30th Anniversary of Mount St. Helens Eruption

On May 18, 1980, the Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington State erupted. The eruption (which was heard hundreds of miles away) blew off the top of the mountain, destroyed miles of forest, and killed 57 people.

In the 30 years since the eruption, scientists have been able to study how an ecosystem recovers from a volcanic eruption. What was once a desolate, gray blast zone in 1980 is now home to many plants and animals. Although it has not had an eruption of the same size since 1980, Mount St. Helens is one of the most active volcanoes in the United States and could erupt again.

Read more about the potential danger from Mount St. Helens on National Geographic News.

See a gallery of images of Mount St. Helens on National Geographic.

Think you know volcanoes? Quiz Your Noodle and prove it!

Photograph by Peter Lipman, USGS and Gene Iwatsubo, USGS

Comments

Applequeen5
May 18, 2010, 8:43 pm

My mom was there when it happened!
emshemie3
May 19, 2010, 1:02 pm

WOW.
Anonymous
May 20, 2010, 8:47 am

Boy, am i Okay! ( i am glad it did not happen to me!)
escape2books
May 21, 2010, 10:23 am

horrible thing that hapened, but pretty pictures! I am sad that 57 people died, but with technology scientist might know and evacuate people if it happens again.
escape2books
May 21, 2010, 10:58 am

hey guys! do like writing and are interested in the news? Do you think that the real newspapers have everything covered? Well you have exclusive covorage that everyont wants, your own life. Whether you think your life is boring I now you will not agree with that once you try it. Tell what is going on in your life, and your opinions on what is going on in the world. This is great writing practice and I think that everyone can do it.
lovely heart
May 21, 2010, 12:44 pm

that was horrible i fell bad for the people who was there.im so sorrey
Ninja
May 22, 2010, 2:48 pm

Don’t tell me that this eruption will be a powerful as the one in Iceland! if it is, then lol! gtg
2whitie
June 2, 2010, 7:21 pm

Grr escape 2 books, I tried making a family newspaper once. ( mom rolling eyes ) I was “pretty good” assuming I am being a little scarcastic.
ALJimenez
August 27, 2010, 6:40 pm

I went to the Seattle Science Center once and me and
my dad went to the I-MAX theater and saw the video of the 30th anniversarie of Mt. St. Helens there were road blocks and people got killed and there was gas in the air.
Anonymous
January 26, 2011, 6:44 pm

I used to live in Washington and we went on TONS of trips around our area.One day we went to Mt. Saint Helens. It was pretty cool,but I din’t learn much because I was like 6.