March 29, 2017

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Magnificent Mount Saint Helens Photos, Part 7

Further adventures in volcanic photography

By Dana Hunter

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Here are yet more delights I found for you whilst spelunking the USGS photo database. The May 18th and its aftermath presented us with some really spectacular photo opportunities, and we've a long way to go before we've enjoyed them all.

This is one of the more cheerful of the early maps drawn depicting the damage wot Mount St. Helens wrought.

Image is a map of mudfloows, tree blowdowns, the debris flow, and ash flows. The map is mostly watercolor shades of greens and greenish-blues, with a bit of brown, tan and red.
Map of features and deposits of Mount St. Helens. Map by J. Moore. Image and Caption Credit: USGS
 

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Mount St. Helens in eruption on May 18th. I'm quite fascinated by how straight a slice was taken off the top of the volcano. Aside from the notch in the north, it's almost like someone took a machete and lopped off the summit. I hope that somewhere in the remainder of Professional Paper 1251, someone explains why.

Image shows the shorn-off summit of Mount St. Helens with a huge column of ash boiling up into the sky. It looks like a monochrome image because the ash has shut out the sun and turned everything various shades of gray.
Oblique aerial view of the eruption of May 18, 1980, which sent volcanic ash, steam, water, and debris to a height of 60,000 feet. The mountain lost 1300 feet of altitude and about 2/3-cubic mile of material. Note the material streaming downward from the center of the plume and the formation and movement of pyroclastic flows down the left flank of the volcano. Photo by Austin Post. Skamania County, Washington. May 18, 1980. Image and Caption Credit: USGS
 

Here's a rather nice view of Mount St. Helens's truncated top, showing where all the glaciers are. The poor buggers were basically beheaded when the mountain blew.

Black and white image shows the truncated summit of Mount St. Helens, with the notch in the north rim to the left. Notations and arrows point to the former locations of Forsyth, Nelson, Ape, and Shoestring glaciers along the rim.
Aerial view of crater rim following the May 18 eruption. Arrows above the far rim indicate exposed cross sections (left to right) of Forsyth, Nelson, Ape, and Shoestring Glaciers. The horizontal arrow on the near slope indicates typical rills and channels through ash deposits into Talus Glacier (note crevasse further down the glacier). Dark (wet) streaks to the left indicate the ash covered Toutle Glacier. Photo 8059-115 by Austin Post. Skamania County, Washington. July 24, 1980. Figure 7 in U.S. Geological Survey. Circular 850-D. 1981. Image and Caption Credit: USGS
 

Some absolutely luscious erosion in the blast deposits. Check out those enormous trees being unearthed!

Image is an aerial view looking down on on a sizeable erosion channel stretching from the lower left to middle right of the photo. Another channel crosses its end, making a T. Two geologists stand on the bank of the first channel, looking down at the enormous tree trunks lodged in the debris, revealed by the erosion. One of them has made a bridge.
Some absolutely luscious erosion in the blast deposits. Check out those enormous trees being unearthed! Image and Caption Credit: USGS
 

You'll all be glad to know that, although I came to the end of the results from my original search term, I just uncovered about a thousand more photos by using a different search term. So you're all gonna be getting images of Mount St. Helens for some time.

Color image shows a tall mound of volcanic debris with a cirque-like channel carved in it. Water is gushing from the talus three-quarters of the way down. A man in jeans and a t-shirt is standing beside the spring, looking toward the camera with his hands on his hips.
Shortly after the eruption water was flowing through the mudflow and entering the stream at the canyon as a spring. This water is clear and cold. You notice the stratigraphy of the mudflow and debris deposited throughout. Man for scale. Skamania County, Washington. 1980. Image and Caption Credit: USGS
 

Avalanche lilies growing in a channel eroded into volcanic deposits. It's amazing how those delicate little things thrived in so much destruction.

Image shows a bank of dark gray ash. Erosion has carved a shallow, sinuous channel in the ash. Lovely white avalanche lilies are growing in the channel, their green leaves vivid against the gray.
Avalanche lilies in bloom above St. Helens Lake, north of Mount St. Helens. Skamania County, Washington. June 20, 1980. Image and Caption Credit: USGS
 

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