What have scientists learned since Mount St. Helens erupted?
...pirit Lake just 2 days before the October 4, 2004, eruptions to characterize the chemical, physical, and biological conditions of the lake," says Crisafulli. "We surveyed more than 100 ponds for amphibians and aquatic invertebrates, and live-small mammals at 14 sites right in front of the crater. Unlike in 198...Pinatubo's rivers show the danger isn't over when volcanic eruption ends
...nt St. Helens in Washington state deposited in its eruptions in 1980. The town of Bacolor at the edge of Pinatubo was buried repeatedly by major lahars. Today a large church in Bacolor must be entered through the choir loft everything below is filled with sediment. "The thing about a mud flood is that it doe...New evidence indicates biggest extinction wasn't caused by asteroid or comet
... over a long period because of continuous volcanic eruptions in an area known as the Siberian Traps. As volcanism warmed the planet, large stores of methane gas frozen on the ocean floor might have been released to trigger runaway greenhouse warming, Ward said. But evidence suggests that species began dying ou......are occasional layers of volcanic ash from ancient eruptions of nearby volcanoes. Some ash layers contain chunks of pumice, which in turn contain feldspar mineral crystals. Feldspar has small amounts of radioactive potassium-40, which decays into argon-40 gas at a known rate. The gas, trapped inside feldspar c...Fossil records show biodiversity comes and goes
...rs a geophysical driver, possibly massive volcanic eruptions triggered by the rise of plumes to the earth's surface. Plumes are upwellings of hot material from near the earth's core that some scientists believe have the potential to reoccur on a periodic basis. "My hunch, far from proven," Rohde said, "is that...Talking robots, green buildings, and shockwave healing
...ch include: rapidly identifying explosive volcanic eruptions (2aPA2), listening to meteor showers (2aPA7), cyclones (2aPA2), and earthquakes (2pPA3, 2pPA5), and detecting signs of nuclear weapons tests anywhere in the world (2pP10). Drawing upon observations from seismometers around the Pacific, Barbara Romano...New window into ancient ozone holes
...g chemicals came from the Earth itself. "Volcanic eruptions can emit gases such as chlorine and bromine that are capable of destroying ozone," said Lomax. The heating of rocks near volcanic flows of the Siberian Traps may also release a wide range of organohalogens thought to be harmful to ozone, he said. ...Eruption update: Island in British Overseas Territory is growing in size
...ry rare that we get to make direct observations of eruptions under ice sheets'. 'My work usually involves study...ing Antarctic rock formations to find out how past eruptions affected the growth and retreat of ice sheets over the last 30 million years. This opportunity to m...Mass extinctions a threat from outer space or our own planet's detox?
...gered an extinction at these times." Flood basalt eruptions are he says - an alternative kill mechanism. Thes.... Measuring how much gas was released during these eruptions 250 million years ago is a considerable challenge. The researchers will study microscopic inclusions...Icelandic volcano caused historic famine in Egypt, says Rutgers-based team
...sively establish the linkage between high-latitude eruptions and the water supply in North Africa. "Our findi... and climate model simulations" that high-latitude eruptions have altered northern hemisphere atmosphericcirculation in the summer following, with impacts extend...Scientists lose instruments, gain first look at seafloor formation
...r instruments, raising the possibility that future eruptions may be forecast a year or more in advance. "Our success emphasizes the importance of real-time monitoring on the seafloor so that next time we'll be collecting many different types of data the moment an eruption starts," said Tolstoy. "That way we...Volcanic plumbing dictates development of deep-sea hydrothermal vents
...y beneath the rise, are deeper, with less frequent eruptions on the surface, and they lack hot smokers. However, Toomey said, the deeper ridge is magmatically active, actually producing the same or more magma but not as surface eruptions. Instead, the magma is cooled at depth or intruded. At both places, the...Volcanic eruptions, ancient global warming linked
...ay confirmation of a link between massive volcanic eruptions along the east coast of Greenland and in the weste...arming, and evidence in the geologic record of the eruptions at roughly the same time, but until now there has been no direct link between the two," said Robert ...Geologists witness unique volcanic mudflow in action in New Zealand
...atastrophic destruction along their path. The 1980 eruptions at Mount St. Helens, for example, resulted in spectacular lahar flows that choked virtually all drainages on the volcano, and impacted major rivers as far away as Portland, Ore." Fagents visited stretches of the lahar pathway before the breakout to...What we can learn from the biggest extinction in the history of Earth
... with basalt to a depth of up to 6 kilometers. The eruptions that formed the Siberian Traps not only threw ash, debris and toxic gases into the atmosphere but also may have heated the coal and released vast quantities of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. Rapid release of these greenhouse gases ...