Mount Saint Helens

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VOICE ONE:

This is Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Steve Ember with
EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. On May eighteenth, nineteen
eighty, a volcano exploded in the northwestern state of Washington.
It killed fifty-seven people and destroyed huge areas of forest.
Recently, that volcano has become active again. Today, we tell about
the famous Mount Saint Helens volcano.

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VOICE ONE:

The Native American Indians in the state of Washington still call
Mount Saint Helens by its Indian name -- Loowit. It means "Lady of
Fire." In the past two weeks, this famous "Lady of Fire" has been
waking up after twenty-four years of sleep.

The last major explosion of Mount Saint Helens took place in
nineteen eighty. The volcano expelled fire, rock and volcanic gas
with a force of four hundred eighty kilometers an hour. That
explosion was three hundred fifty times more powerful than the
explosions of the first nuclear bombs.

VOICE TWO:

Recent earthquakes near Mount
Saint Helens were a sure sign that something was happening deep
under the ground. Scientists also knew there is a huge area of
melted rock deep underneath the mountain. This liquid rock creates
pressure. The pressure can cause more earthquakes. When thousands of
small earthquakes began to happen, scientists knew Mount Saint
Helens was becoming active once again.

Experts began to closely observe the huge volcano. They placed
scientific instruments in many areas on the mountain. These
observations are still taking place twenty-four hours a day.

Scientists said the evidence showed a seventy percent chance the
volcano would do something. They were not sure exactly what it would
do. But they were sure it would not be anything like the huge
explosion in nineteen eighty.

VOICE ONE:

Volcano experts first observed increased underground activity
near the mountain on September twenty-third. The experts said this
activity continued to increase. This evidence led the experts to
believe it might produce a volcanic event.

Scientists observed more underground activity in the next few
days. Then the volcano expelled steam and ash thousands of meters
into the air. Experts declared the volcano could once again be a
danger. At first, they said the volcano was mostly a danger to
aircraft. They said the ash could damage an aircraft's engines.

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VOICE TWO:

The Mount Saint Helens area is a huge National Park. Thousands of
people visit each year to look at the large volcano and to learn
about the violent explosion in nineteen eighty. When there is no
danger, visitors can even ask for a permit to climb Mount Saint
Helens. They can walk near the top and see down into the area called
the crater.

The recent underground activity forced park officials to close
the visitor's center closest to the volcano. The Johnson Ridge
Observatory is only eight kilometers from the mountain. Park
officials told visitors to leave the area immediately.

The volcano expelled large amounts
of steam for about thirty minutes on Monday, October fourth.
Scientists said it was mostly water that had been super-heated by
the liquid rock far below.

The next day, however, the volcano once again began expelling
steam and ash several thousand meters into the air. Winds pushed the
steam and ash toward the northeast part of the state. When the ash
came down, it made driving a car difficult in some areas.

VOICE ONE:

Again, scientists said evidence gathered from the volcano showed
more explosions were possible. Experts also warned that explosions
of steam and ash were not the only concerns.

Extreme heat near the top of the volcano could melt the huge
formations of ice on the mountain. Some areas of ice are more than
one hundred eighty meters deep. Experts said extreme heat could melt
the ice and start huge floods and mudslides down the mountain.

By last Tuesday night, Mount Saint Helens had stopped most
activity. Instruments that measured underground activity showed very
low levels. The earthquakes had almost stopped.

Tom Pierson is a scientist with the United States Geological
Survey. Mister Pierson said most evidence showed the possibility of
more activity. However he says there is still a good chance the
volcano might go back to sleep. Other experts said all volcanoes go
through periods of activity and rest. This could go on for days,
weeks or even months. Officials lowered the threat level by the end
of last week.

VOICE TWO:

By Monday, October eleventh, Mount Saint Helens was still
producing steam. Cool weather made the steam look more threatening
than it was. Research teams were able to measure the heat from near
the top of the volcano. The highest surface temperatures were
between two hundred and three hundred degrees Celsius.

Experts say Mount Saint Helens could still explode if there were
an increase in the amount of underground activity. They say the
explosion could take place suddenly or with very little warning.

Experts say it is extremely difficult to tell what a volcano will
do. For example, strong earthquakes and other underground activity
near the volcano produced good evidence. Earthquakes under Mount
Saint Helens were measured at about one each minute for long periods
last week. These were very small earthquakes. Most measured only
about one on the Richter scale.

But volcano experts cannot always tell what this evidence means.
They cannot tell when an earthquake will grow stronger. And they
cannot always tell what the hot liquid rock called magma is going to
do. It is also difficult to measure the pressure created by the
magma deep inside the volcano.

Most often scientists use all the information they can gather and
try to make a good guess. Above all, they try to provide the best
warnings when they believe the volcano may become a threat.

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VOICE ONE:

Around the world there are more than six hundred active volcanoes
– those that have exploded within the past two hundred years. There
are more than fifty active volcanoes in the United States. The most
active ones are in the states of Alaska, Hawaii, California, Oregon,
and Washington. There are twelve major volcanoes in an area of
mountains called the Cascade Range. These are in northern
California, Oregon and Washington.

Volcanoes produce many different effects that can kill people and
destroy property. Extremely large explosions can threaten people and
property hundreds of kilometers away. Volcanoes can also affect the
weather on Earth.

VOICE TWO:

Mount Saint Helens is just one of a large number of volcanoes
that form a circle around the Pacific Ocean. This circle is called
the Ring of Fire. Beginning in Japan, the ring of volcanoes extends
south through the Philippines and Indonesia to New Zealand.

Across the Pacific, the ring begins again at the southern end of
South America and extends north along the Pacific Coast to Peru,
Colombia, Mexico, and California. The ring stretches up the American
Pacific Coast to Alaska and then across to the Kamchatka Peninsula
of Russia. The Ring of Fire includes about three-fourths of the
world's volcanoes.

Many of them have a tragic history of death and destruction. For
example, in nineteen eighty-five, more than twenty-five thousand
peopled died as a result of the explosion of Mount Ruiz in Colombia.
That volcano caused huge mudslides that covered many villages and
towns.

In Mexico, millions of tons of ash from El Chichon volcano killed
more than two thousand people in nineteen eighty-two.

VOICE ONE:

Recently, an earthquake in the central part of California
measured six on the Richter scale. Scientists say that earthquake
and volcanic activity at Mount Saint Helens are not linked. However,
they say the two events have a common cause. The land mass deep
under the Pacific Ocean and the land mass of the Pacific coast are
moving toward each other. These land masses float on liquid rock
deep within the Earth.

This movement is called plate tectonics. It causes earthquakes.
It also builds mountains and causes liquid rock deep in the earth to
flow near the surface and form volcanoes.

As long as these huge land masses continue to move, people will
continue to observe and study earthquakes. And they will study
volcanoes like Loowit -- the Lady of Fire -- Mount Saint Helens.

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VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by
Mario Ritter. This is Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And this is Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for
EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.