Mount St. Helens Volcanic Monument

by Lyuba Filatova

Title

Mount St. Helens Volcanic Monument

Artist

Lyuba Filatova

Medium

Photograph

Description

Mt. St. Helens National Park is located in Washington State off I-5 approximately 2.5 hours south of Seattle and 1.5 hours north of Portland. It is visited by more than 500,000 visitors a year.
At 8:32 Sunday morning, May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted, shaken by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale, the north face of this tall symmetrical mountain collapsed in a massive rock debris avalanche. In a few moments this slab of rock and ice slammed into Spirit Lake, crossed a ridge 1,300 feet high, and roared 14 miles down the Toutle River. The avalanche rapidly released pressurized gases within the volcano. A tremendous lateral explosion ripped through the avalanche and developed into a turbulent, stone-filled wind that swept over ridges and toppled trees. Nearly 150 square miles of forest was blown over or left dead and standing. At the same time a mushroom-shaped column of ash rose thousands of feet skyward and drifted downwind, turning day into night as dark, gray ash fell over eastern Washington and beyond. Wet, cement-like slurries of rock and mud scoured all sides of the volcano. Searing flows of pumice poured from the crater. The eruption lasted 9 hours, but Mount St. Helens and the surrounding landscape were dramatically changed within moments. A vast, gray landscape lay where once the forested slopes of Mount St. Helens grew. In 1982 the President and Congress created the 110,000-acre National Volcanic Monument for research, recreation, and education. Inside the Monument, the environment is left to respond naturally to the disturbance.
What will you see? Surviving plants and animals rise out of the ash, colonizing plants catch hold of the earth, birds and animals find a niche in a different forest on the slopes of Mount St. Helens.
The volcano continued to erupt until 1986, violently at first, then quietly building a lava dome. Thick pasty lava eruptions oozed out, each one piling on top of the next, like pancakes in a sloppy pile. The lava dome is now 920 feet high. The United States Geological Survey scientists continue to monitor the volcano for earthquakes, swelling, and gas emissions.

Feature:
Go Take a Hike Photography Group 02/23/2022
Tree of Life 09/05/2019
Mountains Are Calling My Name 08/23/2019
The Weekenders 03/23/2019
Women Photographers 12/29/2018
Grow Your Audience 12/28/2018
Your Very Best Photography 09/25/2018
Contemporary 09/04/2018
Dancing The Walls 08/23/2018
On the Edge 08/20/2018
The Niche 08/18/2018
New FAA uploads 08/04/2018
World Art Spotlight 07/30/2018
Daily Promotion 07/24/2018
Travel Art 07/23/2018
Just perfect 06/30/2018
Everyday Wonder 06/30/2018
Images That Excite You 06/30/2018
Your Story of Art 06/30/2018

Uploaded

June 29th, 2018

Statistics

Viewed 452 Times  -  Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/21/2024 at 10:30 PM

Colors

Embed

Share

Sales Sheet

Tags