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Scientific American

May 24, 2016

Magnificent Mount Saint Helens Eruption Photos, Part 3

Welcome to the third edition of our trek through the USGS photographic database! I'm serving up yet more delectable photos of Mount Saint Helens's spectacular 1980 awakening. Enjoy!

By Dana Hunter

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

Love this view across a pyroclastic flow and a fumarole, looking into a depression. With everything living dead and buried, the geologist looks like an astronaut on a different planet.

Image shows a gray volcanic terrain. There is part of a crater in the photo, making it look like it was taken on the moon. A geologist dressed in yellow stands beside the yellow-orange stains of a fumarole on the edge of the crater.
Geologist and fumaroles on pyroclastic flow of May 18 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Skamania County, Washington. July 1, 1980. Public domain image and caption courtesy USGS.

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Mount St. Helens viewed from across a pyroclastic flow shortly after the May 18 eruption. There's a helicopter in there, too.

Image shows a steaming Mount St. Helens. In the middle of the photo are jagged hummocks looking like a mini-mountain range. A helicopter is parked in front of them on the edge of a crater, dwarfed by their size.
View from northwest of pyroclastic flow of May 18 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Amphitheater in background. Helicopter at edge of flow in foreground. Skamania County, Washington. July 1, 1980. Public domain image and caption courtesy USGS.

So, we're used to the usual Plinian eruption columns. You know, nice vertical ones that rise far up into the atmosphere and look all suitably impressive. But when a sector collapse leaves a huge notch in the new crater rim, stuff goes sideways. This image shows the resulting wall of ash roaring away to the north. Bloody amazing.

Image shows Mount St. Helens erupting. There is a bit of airplane wing visible at the middle-right. The dark gray Plinian eruption column califlowers up into to sky; part of it is marching out to the north, forming a wall of ash along the ground.
May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens from south. Photo by J.G. Rosenbaum. Skamania County, Washington. Public domain image and caption courtesy USGS.

This is what it looks like after a volcano hurls ash all over your house. Stuff is an absolute disaster to clean up.

Image shows a man in a pale shirt and black pants, standing on his roof and sweeping ash over the edge. The ash is falling in a curtain like a waterfall. Beside it is his ladder. In front of it are some ash-covered bushes.
Eastern Washington resident sweeping ash from the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens from the roof of his house. Washington. After May 18, 1980. Lower photo, page 17 in U.S. Geological Survey. Eruptions of Mount St. Helens: Past, Present, and Future by Robert I. Tilling. 1984. Public domain image and caption courtesy USGS.

Here's a lovely little before-and-after for ye. This is the North Toutle Bridge near A1 Rought Park. You can see it's a rather substantial metal thing - or at least it was, before a lahar hit it. You may have to zoom in to see its twisted remains in all that mud.

Image on the left shows a typical Northwest bridge, which has a green steel framework over it. Image on the right shows a sea of mud with the twisted remains of the steel frame stuck in.
Before-and-after composite of two USGS images: Left: North Toutle Bridge near A1 Rought Park before May 18 eruption of Mount St. Helens. View to north. Photo by D.R. Crandell. Cowlitz County, Washington. April, 1980. Right: Al Rought bridge after May 18 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Photo by D.R. Crandell. Cowlitz County, Washington. May 24, 1980. Public Domain images and captions courtesy USGS.

Since y'all love seeing what eruptions do to vehicles, have a look at what Mount St. Helens did to this Weyerhauser bus.

Image shows a school-type bus buried up to its hood in mud, with a screen of trees behind it. The top is dusted with ash. Some of the windows are shattered, and it's dented and sandblasted. The letters WEYERHAUSER COMPANY are just visible under mud spatters beneath the windows, and above the windows is cursive writing are the words
Weyerhaeuser Company employee bus heavily damaged by May 18 eruption of Mount St. Helens and partially buried by mudflow on the North Fork Toutle River near Camp Baker. Bus was unoccupied when hit by the mudflow. Cowlitz County, Washington. 1980. Figure 409, U.S. Geological Survey Professional paper 1250. Public domain image and caption courtesy USGS.
Image shows a hollowed-out, snowcapped Mount St. Helens brooding in the distance. The North Fork Toutle River valley is visible, covered in hummocks from the debris avalanche and mud from the lahars. In the foreground is an ash-covered slope spilling down to a flat gray-brown area. The hood of a car is just visible, buried in the volcanic deposits. A helicopter is parked nearby. Two men in bright red jumpsuits stand near the car, staring down at the deposits.
View to east of Coldwater II Ridge from Coldwater I after May 18 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Cowlitz and Skamania Counties, Washington. May 23, 1980. Public domain image and caption courtesy USGS.

OOOO neato. People, it's not often we get to see faults forming across our own footprints, but here we are!

Image shows a hiking boot imprint in ash deposits. A small fumarole has spilled yellow-orange deposits over the tip. Diagonal cracks have formed in the deposits, cutting across the print.
Cracks forming before an eruption of Mount St. Helens. Footprint made on January 9, 1981 was cracked several days later. Footprint is right in front of a thrust fault. Skamania County, Washington. January 1981. Public domain image and caption courtesy USGS.

That's all for this edition, but stay tuned - I have so many more!