Kilauea and Mt St Helens Comparison

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

analyse the factors that cause differences in the hazards posed by volcanoes around the world (40 marks)

There is an assortment of geologic activity at Yellowstone and Hawaii. At Yellowstone there are 1,000-3,000 earthquakes per year at Yellowstone. There are also over 10,000 thermal features found in Yellowstone (Volcano Questions & Answers). In Hawaii Mauna Loa and Kilauea are regarded as active volcanoes. Mauna Loa last erupted in 1984 and scientist predict this volcano will erupt again in the future. Kilauea is the world most active volcano and has been continuously erupting since 1983

Kilauea is one of the most active volcanoes on Earth, and it is the youngest. Kilauea stands just under 4,200 feet tall above sea level at its highest point.

Volcanoes are one of the most destructive, yet, most beautiful things on Earth. They can make a famous city choke in its own ashes in one day, like Pompeii. Or they can turn a once damaging mountain into a graceful and peaceful home for new life, like Mount St. Helen’s. All volcanoes are unique, and no two are the same. Some erupt differently than others, some look different than others, and all are located in different spots all over the world. I learned this while completing the project and the five volcanoes I researched are examples of my discoveries. The five volcanoes I researched were Mount Hood, Mount Mageik, Long Island, Mount Muria, and Las Pilas.

The location of the volcano is also important. If it is situated on a constructive plate boundary then it is generally less explosive, and therefore poses different threats to volcanoes situated on a destructive plate boundary. The volcano may also be situated on a hotspot like in Hawaii, where the eruptions aren’t very explosive. Volcanos which aren’t explosive can pose other threats to lava flows though, such as dangerous gases being released. Like in Lake Nyos, Cameroon where 1700 people died.

One physical factor which causes differences in a volcanic hazard is the steepness of the volcano. If the volcanoes sides are of a steep gradient then the lava from the volcano would flow must faster than if the sides were a steady gradient. Mount Nyiragongo for

Imagine a single event that can kill 57 people and 7000 deer and elk. Snap trees like a toothpick, and turn the sky grey for 15 days. Now, stop imagining, Mount St. Helens, in the Cascade Range of southwestern Washington State, erupted. On May 18th,1980. According to (Campbell 371), “At least $1 billion in economic damage was reported”. The eruption of Mount St. Helens took many lives, and devastated America. Mount St. Helens destroyed more than 230 square miles of ancient forest.

As the crust moves away from the volcanoes and cools and becomes less dense and breaks up.

On May 18th, 1980 one of the worst volcanic eruptions occurred in the United States. Triggered by an earthquake, Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington State at 8:39am. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it was "the deadliest and most economically destructive event in the history of the United States." There were many effects from this terrible, natural event. People, animals, and the environment were all effected.

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.

After more then 40,000 years of activity, one would expect that people would no longer live in the surrounding shadow of Mt. St. Helens. But regardless, many towns and cities sit inside of a zone that would face destruction if a large eruption took place. In 1980 Mt. St. Helens erupted and caused the loss of many lives and the destruction of thousands of miles of land and property. Following the eruption, the volcano has stayed extremely active. In 2004 it erupted again, building a new lava dome and sending ash and steam into the atmosphere. Since then, seismologists and volcanologists have recently discovered pockets of magma rising and that another eruption may occur soon. Even though the people of Washington know that an eruption could cause widespread devastation they continue with their lives, doing little to prepare for the potential disaster.

The blast was preceded by two months of intense activity that included over 10,000 earthquakes, hundreds of small phreatic (steam blasts) , explosions and the north side bulge. A magnitude 5.1 earthquake below the volcano at 8:32 am started the eruption. MSH is still a potentially dangerous and active volcano even though it has been quiet since 1995. In the last 515 years there have been four major eruptions and dozens of lesser eruptions. Two of the eruptions were only two years apart. In 1480, the eruption was about five times larger than the one in May 1980. There have been even larger eruptions during MSH' 50,000 year lifetime. After the May 18, 1980 eruption, there have been five smaller explosive eruptions over a five month period. Since then, there have been 16 dome building eruptions through October 1986 when the new dome in the crater was formed. As the mountain was torn open, the pressure in inside was suddenly relieved. The rock shattered inside the mountain was exploded out the top at speeds over 200 miles per hour. The blast was so strong that it leveled whole forest of fir trees. Geologist call this a "stone wind" since the winds carried the rocks form the blast with them. The rocks gave the winds extra force that let them flatten the trees. 150 square miles of land was leveled. The edges of this area also lost their forested areas from the heat of the blast and the fires it caused. The original blast of the