Giant 'Slab' Pushing Through Mt. St. Helens

The picture that comes with this story is almost too surreal to believe. Apparently, a giant slab of stone has pushed its way up through the top/side of Mt. St. Helens. The sharp, hard, and angular slab is surrounded by a spill of smoldering debris... one can only imagine how much pressure is under it:

www.cbsnews.com...

"The fin-shaped mass is about 300 feet tall and growing 4 feet to 5 feet a day, said Dan Dzurisin, a geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey.

The rock in the crater began growing last November. It's steadily moving west and pushing rock and other debris out of its way as it goes."

That is honestly one of the coolest things I've ever seen. What it reminds me of is when someone leaves the cap off of a tube of tooth paste. That is the dried up section at the top of the tube. You have to squeeze the crud out before the good stuff can flow freely.

I saw a news article on this a few days ago, absolutely incredible.
I wonder if this is perhaps a piece of the original mountainside that collaped inward after the major eruption back in the eighties. Sure must be a lot of pressure there to push something that big upwards. I wonder what will happen when it reaches tipping point and falls away from whatever is pushing it upwards?

Wow, does this mean the surrounding area is going to melt away, plus the cities?. Thank god i live far away,lol. That is rly crazy though. St.Helens seems to always have something new. Maybe this Mountain is possible a huge volcano about to erupt, like in the eighties

posted by nastalgik
Does this mean the surrounding area is going to melt away, plus the cities? I live far away, That is really crazy though. Mt. St. Helens seems to always have something new. Maybe this mountain is possible a huge volcano about to erupt, like in the eighties? [Edited by Don W]

In 2004, I visited Mt. Hood, nearest volcano to Mt. St. Helens, and ate lunch at the Timberline Lodge, built by the New Deal's WPA, and got some good info on those volcanoes. The region has 5 or 6 active volcanoes. One of them is well past due for a major eruption. The guide explained how the real threat from Mt. Hood, for example, is the predictable mud slide a major eruption will bring with it. This is not so crucial at Mt. St. Helens because the area immediately around it has not developed to the extent it has around Mt. Hood. If Mt. Hood has an event like the 1980 Mt. St. Helen’s, it could cost billions of dollars in property damage and loss of life in the thousands. Delta from Cincinnati (CVG) inbound to Portland (PDX) flies over Mt. St. Helens. But you can’t see much detail from 10,000 feet.

People like to live on the beaches, disregarding hurricanes, so also people love the great Northwest of the US. Disregarding the volcanoes. On my first trip there, I thought I was in the Garden of Eden! It is so beautiful a place.



[edit on 5/7/2006 by donwhite]

It does make one wonder how much of pressure is behind all that, when it is crunching up the bedrock like Legos.

Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam

USGS Mount St. Helens, Washington lots of links

Hi-res photos here of the slab/spine event:
vulcan.wr.usgs.gov...

I think the Discovery Channel showed something like this, and if i'm not mistaken, this formation would be the most dangerous when it blows.

Well I guess this puts an end to that whole "no such thing as plate techtonics" this huh. But seriously, that's pretty cool.

That's quite a "cork" in the bottle I hope as it surfaces it doesn't get caught on the bottle rim, build pressure and explode... if the "cork" frags then it'll be raining rocks. That's absolutely awesome - nature... way-cool.

Thanx for the link,

Victor K.

that slab is probably gonna shoot out of the volcano like a fireball when its far up enough. and im afraid it will cause mass destruction and panic sooner or later.

Originally posted by worksoftplayhard
that slab is probably gonna shoot out of the volcano like a fireball when its far up enough. and im afraid it will cause mass destruction and panic sooner or later.

Actually it's all perfectly natural. Domebuilding is a normal part of the life of a volcano. It's also how the mountain was formed in the first place - large amounts of old lava gets pushed out of the vent and eventually falls away, to be replaced by new rocks. The only danger is if it collapses catastrophically - it may be old lava, but it's still hot, and any landslide would send a cloud of hot rock and ash downhill. It would basically be a small pyroclastic flow - and those are the things that killed the 57 people who died during the major eruption of the 1980's.
Mount St Helens is restless, and this eruption has been going on since 2004, but so far there are no signs that it is building up for a major event. Seismicity is quite low for a start.

Question - In the close-ups, what is the chemical associated with the blue smoke?

Uncensored image hidden from press!

YES..... this is very very cool. I'm surprised I'd heard nothing before on this topic. Geologic formations in general take far longer to appear... we are very fortunate. Unless of course something does blow up!
Interested readers should reference the Mexican Volcano Paracutin.... it has a similar story of a very quick geological growth.
Fascinating, absolutely fascinating

Source: Rense.com


This is something else.

[edit on 11-5-2006 by dgtempe]

Its the monolith from 2001: A Space Oddesey! Must have fallen off the moon, or the reptilians hid it in the volcano before the moon landing so the astronauts wouldnt see it, and forgot it was buried there!

As I said here,

It looks like the Sydney Opera House The fat lady is preparing to sing! Watch out!