St. Helens....takes a dump
 

Interesting blip about the current state of the volcano.....hope it didn't have those burritos.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=231266

Mount St. Helens Sprouts Magma Extension
Mount St. Helens' New Lava Lobe Sprouts a 300-Foot Extension That Glows Red at Night



SEATTLE Nov 5, 2004 — The new lava lobe inside Mount St. Helens' crater has sprouted a piston-like protrusion the size of a 30-story building glowing red at night.

"The magma is pushing the plug upward. It's going high in the sky," said hydrologist Carolyn Driedger of the U.S. Geological Survey at the Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, about 50 miles from the southwestern Washington mountain.

One section of the new lobe has risen by 330 feet in the past nine days, Driedger said Friday. Exact dimensions are not yet known but will be determined from photos taken Thursday.

"It seems like every time you think you know what's going on, (the volcano) twists and does something different," said Jeff Wynn, chief scientist for volcano hazards at the observatory.
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Two scientists flew into the crater by helicopter Thursday and landed beside the new structure, under strict orders to stay no longer than 10 minutes to collect samples, he said.

The new lobe, which began building last month, had grown to roughly the size of an aircraft carrier. Scientists described it as 900 feet long and 250 feet wide.

Magma, or molten rock, is reaching the surface at the rate of 7 to 8 cubic meters about one large dump truck load every second, Wynn said.

Like the old lava dome, formed in the six years after St. Helens' devastating May 18, 1980, eruption, the new lobe is made of a type of volcanic rock called dacite, Wynn said. More than 63 percent silica, it tends to be sticky and viscous, unlike the free-flowing lava of Hawaii.

Temperatures on the new protrusion can spike as high as 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit.

The volcano rumbled back to life Sept. 23, with shuddering seismic activity that peaked above magnitude 3 as hot magma broke through rocks in its path. Molten rock first reached the surface Oct. 11, marking the resumption of dome-building activity that had stopped in 1986.

A more explosive eruption, possibly dropping ash within a 10-mile radius of the crater, is possible at any time, scientists have said.

Yeah right, not me! I like my non life threatening desk job just fine. I don't think my computer is quite as likely to blow up.

how about this is only 1 of 3 semi active volcanoes world wide at the same time.....

Very interesting article tecoyah, thanks. I wonder what that would look like. :crazy:

Hope she blows and takes out Portland!

Why portland? Gotta grudge against them Oregoonians?

I'm about 100 mi. NW of this thing in Puyallup, WA. It's really fascinating to have a volcano in our state that's doing more than just steaming or sitting in a dormat stage forever.

I prefer the volcano in it's steaming and/or dormat stage...

Yeah, its just teasing us now. I want full explosion!

I prefer a Volcano that comes in the form of a drink you can buy at Duffy's Love Shack in Red Hook, St. Thomas USVI. I am fascinated by this natural wonder but I think a safe distance of 50+ miles would do me just fine.

http://www.duffysloveshack.com/image...s/bigshots.jpg

Surely this is incorrect?

I thought there were plenty more than 3 "semi active" volcanoes in the world at the moment.


Mr Mephisto

I have always loved volcanos, and they simply amaze me in their power & energy.

As for the 1 of 3, I'm not sure that is entirely correct.

http://www.geo.mtu.edu/volcanoes/world.html

http://www.vatnajokull.com/img/kort.jpg

one of the volcanoes under the Vatnajökull Glacier just erupted last week...

http://www.mbl.is/frimg/1/81/181074A.jpg

As terrible as the destruction could potentially be this kind of thing is awe inspiring in it's power. To just imagine that there's something out there in nature so intensely powerful as to move the ground under our feet and spew out molten rock. We could never duplicate that power competely.

I heard somewhere - I'm too lazy to look it up now - that the ash from Helen's last blow settled all the way over to touch Minnesota even. Imagine that kind of power - to throw the ash to high as to be blown 3/4's of the way across the U.S. That's power.

I hope they manage to get all the people from the surrounding area to safety this time.

Not to make light of Mt. St. Helen's awesomeness, but her destructive potential is far less disturbing than what's waiting in the Yellowstone Caldera.
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...wstone+Caldera
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...wstone+Caldera
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...wstone+Caldera
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...wstone+Caldera

That is scary.

Then I read a post that put all the crazy stuff in to perspective. ;)
:thumbsup:

man bob is sure is hot up here.. bob?

heh they should have learned from the tragic first time.. get everyone out. two weeks i give it

Hey, some of us have to live in Portland.

:mad: