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Awesome
At 8:32 a.m. on May 18, 1980, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake shook Mount St. Helens, triggering a massive explosion. The release of gases trapped inside the volcano sent 1,300 vertical feet of mountaintop rocketing outward to the north. Super-heated ash roared 60,000 feet into a cloudless blue sky. The cataclysmic blast – carrying winds that reached 670 miles per hour and temperatures of 800 degrees Fahrenheit – flattened 230 square miles of forest. Elk, deer and other wildlife were obliterated. Fifty-seven people were killed including USGS scientist David Johnston. The largest landslide in recorded history swept through the Toutle River Valley, choking pristine rivers and lakes with mud, ash and shattered timber, eradicating trout and salmon.
After the eruption, only a moonscape remained. In 1982, the United States Congress established the 110,000-acre Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument to preserve a portion of the blast zone for scientists, educators and visitors. Thoughtful planning and the cooperative efforts of the USDA, Forest Service, Weyerhaeuser and private and citizen organizations, have ensured that the history of the eruption will forever be accessible as a living laboratory.
Reborn from Ash Twenty-seven years after the eruption, the mountain continues to astound visitors. A lava dome on the crater floor has grown steadily since 1980, adding 88 million cubic yards of material and 1,363 feet in height. Earthquakes and minor eruptions are common today. If the growth of the dome continues at its current pace, the 3.7 billion cubic yards of material lost to the 1980 eruption could be replaced in 40 to 50 years.
Today, the land blooms again. Fish once again fill the waterways, and wildflowers bend before cool mountain breezes. Elk and deer have returned to the surrounding hills. More than half-amillion visitors arrive each year to tour the world-class visitors centers and to hike, bike, fish and camp in the rugged landscape surrounding the mountain.
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