Database
Volcanic fury. On May 18, the 15th anniversary of the volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens, Washington State, the Weyerhaeuser Co. and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation will open the Mount St. Helens Forest Learning Center, showing how nature in the area has changed since 1980. Fifty-seven people died in the eruption, which hurled smoke and ash 13.6 miles skyward and wrecked vast stretches of forest.
Elevation of Mount St. Helens before it erupted: 9,677 feet; after: 8,363 feet; volume of resulting landslide, the largest in history: 3.3 billion cubic yards
Velocity of the volcanic blast: 200 to 335 mph; blast-zone area: 230 square miles; timber blown down: 4 billion board feet, enough to build 300,000 two-bedroom houses
Volume of ash carried eastward by wind: more than 540 million tons; area over which it fell: 22,000 square miles; time needed for ash to circle the Earth: 15 days
Number of historically active volcanoes--those once active that could become active again--in the United States: 53; where they are found: Alaska (43), Hawaii (5), Washington (2), California (2), Oregon (1); number of historically active volcanoes in the world: 539; share found on the Pacific Ocean plate's turbulent rim, dubbed the "Ring of Fire": 66 percent; countries with more volcanoes than the United States: Indonesia (76) and Japan (63)
Deadliest eruption ever: Tambora (Indonesia, in 1815); deaths: 92,000, including 82,000 from starvation in the aftermath USN&WR--Basic data: U.S. Geological Service, Volcanoes of the World, Smithsonian Institution
This story appears in the May 15, 1995 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
advertisement
