Volcanic Unrest in Mount St. Helens Crater
By MELANTHIA MITCHELL

SEATTLE (AP) - Seismologists believe there's an increased likelihood of a hazardous event at Mount St. Helens due to a strengthening series of earthquakes at the volcano.

``The key issue is a small explosion without warning. That would be the major event that we're worried about right now,'' said Willie Scott, a geologist with the USGS office in Vancouver.

Initially, hundreds of tiny earthquakes that began Thursday morning had slowly declined through Saturday. By Sunday, however, there had been more than 10 temblors of magnitude 2.0 to 2.8, the most in a 24-hour period since the last dome-building eruption in October 1986, Scott said.

The quakes have occurred at depths less than one mile below the lava dome within the mountain's crater. Some of the earthquakes suggest the involvement of pressurized fluids, such as water or steam, and perhaps magma.


Mount St. Helens is about 55 miles northeast of Portland, Ore.


A group of scientists planned to visit the mountain Monday and conduct a flyover to test for carbon dioxide and sulfur gases, which could suggest the involvement of magma. They'll also erect additional seismic sensors and sophisticated global positioning devices to measure activity.


In the event of an explosion, Scott said the concern would be focused on the area within the crater and the flanks of the volcano. It's possible that a five-mile area primarily north of the volcano could receive flows of mud and rock debris.


That portion of the mountain blew out during the May 18, 1980, eruption that left 57 people dead, devastating hundreds of square miles around the peak and spewing ash over much of the Northwest.


``We haven't had a swarm of earthquakes at Mount St. Helens since 2001,'' state seismologist Tony Qamar said. ``Clearly something new is happening.''


Qamar said if an eruption did occur it would possibly involve ash and steam, called phreatic eruptions.


The cause and outcome of the swarm were uncertain Sunday evening.


``There's been no explosions, there's no outward sign that anything is occurring. This is all based on the pattern of earthquake activity that is occurring below the dome,'' said Scott.


Experts believe there is ``an increased probability of explosions from the lava dome if the level of current unrest continues or escalates,'' USGS and the University of Washington Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network in Seattle said in a joint statement.


A similar swarm of quakes in November 2001 and another in the summer of 1998 did not result in an eruption. However, the quakes could increase the likelihood of small rock slides from the 876-foot-tall lava dome within the mountain's crater.


In the 1986 eruption, magma reached the surface and added to the pile of lava on the crater floor.

Ruh-roh.......

Cool.

I made 4 trips to MSH in the very early '80's.  The first trip was to the top and we didn't make it.  When we came down to the parking area, there were big signs just installed telling us that it was now a misdemenor (sp) for being on the mountain (this was just after it blew and they expected another one anytime).

We then made 1 more attempt to the top and made it and 2 attempts to get to the crater/lava bulge in the center, but didn't make it.  The 1st attempt to the crater, we made the top again (don't ask).  My friend has a video of an airplane flying around inside the crater a couple of thousand feet below while we were on the summit.

$1000 fine, be we never got caught.

Now it's a tourist attraction and all legal.

Thanks,

Merlin

The mountain gods are pissed that the state is going to the sKerry camp.....

Quoted: The mountain gods are pissed that the state is going to the sKerry camp.....

Now THATS FUNNY! I dont care who you are!!

the end is near.

We had to run extra air-filters on the equipment, a very minor inconvenience for the bumper crops that followed the great fertilizer the ash made.

Bring it on its about time, now only if we could get Rainier and Baker to go off, we are over-due for a mega earth quake as well.

Quoted: Quoted: The mountain gods are pissed that the state is going to the sKerry camp..... Now THATS FUNNY! I dont care who you are!!

Although funny, it's not true.  The current election map shows Oregon as a Bush state (by a tiny margin, however).  We just gotta fight to keep it that way.  Blissninnies beware!  Oregon shall remain Republican!

It wants a virgin

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: The mountain gods are pissed that the state is going to the sKerry camp..... Now THATS FUNNY! I dont care who you are!! Although funny, it's not true.  The current election map shows Oregon as a Bush state (by a tiny margin, however).  We just gotta fight to keep it that way.  Blissninnies beware!  Oregon shall remain Republican!

uh....mt st helens is in washington

Quoted: It wants a virgin

Don't we all.

Quoted: The mountain gods are pissed that the state is going to the sKerry camp.....

If that were so, Mount Rainier would blow, wiping Seattle off the map.

Lovely town, too bad it's full of ultra liberal metrosexuals, envirofreaks, socially-conscious yuppies, potheads, dykes, fags, and all sorts of socialist debris.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: The mountain gods are pissed that the state is going to the sKerry camp..... Now THATS FUNNY! I dont care who you are!! Although funny, it's not true.  The current election map shows Oregon as a Bush state (by a tiny margin, however).  We just gotta fight to keep it that way.  Blissninnies beware!  Oregon shall remain Republican! uh....mt st helens is in washington

But it did a lot of damage to Oregon when it blew last time.

Quoted: It wants a virgin

<PAGING CLEAN_CUT, PAGING CLEAN_CUT>

I remember when it blew in 1980


I was riding motorcycles in the mountains in S.E. Washington where I live.

Coming down the mountain and here were these huge clouds which looked like upside down mushroom caps.

Then the ash started falling, it was crazy.

It is still the most impressive thing I have ever witnessed.

Mother nature can be a real bitch sometimes.

Quoted: Quoted: It wants a virgin Don't we all.

Good luck finding one. I think you have to go all the way back to like 3rd grade these days.