Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Mount Saint Helens, volcanic peak in the Cascade Range, southwestern Washington, U.S. Its eruption on May 18, 1980, was one of the greatest volcanic explosions ever recorded in North America. A total of 57 people and thousands of animals were killed in the event.
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.
Mount St. Helens is primarily an explosive dacite volcano with a complex magmatic system. The volcano was formed during four eruptive stages beginning about 275,000 years ago and has been the most active volcano in the Cascade Range during the Holocene.
Mount St. Helens is 34 miles (55 km) west of Mount Adams, in the western part of the Cascade Range. Considered "brother and sister" mountains, the two volcanoes are approximately 50 miles (80 km) from Mount Rainier, the highest of the Cascade volcanoes.
Topographic map of Mount St. Helens, Washington, showing changes between April 11 and May 16, 1980
Functioning as the gateway to the National Forest Service monument, Mount St Helens Visitor Center will entice you with scientific displays, a movie theatre and educational opportunities. Map & visitor guide
In fact, Mount Saint Helens is actually closer to the city of Portland in Oregon than it is to Seattle, Washington. To give you a general sense of where it is located, I have provided an area map for you to review in my Mount St. Helens visitor guide below.
1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. On March 27, 1980, a series of volcanic explosions and pyroclastic flows began at Mount St. Helens in Skamania County, Washington, United States. A series of phreatic blasts occurred from the summit and escalated until a major explosive eruption took place on May 18, 1980, at 8:32 am.
Blowdown of trees from the shock-wave of the directed (lateral) blast from the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Elk Rock is the peak with a singed area on the left. The landslide removed Mount St. Helens' northern flank, including part of the cryptodome that had grown inside the volcano.
Explore Mount Saint Helens in Google Earth.