volcanoes and Earthquakes are two of the most intriguing natural disasters that can occur on earth. Unlike hurricanes and tornadoes, they can awaken at almost any point in time throughout the year. These two natural disasters are also different from others because they occur on the layers of the earth itself. Volcanoes, while large to us, are actually small, conical patches of earth that spurt and ooze hot molten lava from the core, and can destroy areas of land triple their size. Earthquakes, on the other hand, are severe jolts felt on land due to the movement of earths tectonic plates. Some may describe earthquakes as being similar to riding a bike down a flight of stairs. The impact of an earthquakes can take down even the largest buildings and strongest structures. All natural disasters can have damaging effects on land, some more than others, and all can be measured or predicted in different ways. Although earthquakes and volcanoes are similar to each other, the two are still very comparable. A few of these similarities and differences include the cause of their occurrence, and how their occurrence impacts the environment.