MOUNT ST.

HELENS CASE STUDY

3 foto

Contents:
Location:
1) Location of Mount ST. Helens
Cause and countdown to eruption:
2) Why did the mountain erupt?
3) Countdown to disaster, how did it erupt?
4) What action did the local authorities take?
Effects of eruction:
5) What were the primary and secondary effects of the eruption to:
i)
ii)
iii)

The local area

The local people
The local economy

Continuing to live near Mount ST Helens:

6) How did people respond to the volcanic eruption (before/after)?
7) Why do you think people continue to live in this area today?

Mount ST. Helens is a composite volcano, that means it is built up by

many layers. It is also called stratovolcano and is part of Cascade Range
being located at approximately 50 miles north-west of Portland, Oregon. This
mountain is considered a young active volcano although is almost 4000 years
old. The volcano has had 4 long periods of volcanic activity, each period
lasting hundreds of years and now its in one of the activ period.
The Native Americans that were living in that area called the volcano
the smoking mountain.
The name of the mountain comes from the British diplomat Lord ST.
Helens who was a friend of explorer George Vancouver, who was tghe first
European who discoverd the volcano, while he was exploring the northern
Pacific Coast from 1792 to 1794.

Location:
Mount ST. Helens is located in Skamania County (Washington), in the
Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The volcano is located in the
Cascade Range and is part of Cascade Volcanic Arc.
MAP PHOTO (2)

Cause and contdown to eruption:

According to geologic evidences and history it is belived that Mount St.
Helens erupted for the first time between 1600 and 1700, again in 1800, and
then quite frequently between 1831 and 1857. After 1857, the volcano grew
quiet becoming picturesque place where many people built houses around the
volcano,
Mount ST. Helens is the most active volcano in Cascade Range for over
4000 years and is the most well-known because of its catatrophic eruption on
May 18, 1980, at 8:32 am.
Before the eruption on March 20, 1980 there was an earthquake with
magnitude 4.1 and that was the first sign that the volcano reawakened. On
March 27 there was a small explosion that made 250 foot hole in the
mountain. This caused fears of injuries from rockslides sothe entire area was
evacuated. Similar eruption to the one on March 27 continued for the next
month in april.
At 8:32 a.m. on May 18,1980, there was a new earthquake with 5.1
magnitude under Mount St. Helens. In only 10 seconds the entire area was
covered by a gigantic rock avalanche. The avanche destroyed everything in
its path. The blast of pomice and ash travelled at 300 miles per hour and was
350C hot. The blast killed everything in a 200-square mile area. The
eruption lasted 9-hours. The people who were caught in the area couldnt
escape the avalanche and thr blast.

nt St. Helens is most notorious for its catastrophic eruption on May 18, 1980, at 8:32
am PDT,[2] the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the
history of the United States. Fifty-seven people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15
miles (24 km) of railways, and 185 miles (298 km) of highway were destroyed.

Before the eruption the scientists convinced the local

authorities to close Mount St. Helens to the general public
and to maintain this decision even if there was big pressure
tu reopen it, in this way their decision saved thousands of
lives.
The formation of volcanoes is a long and slow process. It
begins with continental and oceanic plates. The continents lie
on plates that slide along the asthenosphere. The oceans also
lie on the same plates and slide across the astenosphere in
thr same way. The intense collision of these two plates results
in the formation of great volcanoes like Mount St. Helens. The
collision was slow : it began with the subduction of the
oceanic plate ( Juan De Fuca Plate in the case of St. Helens)
under the continental plate (North American Plate).
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Media:Cascade_Range_related_plate_tectonics-en.svg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_eruption_of_Mount_St._Helens
the continents lie on plates that slide along the asthenosphere

i)
ii)

http://www.terra.unimo.it/appunti/511.pdf 2.2

For the scientists and others who were caught in the area, there was no way to
outrun either the avalanche or the blast. Fifty-seven people were killed. It is
estimated that about 7,000 large animals such as deer, elk, and bears were
killed and thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of small animals died
from the volcanic eruption.
Mt. St. Helens had been surrounded by a lush forest of coniferous trees and
numerous clear lakes before the blast. The eruption felled entire forests,
leaving only burned tree trunks all flattened in the same direction. The
amount of timber destroyed was enough to build about 300,000 two-bedroom
homes. A river of mud traveled down the mountain, caused by melted snow
and released groundwater, destroying approximately 200 houses, clogging up
shipping channels in the Columbia River, and contaminating the beautiful
lakes and creeks in the area.
Mt. St. Helens is now only 8,363-feet tall, 1,314-feet shorter than it was
before the explosion. Though this explosion was devastating, it will certainly
not be the last eruption from this very active volcano.