Mt. St. Helens

There's been some earthquakes and steam/smoke coming out from Mt. St. Helens recently, and now the earth scientists (geologists?) are starting to get nervous. Some of them think that a small or medium eruption may occur very soon. I think that'd be kind of cool, unless it's got lava in it, which they say is possible.
It's been about 24 years since the last explosion, so some people say that there hasn't been enough time for pressure to build up yet, but the lava level rose about 6 miles in 1998, but never quite reached up there. There may be enough pressure to have a few eruptions, so this may be interesting to watch.
Anyways, if there is an eruption, I bet that some of the ash will get over here. We're not close enough to be evacuated with we had to be, but we'd still get covered probably. We're about 1 hr.+ away from the mountain.

Ouch... Good thing that the eruption won't be as big as the one years ago. The ashes travelled all the way to Vancouver too! It was insane.

Eruptions must a bit nasty... hope its not too bad

That would suck..

It's probably the only recognizable active volcano in the States..yeah. o_O

We live in Bellevue (a city right next to Seattle), and our science teacher is obsessed about it, and gets up at 5 a.m. every day to see what the news is on it. She says that there's a bulge that's risen 4 cm in 24 hours (That is EXTREMELY significant because most movement like that is 1-4 cm a YEAR), and is going to blow any time now. The bulge is the result of magma pushing up on it. I can't wait to see what happens! Also, the eruption in '80 only killed 57 people that were stupid enough to stay next to the mountain when it was going to blow. It wasn't like it was dangerous or anything, but cities and towns next to it withing about 100 miles got covered with blankets of ash. I'm a Boy Scout, and we were planning to take a hike to the summit of Mt. St. Helens this weekend, but we've had to relocate the trip because of the current volcanic activity. It kinda sucks because I was looking foward to it, but at the same time it's awesome that we'll be able to witness the mountain erupt right from our own homes.

Originally Posted by Kazan

It's probably the only recognizable active volcano in the States..yeah. o_O

Mt. St. Helens is not really 'active' in a way that most volcano's are. An active volcano is probably something like you'd find in Hawaii, which errupts far more then once every 24 years. Or however long it was when St. Helens did it's first erruption.

Its most likely not going to be as disasterous (spelling, I know.) as the last, but they ARE unpredictable for the most part. So...I dunno. ^_^;, let's just hope not though.

Not hoping for a chaotic disaster, but I'm rather hoping for an interesting eruption. Then again, mud slides and lava bombs might cause structural damages and possibly deaths... So... Meh.

Originally Posted by Cheesydude

It kinda sucks because I was looking foward to it, but at the same time it's awesome that we'll be able to witness the mountain erupt right from our own homes.

Yeah, my little brother's class was going to go to Mt. St. Helens for a field trip, but it had to be postponed until later. He's a bit mad about that too.

Yeah, today we all got a little paper thing saying that the school district has is all undercontrol. and that if it were to erupt they have proper safty measures.

if it were to blow, then all you have to do is stay inside while the ashes fell, unless you live really close to it, then you're screwed.
I really don't think it's gonna erupt... just cause.

Don't forget the oh so wonderful paraclastic blast...parablastic blast...bara...you get the point.

I just got a call from my dad. He says Mt. St. Helens is erupting right now, but I can't see it due to all the trees, but I think I'd be able to see something....and last night they said an eruption was 70% likely....stay tuned....
EDIT: Well, as it turns out, Mt. St. Helens did erupt a bit. But basically, it was nothing.
It just urped out a little bit of ash. Nothing big. All the earthquakes around there have stopped. The reason I couldn't see it from here is that it was too small to see. Nothing big. It's over.

Actually, it's far from over. Earthquakes have been increasing in frequency again, and there is the possiblity of an eruption tommorow, and it will probably be bigger too. There are three conduits inside the mountain. Two are lateral conduits (sticking out diagonally) and one is sticking straight up. The lateral one on the side where there is no longer a peak is the one that erupted in 1980. The other lateral one is the one where it erupted today. Something such as magma or gas is trying to escape, and that's why there was an eruption. There is a plug on all three conduits, but the weakest one is being pushed on. So far, the plug has only been partially destroyed, and is still very much intact. As soon as the pressure is strong enough, it will blast out of the plug and cause the REAL eruption. There is, of course, the possibility that the eathquakes will die down again and the mountain won't erupt for a long while more, but scientists are almost 100% sure that it WILL erupt again, and most likely this weekend or the following week.

Let us hope there's a second caldera so that the volcano will be plugged again.

I guess so.

Just saw some pictures, it looked pretty cool. Just hope there isn't injuries or whatever if like any people live nearby or anything. =/

Originally Posted by Ameera Mae Laramie

Mt. St. Helens is not really 'active' in a way that most volcano's are. An active volcano is probably something like you'd find in Hawaii, which errupts far more then once every 24 years. Or however long it was when St. Helens did it's first erruption.

Mount St Helens is an active volcano as it's erupted 14 times in the past 1,000 years IIRC. It sits on a weak fault in the Cascades which is known to pump lava out very easily.
Any eruption from this mountain will certainly be barely "entertaining" unless you're into steam and such.
Geologists and vulcanolgists have found trace amounts of sulphur dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, gasses very common before a volcano erupts, as it usually signals that lava is nearby.
If anything, people in Washington and British Columbia should be more scared about Mount Rainier (Google "electron mudflow" and "Osceola mudflow") and Mount Baker.

Originally Posted by Cheesydude

Actually, it's far from over. Earthquakes have been increasing in frequency again, and there is the possiblity of an eruption tommorow, and it will probably be bigger too. There are three conduits inside the mountain. Two are lateral conduits (sticking out diagonally) and one is sticking straight up. The lateral one on the side where there is no longer a peak is the one that erupted in 1980. The other lateral one is the one where it erupted today. Something such as magma or gas is trying to escape, and that's why there was an eruption. There is a plug on all three conduits, but the weakest one is being pushed on. So far, the plug has only been partially destroyed, and is still very much intact. As soon as the pressure is strong enough, it will blast out of the plug and cause the REAL eruption. There is, of course, the possibility that the eathquakes will die down again and the mountain won't erupt for a long while more, but scientists are almost 100% sure that it WILL erupt again, and most likely this weekend or the following week.

Well, when I heard that it was over, they said things had stopped, but now it seems that there's more stuff coming. I think that it'll probably be just like that little thing that just recently happened. The first thing blasted like 80,000 feet I think, while this last one blasted only 9,000 feet. Mt. St. Helens may just have a little gas it needs out, but now they've evacuated a bunch of people. I seriously doubt we'll get blasted like last time.