NEWS: Mount St. Helens Quake Swarm; Warnings of Potential Volcanic Unrest

After a swarm of more than 300 mild to moderate earthquakes shook the Mammoth Lake caldera region on the CA & NV border, Washington state's Mt. St. Helens is showing a level of increased seismic activity not seen in years. Initially, scientists stated they did not believe the shallow tremblors were indicitive of a magma buildup or potential eruption, but they would continue to monitor the situation closely. However, on Sept 26th the USGS issued a Notice of Volcanic Unrest indicating concern that the seismic activity could potentially relate to a pending volcanic release.





A graph from the University of Washington shows the dramatic increase in activity and energy release over the last two days.
Another graph from the U of W illustrates activity & energy increases in relation to magmatic eruptions, dome growth, and phreatic (steam) explosions.

Additional graphs showing the magnitude and depth of MSH quakes can be compared between the 1980 and 1985 eruptions and the quakes in the past decade:
1980-1998
1994-Present

It appears that this swarm is at a quantity and shallowness that hasn't been seen in the last decade.

Mount St. Helens' last major eruption was on May 18, 1980 with a pyroclastic flow covering 6 square miles and measuring between 3 and 30 feet thick. 57 people died and many more were injured.

Webcorders of MSH Seismic Activity:
www.ess.washington.edu...
www.ess.washington.edu...

Live MSH Webcam:
www.fs.fed.us...

Related ATSNN Stories:
70+ Quakes Shake Nevada/California Border


[edit on 28-9-2004 by Banshee]

I'd be more worried about Mt. Rainer... Can you imagine the entire Seattle Metro area getting toasted???

I wonder if they can vent the magma some boreholes or something to prevent a catastrophic eruption. Whenever I see or hear magma, I picture Dr. Evil

This is actually a huge event, never before in our history have we been given a chance to learn so much from the earth. Scientists have the mountain wired from top to bottom and have just been waiting for such an increase in energy.

Cant wait to see what we gain, if anything, from this

Just curious, are there any potential end-of-times threat to this mountain going active? Or just the surrounding area? Sorry if its an ignorant question.. I dont keep up on all the predicitions and doom 'n gloom stories

[edit on 24-9-2004 by QuietSoul]

Originally posted by Gazrok
I'd be more worried about Mt. Rainer... Can you imagine the entire Seattle Metro area getting toasted???

I would be more worried about a new Yellowstone Supervolcano eruption...

I don't know of any end time prophecies concerning St.Helens, but it sure is an awe inspiring site. I live in the NW and we camped in the Cascades near Mt. Adams a couple years ago and spent a day at Helen's hiking around near the top. It's amazing how life has come back in SOME areas yet most of the immediate blast radius looks nearly like it did post eruption (minus the ash of course), the trees are layed down like matchsticks and the topsoil was BLOWN away. I do actually dread the day Rainier goes, it will be a disaster unlike any this country has experienced.

Could be mountain is just rebuilding itself. When the mountain blew the last time, there were a lot of other obvious signs - one being mini plumes, crater development, quakes above 2.5 (many), etc.

The last time St Helens blew, it ruined the paint job on my car. It REALLY s****d. Guess I better check the seals on my garage door!

Wouldn't drilling on an active volcano in an attempt to vent the magma cause a catastrophic release of pressure and thereby trigger an eruption? Just asking.

She�s gonna blow!

Or is she just faking it?

St. Helens - Dome Station

Originally posted by QuietSoulJust curious, are there any potential end-of-times threat to this mountain going active?

No.

Remember that the "end times mythology" you're familiar with exists in only one minority group within the larger culture you live in (most Christians are "preterists", saying (as scholars keep saying) that the Book of Revelation was written about the Romans and Nero and did not come true.)

Or just the surrounding area? Sorry if its an ignorant question.. I dont keep up on all the predicitions and doom 'n gloom stories

Good idea!

Actually, the risk is for a lahar (a melt and mudslide), which has happened in the area before within relatively recent (1,000 years) geologic time. It would be a real nightmare for the surrounding communities, with most of them at risk and the possibility of taking out the sea channel.

However, the communities ALL have disaster plans in place (yes, really) and there are (so I'm told) municipal level practice drills (the whole population doesn't practice. Just the police and emergency workers.)

Spur in Alaska has been doing the same thing since July.
www.avo.alaska.edu...

as well as the largest volcano in the world [?] Mauna Loa
hvo.wr.usgs.gov...

The Alaskan Mt has been venting occasionally and it's quakes are shallow,
and the Hawaiian one is showing signs of growing and the quakes are deep
35-50 km's.

Then you have Yellowstone, Mammoth, and a swarm in the desert in Nevada,
where some believe the there is a flow between those two. Now St. Helen's. All we need next is for Shasta and Rainer to light up and I am going to go dig out my old Edgar Cayce books.

But seriously since I have been alive all I have heard is that these are isolated events and have no relation to each other. Just as the government claims there is no connection between global warming and the Green House effect.

On the other hand, the longer I live, the more certain I become that everything on the Blue Marble is interconnected and it is a round blue growing living entity. And she does not need any Radical Fundamentalists
[aka Greenpeace] to protect her. When she becomes exasperated with us we will surly be wiped out. The amazing, pompous, arrogance of man believing he is killing the Earth just blows me away.

TUT

Originally posted by dangermouse
I don't know of any end time prophecies concerning St.Helens, but it sure is an awe inspiring site. I live in the NW and we camped in the Cascades near Mt. Adams a couple years ago and spent a day at Helen's hiking around near the top. It's amazing how life has come back in SOME areas yet most of the immediate blast radius looks nearly like it did post eruption (minus the ash of course), the trees are layed down like matchsticks and the topsoil was BLOWN away. I do actually dread the day Rainier goes, it will be a disaster unlike any this country has experienced.

Here's a old indian prophecy. pages.ivillage.com...

" Sun Bear explained that Donald Matheson, a leader of the Puyallup tribe, moved his people to Idaho in 1979 because he believed it was time for this prophecy to be fulfilled. In March 1980, the mountain that we call little sister began to whisper. May 18th of 1980, the Little Sister spoke with a cubic mile of mountain that was spread over the northwest area, and many other parts of the world... "The Little Sister is called Mount St. Helens. Soon, the Grandfather is going to answer so much bigger. That one is called Mt. Rainier."

Read the whole prophecy, its very interesting

Oh and for those that believe HAARP is responsible for these quakes, check this out. The weak hearted atheist might want to pass this up
www.cuttingedge.org...

Ycon

Well this is pretty interesting, since they say it's probably due to the water table rising there's really no eruption eminent just some possible steam venting & small explosions.

Well, here's a link to the northwest earthquake tracking site. Busy.

Originally posted by dangermouse
Well, here's a link to the northwest earthquake tracking site. Busy.

Yes indeed,
You get a better picture by looking at this updating list:

Updating Earthquake List for Map US2-45.47.-123.-121

OK, not just busy, but down right SUPER BUSY!!!!!!!!!!!!! I remember vividly when she blew, it looked like midnight in the middle of the afternoon.

Mount St. Helens Notice of Volcanic Unrest

"September 26, 2004 3:00 P.M., PDT
U.S. Geological Survey Cascades Volcano Observatory, Vancouver, Washington
University of Washington Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences, Seattle, Washington
Seismic activity at Mount St. Helens has changed significantly during the past 24 hours and the changes make us believe that there is an increased likelihood of a hazardous event, which warrants release of this Notice of Volcanic Unrest."

Click the link above for the full Press Release...

I take back my earlier statement as they now say some type of an eruption is likely the next few days. Originally geologist said that the quakes were too shallow, but now quakes have changed and grown stronger apparently. As usual the experts are not too sure what's going on. Regardless I may take a drive in that direction later this week with my digital camera, just in case.

I just woke up to this news, I hope it's not a precurser to increased activity in the cascades!