The Fury of St Helens

 


   For my geojournal project this week, I was asked to watch a youtube video of a volcanic eruption. I actually ended up going down a rabbithole and spent a solid hour just watching volcanoes spew smoke and ash and lava into the air. An hour well spent! But I had to choose one specific mountain to focus on, and so I picked Mt. St Helen's, which proved to be the deadliest and most powerful volcanic eruption in US history when the top of the mountain was, essentially, blown off back in 1980. It was a moving thing to watch, and I found myself awe-struck, my face inches from my computer monitor, as I watched a solid granite mountain blow itself up with force exceeding 1500 of the atom bombs thay we dropped on Hiroshima.
    I watched some news coverage of the event, and the numbers I kept hearing were staggering. As the hot smoke billowed out of the mountain it melted the water on the mountainside, as well as releasing millions of gallons that were sitting inside earth near the surface of the mountain. 56 billion gallons of water raced down the sides of St Helens. That's billions. With a "b." The smoke and ash blasted over 15 miles into the air, straight up into the stratosphere, before dissipating out and spreading through the sky to fall heavily over a 300 mile radius from the mountain itself. Breathing became impossible directly around St Helens, and the area was coated with enough ash that entire trees were buried beneath it. The power and ferocity of a volcanic eruption is unbelievable. It's even crazier to imagine that the first billion years of our planet's existence were defined by volcanic activity thousands of times more powerful even than Mt. St Helens!
   
I've never lived in a volcanic region before, and so I've never had to consider the risk involved in volcanic activity. Currently, I live on top of an ancient volcano, less than 70 miles from acres and acres of volcanic rock and lava flows. Craters of the moon, a huge volcano field with over 60 lava flows, is 150 miles from me--half the distance covered by the smoke and ash from St Helens. Even more alarming, Yellowstone supervolcano is within a few hours' drive of my current home. Now, granted, if Yellowstone erupts the world is ruined for a while. Even my home state of Texas will be brutally impacted by such an event. And I suppose it's better to live near the impact zone, rather than suffer through the volcanic winter and starvation that comes next. Still, though: the fact that I live in an area with a lot of volcanic activity has only just struck me. I enjoy hiking around Hell's Half Acre and a lot of the granite cliffs and mountainsides around my home. Only now does it really hit me the danger that lurks beneath my feet. The fury of St Helens was something awe-inspiring to behold. I can only imagine the fury of Idaho.










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