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Mount St. Helens erupts again: Activity from September 2004 through March 2005

Fact Sheet 2005-3036
By: , , , and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20053036

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Abstract

Eruptive activity at Mount St. Helens captured the world’s attention in 1980 when the largest historical landslide on Earth and a powerful explosion reshaped the volcano, created its distinctive crater, and dramatically modified the surrounding landscape. Over the next 6 years, episodic extrusions of lava built a large dome in the crater. From 1987 to 2004, Mount St. Helens returned to a period of relative quiet, interrupted by occasional, short-lived seismic swarms that lasted minutes to days, by months-to-yearslong increases in background seismicity that probably reflected replenishment of magma deep underground, and by minor steam explosions as late as 1991. During this period a new glacier grew in the crater and wrapped around and partly buried the lava dome. Although the volcano was relatively quiet, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey and University of Washington’s Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network continued to closely monitor it for signs of renewed activity.

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Mount St. Helens erupts again: Activity from September 2004 through March 2005
Series title Fact Sheet
Series number 2005-3036
DOI 10.3133/fs20053036
Year Published 2005
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Volcano Hazards Program, Volcano Science Center
Description Report: PDF, 4 p.; Report: HTML Document
Time Range Start 2004-09-23
Time Range End 2005-03-31
Country United States
State Washington
Other Geospatial Mount St. Helens
Additional Online Files (Y/N) Y
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details