Mt St. Helens under a layer of snow, towering above Spirit Lake, just the place for a holiday of camping and hiking. 35 years ago, just before it blew its top leaving a horseshoe-shaped crater and devastation for miles. The top of the volcano was blocked by a plug of hardened magma so the mountain simply blew out of the side after an earthquake of 5.1. It caused one of the largest known debris avalanches in recorded history. The magma caused a massive pyroclastic flow of hot gas and wind down the side of the mountain flattening everything in its path over an area of 600 square kilometres. The debris was then carried further by the melted snow combined with earth as huge lahars flowed.
Thirty-five years later and the scars have still not quite healed. The horseshoe crater is still visible as is the new magma dome inside the crater. Beautiful Spirit Lake is in the upper centre of the image. At centre right of the image is Castle Lake. At right of Spirit Lake, debris avalanche deposits surround the tiny St. Helens Lake and the long line of Coldwater Lake.
Scientists estimate the eruption released over 1.5 million tonnes of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere and recorded a Volcanic Explosivity Index of five.
This image was assembled from data acquired by the Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8 and the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on the Terra satellite.
Like I said, it just seems like yesterday. In geological terms, it's a blink which is why climate change deniers are going to be eating their words after another 35 years. And please, could we possibly have a Minister for Science some time before then and preferably not Greg Hunt who can't see the coral for the reef and insists that all that coal mining and coal shipping won't hurt the Great Barrier Reef at all, not a bit.
12 comments:
Greg Hunt's mind/intellect is as void as his face.
A minister for Science and a guvmint which isn't all about themselves and their mates. Their rich mates.
I see the solution to housing affordability is to get a better job.
My mind is blank, don't even know who Greg Hunt is.
Do people live below that volcano?
Frances, he could be the poster boy for the Liberal party. I'd love to know how much he bribed to have the Barrier Reef declared not endangered.
EC, straight from the gob of 'let them eat cake' Hockey. Honestly that man can backtrack faster than the Starship Enterprise can reverse thrust.
River, he is an anonymous slug living in the shade of the Mad Monk.
You can still trek there but I don't think too many would want to live there, not after the magma cone started to grow a few years back. It retreated but the mountain is not to be trusted.
It intrigues me that someone like G Hunt, 49 years old, T Abbott 57 years old etc, etc ..all lack the look of maturity and experience - (wisdom, even? knowledge?) that JFK, a younger man,showed on his face.
Hey hipsters, just letting you know I've been doing the full latte. Damn pricey it is too. If I could afford it I could afford to scream about racists, homophobes and sexists. Spotting them everywhere. That's it, the top shelf latte. Shutup.
Yes I live on. Accompanied by a man who has taken mental illness to a new level. He killed his mother -and inherited half a million. Not a bad trick. As for me, last year I floated through hallucinations for ten days in Footscray hospital. I'll never see my street again, that's what I said. Finally, right as the entire world receded, Jesus made himself known to me. And that's it, closest I've ever gotten to him. Say what you like, all you snivelling lapdog conformists, you terrified gabbing store dummies bloated with cliche, untalented, uncreative, doing yourselves up in a competition to look stupid...Jesus Lives, I'm proud to say it As by his will, so Do I, RH.
Frances, when you think about it, JFK might have lived with the Cold War at his shoulder, but it was a simpler age that didn't face the environmental issues that we have inherited. I always remember the Admiral who ordered the spraying of Agent Orange, his family paid the price in illness and death as his son fought through the toxic gas which was supposed to be okay for humans, lethal for jungle.
Robbert, on your little journey of discovery, did you happen to meet my mother? She's almost died so many times, I think she's a personal friend of Jesus, probably on his Christmas list. Nice to see you didn't lose your bilious contempt for us lesser mortals in your return to this crappy realm.
What? Well you know I don't direct my sermons at anyone here. They are put here for their edification, that's all. And they appreciate it. Okay? Wake up to yourself. And I did meet your mother, how prescient of you, she was up and down the corridor bellowing for whiskey. I hid under the covers.
And by the way, I've found out who put up that false RH blog. He's a distinguished chap, by his own reckoning, very royal. In which case he would enjoy a state funeral. Goodness me yes. Well he won't get the first part, but may be sure of the second.
Well it's two oclock and I'm on the go and always with something to say. A house in Newport sold for $755,000 Saturday and I wouldn't have given five bob for it. I complained to the auctioneer about overdevelopment around here and he blamed the state government for it. I knew that was bull but needed to think about it, and later I asked myself: who gains? Fact is that here in the west we're copping the latte set flotsam that can't afford to be inner city anywhere else. The silly trendoid bastard next door after telling me his little daughter's name went into a spiel on how she'd been an accident and what she was costing him in daycare. "No more." he said. Well he is a dopey looking cunt and probably doesn't know how it happened, or maybe someone came in the back door? The point is finance is terribly important to these poonces; with all the investment portfolios stuck up their arses they've made Australia a nation of landlords. Any threat to negative gearing gives them the horrors. If you wonder why housing is so expensive it's because these cafe lizards own thousands of them. Meanwhile this goose next door being the lowest of the latte set can barely afford to fix his own joint up. He's replaced the backyard garden with concrete and stuck a tin shed garage on it. What a genius. OH my goodness, what marvellous taste! To celebrate he hops on his bike a few times a week just like they do in Richmond. His pony tail missus goes for a jog. I'd give her a jog alright! It's the only thing. A root breaks down all barriers.
I took a break during that: six pieces of bacon and two slices of bread covered with Kraft Hazelnut Spread - it's a winner.
This fool stood on the footpath with a little toddler and grumbled about how much she was costing him. I wanted to burst out laughing.
Well I guess his missus wanted the child. He had to fork out for it. But she's no better; counting pennies late at night, banking on lifestyle: bicycles and running shoes.
Robbert for once I agree with you, house prices are ridiculous. My father was brought up in North Melbourne and hated those dingy little houses. He had a 1/4 acre with a small house after the war and loved the fruit trees and the fresh air. Nearly all his family living in those semi detached joints died of tuberculosis, no where for the germs to go except into people.
Six pieces of bacon and hazelnut spread, no wonder you nearly died.
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