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Picture of the day - April 1, 2006
Mount St. Helens
Photo courtesy of
Paolo Gaspar.
Today's picture features beautiful Mount St. Helens, the site of the most
famous volcanic eruption of modern times. Part of the Cascade Mountain range,
Mount St. Helens lies approximately 100 miles south of Seattle, Washington.
Mount St. Helens had lain dormant since its last eruption back in 1857, but this
sleeping giant awoke at 8:32 am on May 18, 1980 sending a huge mushroom-shaped
column of ash thousands of feet into the air. Day turned into night in many
communities as the ash drifted downwind.
Prior to the 1980 eruption, Mount St. Helens had a nearly perfect symmetrical
volcanic cone reminiscent of Japan's
Mount Fuji, but on that
fateful day much of the mountain's north face simply collapsed, becoming a
massive avalanche of rocks. 230 square miles of Washington forest land was
either buried beneath volcanic deposits or blown down by the force of the blast
in a virtual instant. Today, the long-famous volcanic cone is gone and a
gigantic crater sits in its place.
Residents of the Pacific Northwest and points downwind from Mount St. Helens
now live with an uneasy feeling about their famous neighbor. Although the
time since the last eruption has been relatively quiet, the giant has certainly
not went back to sleep. Columns of volcanic ash and gas continue to rise from
the enormous crater, and geologists believe that another major eruption is a
real possibility.
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