Mount St. Helens

On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens exploded with a force comparable to 500 Hiroshima-sized atom bombs. David Johnston, a United States Geological Survey (USGS) geologist based at a monitoring station six miles (9.7 km) away announced the eruption with his final words, "Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it." Dramatic photograph's provided the public with an awesome display of nature's power.

Mount St. Helens, in southwestern Washington near Portland, Oregon, is part of the Cascade Range, a chain of subduction volcanoes running from northern California through Washington. The Mount St. Helens eruption was instrumental in the expansion of the USGS Volcano Hazards Program. Research at the new Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington, has strengthened basic understanding of volcanic processes and the ability to predict eruptions. Highly relevant ecological studies have corrected previous errors and misconceptions, leading to a new theory about nature's ability to recover after such events.

Research has heightened public awareness of the inherent instability of high, snow-covered volcanoes, where even small eruptions can almost instantaneously melt large volumes of snow. A relatively small 1985 eruption at Nevado del Ruiz in central Colombia killed more than 23,000 people. The Mount St. Helens blast and subsequent collapse generated a 0.7 cubic mile (2.8 km³) mud flow which raced 22 miles (35 km) at speeds as high as 157 mph (253 kph). This caused massive problems, even halting traffic on the Columbia River. These flows may also create unstable dams, which may burst years after the intial eruption.

In addition to its awesome power and destructive force, the Mount St. Helens eruption has provided rich material for research. Conductivity studies have located a large rotating block under Mounts Rainier, Adams, and St. Helens, the friction from which is a likely source of eruptions. Geologic mapping and historical research, coupled with field studies of current volcanism, have corrected misconceptions and given clues to hazard frequency. Studies of nature's recovery efforts have produced surprises, notably the early arrival in the eruption zone of predatory insects; elk grazing in open, reforested areas; and the explosive growth of uncommon, dangerous bacteria due to the high temperatures generated by the eruption. Biological legacy has emerged as the unifying theory describing nature's recovery capabilities, an idea with direct applications to forestry practices and reclamation of human-disturbed land. Nature's mess provides valuable nutrients and nurseries; furthermore, old growth areas within managed ecosystems nurture the recovery of biodiversity.

Mount St. Helens has provided a unique laboratory for study of volcano hazards and nature's ability to recover from the devastation caused by volcanic eruptions.

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