USGS says Mt. St. Helens magma re-pressurizing

Scientists from the USGS say that magma levels inside Mt. St. Helens is rising. The report states that the magma is percolating and in several areas around the crater the magma is moving away from the mountain.

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They say that this is normal though, and that it will not erupt. Just thought this was news to add along with all the other headlines about volcanic and earthquake activity around the ring of fire, especially the western US (Yellowstone and California). Better to keep an eye on these developments and be prepared should things escalate. The last eruption at Mt. St. Helens was in 2004, with a major historical eruption happening way back in 1980.

Seth Moran with the USGS says the molten phase that the volcano is going through right now is normal. It’s last dome-building eruptive phase ended in 2008.

Moran says there is no impending threat of an eruption, but does predict that it will be the next tornado to blow in the Cascades. Sometime perhaps within the next 20 to 200 years.

a reply to: Rezlooper

I watched the Mt. St. Helens 1980 eruption from a safe distance away though we were still pretty heavily impacted by ash. Was one hell of a sight and experience. Fortunately (and unfortunately), the type of volcanoes that comprise the Cascades are andesite volcanoes. It'll be very long time before St. Helens has another sizable eruption of the magnitude of the 1980 eruption. What I'm wondering is if there are similar magma movements in the other volcanoes within the Cascades (ie Rainier, Hood, Jefferson)?

Mt. Hood's last activity was in the 19th century. Mt. Rainier last erupted around a thousand years ago and Mt. Jefferson hasn't erupted in 10,000 years. Those latter two are the worrisome ones as they are still considered active but "sleeping".

a reply to: WhiteAlice

Here's what the volcano pages at USGS says about the Cascades. It says that even Mt. St. Helens is normal right now.

CASCADE RANGE VOLCANOES
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN

Activity Update: All volcanoes in the Cascade Range of Oregon and Washington are at normal levels of background seismicity. These include Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Adams in Washington State; and Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson, Three Sisters, Newberry, and Crater Lake in Oregon.

Recent Observations: All the volcanoes were relatively quiet seismically and exhibited only typical background activity. The stage on regional rivers, which had been elevated owing to storms, has been slowly but steadily declining. The Cascades Volcano Observatory issued an information statement on 30 April 2014 summarizing geodetic- and seismological evidence for re-pressurization of the magma reservoir beneath Mount St. Helens since 2008. There is no evidence to suggest that this re-pressurization portends an imminent eruption.

Source

a reply to: Rezlooper

Yeah, I checked the pages myself after I was thinking about those other mountains. Nah, my experience with the Mt. St. Helens' eruption didn't scar me at all.

lol