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May 05, 2006

Land Shark!!!!!!!

Pretty dang neat:

It's jutting up from one of seven lobes of fresh volcanic rock that have been pushing their way through the surface of the crater since October 2004.

The fin-shaped mass is about 300 feet tall and growing 4 feet to 5 feet a day, said Dan Dzurisin, a geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey.


Posted by Mr. Bingley at May 5, 2006 10:23 AM

Comments

I think I once saw that episode of "The Outer Limits"

Posted by: Ken Summers at May 5, 2006 10:49 AM

Pretty cool, Bing!

I missed the eruption of Mount St. Helens (I was in the Army then), but anyone in the state at the time remembers that mountain going ka-BLOOIE!!!.

But a rock growing 4-5 feet a day......does THS have a hand in this? This sounds like her style, rock popping out the the ground, etc.

Posted by: The_Real_JeffS at May 5, 2006 10:56 AM

(Only happens when I smite a particular spot, Jeffs. I haven't been in that neck of the woods in years, so it's somebody else's smoting.)

Posted by: tree hugging sister at May 5, 2006 02:36 PM

I have a dirtbike-riding buddy who lives up on the flanks, one ridge over. He's an engineer at Boeing and insists that the pyroclastic flow will pass them by safely. *Gulp!* I hope to damn so. I see stuff like that (and Kiluea flowing into the sea) and I'm further convinced that the whole man-made global warming crap is absolute eco-hubris, there's nothing compared to what the planet can and does do every day, or whenever it feels like it.

Posted by: -keith in silicon valley at May 5, 2006 02:52 PM

It's not NICE to fool...you know who.

Posted by: tree hugging sister at May 5, 2006 05:47 PM

I took a day hike once on the east side of the mountain. I walked through absolute desolation; the trees were laid down in a classic blast pattern, there was virtually no vegetation, and no visible animal life. And this was in 1994 or so, years after the blast. It had been scoured clean, presumably by the pyroclastic flows.

But when I climbed one ridge and looked down, it was as though I stepped through some dimensional portal. The forest was untouched, lush and green. No damage was visible (although I suspect there was some, just hidden beneath the growth). It looked like the ridge deflected the flows up and away, or just away. Quite a stunning contrast. Maybe your friend sees the same thing.

But I would not care to tempt fate that way. Maybe the pyroclastic flows will bypass him, but the shock wave (air and ground) had to be tremendous then. That won't be fun to ride out.

Respect the volcano, sez I.

Posted by: The_Real_JeffS at May 5, 2006 09:11 PM

And THS, of course. She might smite the ground at any time.

Posted by: The_Real_JeffS at May 5, 2006 09:12 PM

That has to be one of the coolest stories I ever heard, you wise, WISE man.

Posted by: tree hugging sister at May 6, 2006 09:49 AM