Mount Saint Helens

  • Location: USA approximately a 3 hour drive from Seattle, WA (90 miles) and a 2 and 1/2 hour drive from Portland, OR (65 miles).

  • Absolute Location: Mt. St. Helens is located in southwest Washington State

  • My Place is Famous For: On May 18th, 1980 the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in southwest Washington state disrupted the lives of thousands and changed more than 200 square miles of rich forest into a grey, lifeless landscape.

  • Description: Mount St. Helens was 9,677 feet before the eruption and 8,363 feet after. 1,314 feet was removed by the May 18th eruption.

  • Three Interesting Facts:

    1) The largest landslide in recorded history swept down the mountain at speeds of 70 to 150 miles per hour and buried the North Fork of the Toutle River under an average of 150 feet of debris.

    2) Some areas are covered by as much as 600 feet.

    3)The massive ash cloud grew to 80,000 feet in 15 minutes and reached the east coast in 3 days. Although most of the ash fell within 300 miles of the mountain finer ash circled the earth in 15 days and may continue to stay in the atmosphere for many years.

  • Bibliography:

    1) Delpha Carnine Barstow http://www.olywa.net/radu/valerie/StHelens.html 10/10/01

    2) http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/msh/msh.html

    3) "Mount St. Helens." Pics4Learning. October 2001. http://pics.tech4learning.com.

    Created by: Matt
    Date Created: October 8, 2001
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