Is it getting ready to rock?
Mount Saint Helens in Washington, which notoriously and cataclysmically erupted in 1980 and had its ash reach Montana, has been showing major signs of constant activity recently, according to the US Geological Survey.
The volcanic elevation, which is 8,363 feet in the air, has experienced about 350 earthquakes since the start of February, with a peak amount of 38 in the first week of June.
Most were not noticeable, but one on May 31 clocked in at a 2.0 on the Richter scale — under half the magnitude of New York’s less-than-devastating, 4.8 April quake.
Still, its past two periods of heightened seismic activity from 2023 and on “represent the largest short-term increase in earthquake rates since the last eruption ended in 2008,” the USGS’ Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, WA wrote.
Although the 2008 eruption was relatively minor and represented a four year period of buildup, it then let up “to pave seven highway lanes three feet thick from New York City to Portland, Oregon,” per the USGS.
Sequences of small earthquakes typically tell that a volcano is beginning to pressurize its stored magma inside — a process known as “recharging.”
“Magma slowly rises through the lower crust and accumulates in a reservoir about 2.5 to 6 miles (4‒10 km) below sea level,” according to Cascades.
“Recharge events can occur when magma enters this upper reservoir and increases stresses that lead to earthquakes.”
Relax, though.
The experts are bringing people back to Earth, saying this is perfectly natural and not a high risk for another eruption.
“High rates of seismicity, interpreted as recharge, have been observed in the past at Mount St. Helens and at other volcanoes and can continue for many years without an eruption,” the observatory noted.
“No significant changes have been observed in other monitoring parameters and there is no change in alert levels at this time. Mount St. Helens remains at normal, background levels of activity.”
