Mount St. Helen's Eruption
By: Rylee Dickerson, Amanda DeVaul and Julianna Barraza
Mount St. Helen's... The great majestic volcano!
Mount St. Helen's eruption in 1980, became the most known in North America! Mount Saint Helen's is located southwestern of Washington and 50 miles northeast of Portland. Mt St Helen is a active stratovolcano. This volcano is 40,000 years old. Another name for Mount Saint Helen's is called Fujiyama of America. Also Mount St Helen's is located in the Ring of Fire.
Before The Disaster
Mount St. Helen's was full of life! It was blooming with thousands of species of flowers and trees! The grass was green and the soil was rich. Spirit Lake was swarming with different types of fish and water plants were in the lake. It was the perfect place to camp out and relax!
How Did This Volcano Become Famous?!
- Seismographs were signaling at 5.1 earthquake forming under the volcano
- Energy from the earths core could no longer with hold its power
- On May 17,1980, Mt. St. Helen's erupted for the first time
- The eruption lasted for at least 9 hours
- No signs of life were found after the disaster
- A huge mushroom shaped cloud full of ash filled the sky
- The ash traveled into about 9 different states
- This was the largest explosion in US history
Mount St. Helens Disintegrates in Enormous Landslide
Abotic and Biotic factors affected by the blast...
Abiotic
- The sun was covered by the ash for days
- Spirit Lake's water was filled with debris
- The forest trees and plants were burned
- 57 people were killed
- All species of fish and animals were wiped out
After The Explosion
After the explosion, there was no sign of living life. All the plants and trees were burned and turned into ash. A total of 57 people were killed. There was debris every where. The nearby lake, Spirit Lake was filled with ash...No one ever thought that the forest would ever recover.
Life in the Mountain!
After many months after the blast, the first sign of life appeared! Little hole gophers popped out one by one from the ground! When the explosion was starting, the gophers buried themselves into the ground for shelter. After the discovery of the gophers, they discovered the Prairie Lupen, which started the vegetation of new life on the mountain! In 1986, the mountain, goes silent.
Replenishing The Forest and Lake!
Many months after the explosion, scientists discovered plankton in Spirit Lake!! Soon after the plankton arrived, thousands of species of fish returned to the area too! Trees and plants were thriving with health. Eventually the Elk came back, as well as many species of animals too. The rate of growth was faster than expected.
This is the mountain during the explosion
This is Spirit Lake before and after the eruption
You can see the caved in "bowl" in the mountain
This is a car after the explosions and earthquake
After the Disaster
You can see the piles of ash covering up of what used to be the forest floor.
Spirit Lake
This is Spirit Lake, blooming with Prairie Lupine!
City Life
People around the area had to wear masks to protect themselves from the ash.