How Dangerous Are The Northwest's Volcanoes?

at 8:30 2:00 in the morning not very long ago one of the most powerful forces in nature woke up in Portland's backyard but mount st. Helens isn't the only active volcano in the Northwest we're surrounded by them so what's up are we gonna wake up some morning to a new Mount st. Helens right now we recognized about 25 26 places in Washington Oregon where magma has come out of the ground in the last ten twelve thousand years Seth Morin leads the u.s. geological surveys cascade volcano observatory with his team and partners around the region he keeps tabs on the volcanoes in the Cascade Range these are the folks who can help us understand if any of these volcanoes might blow like mount st. Helens did many of the volcanoes last erupted thousands of years ago which might make it seem like they're dead but a volcano that's active is a couple hundred thousand years old and has erupt at least in the last ten fifteen thousand years a thousand years seems like a long time to humans but if a volcano lived for just one day those thousand years would be more like just a few minutes in other words these volcanoes aren't done those reasons to believe that it could happen again whether they wake up tomorrow or a thousand years from now Seth says around 8:00 pose the greatest risk and each has its own personality [Music] now Baker puts out a lot of gas but doesn't erupt very often neither does Glacier Peak though one past eruption was five times as big as Mount st. Helens in 1980 Mount Rainier is the tallest mountain in the northwest and isn't likely to blow its top but it does have a lot of ice which even small eruptions of hot gas and rock could melt causing devastating mudflows Mount st. Helens is still the one to watch it's the most active in the chain erupting once or twice a century on average it's been torn down and remade so many times the current mountain is only about four thousand years old compared to hundreds of thousands of years for other cascade volcanoes like Mount Hood puts not far from st. Helens but it's personality is very different not hood is not likely to erupt the way Mount st. Helens did Mount Hood has a history of venting gas and rock off of its sides not huge explosions that's not great news though many people live on and around the mountain and even small eruptions could cause landslides explosions and mud flows that destroy everything in their path the rest of Oregon's volcano is very widely now Jefferson has been relatively quiet for 20,000 years long enough that it may be finished South sister goes off every couple thousand years Newberry crater more frequently and like why is Kilauea it can send rivers of lava far and wide then there is crater lake today it's a giant hole in the ground but eight thousand years ago it was Mount Mazama a mountain comparable in size to Mount Ranier the explosion that leveled it 50 times as big as Mount st. Helens in 1980 crater lake produced the largest bang that we've had in the Cascades in the last 10,000 years that brings us back to the original question well one of these volcanoes be the next Mount st. Helens it's a tough one to answer set that his team aren't psychics there are more like weather forecasters they use a network of monitoring stations to keep tabs on what each volcano is up to every volcano has its own normal baseline just like people there's a range of course we know it's healthy but there within that everybody's a little bit different instead of heart rate and blood oxygen volcanoes have earthquakes ground warping and gas burbs even when they're not erupting comparing these vital signs to the historical record let's Seth and his team know if a volcano is acting normally or if it's time to pay more attention when Mount st. Helens woke back up in 2004 the observatory's measurements suggested it probably wouldn't blow like it did in 1980 and they were right that doesn't mean Mount st. Helens is anywhere near done though of all the volcanoes in the Cascade Range there's a good chance the next Mount st. Helens will be Mount st. Helens the forces that make mountains and destroy them will continue to stir deep underground for a very long time we can't stop volcanoes we can't even say for sure when they'll wake back up but by paying attention we won't be caught off guard when they do you

Channel: OPB

Views: 87,243

Keywords: Volcano, Volcanoes, Eruption, St. Helens, St Helens, Oregon, Oregon Public Broadcasting, OPB, NPR, PBS, Portland

Id: 1Nb2sxWl3aM

Length: 4min 47sec (287 seconds)

Published: Fri May 18 2018