Before the eruption, Mount Saint Helens was a vibrant, thriving mountain ecosystem. Home to a diverse range of wildlife and plants such as the black bear, mountain lion, mountain goat, forest sage and grouse, pheasant, beaver and many others (Aylesworth and Aylesworth, 1983). In addition, many recreational seekers for skiing, hiking, rock-climbing and camping enjoyed the rugged yet beautiful area of Mount Sai

The avalanche of boiling mud, rocks, trees magma, and pyroclastic debris came sweeping down the mountain with speeds up to 80 kilometers per hour (Carson, 2000). Destroying everything is its path. Oceans of mud, flowing down the slopes had a consistency similar to wet concrete and the power to wrench concrete bridges from their footings and sweep almost everything in their path down the Toutle River valley (Carson, 2000).

About 20 seconds after 8:32 a.m. PDT, apparently in response to a magnitude 5.1 earthquake about 1 mile beneath the volcano, the bulged, north flank of Mount St. Helens began to collapse, triggering a rapid and tragic train of events that resulted in widespread devastation and the loss of 57 people (Tilling, 1990).

Following the 1842 eruption, it is known that Mount Saint Helens remained in an almost constant state of eruption for weeks or months throughout the winter (Harris, 1988). Many other settlers and missionaries recorded the outbursts and eruptions of the mountain throughout the 1842-1842 winter. Mount Saint Helens was active on and off again until 1857 which was the last recorded eruption until 1980 (Harris, 1988).

Figure 5.0, shows the area of widespread devastation that the explosion caused. Within minutes after the explosion, a 230 square mile area northwest of the volcano lay devastated (The Columbian Inc, 1980). Tens of thousands of trees were laid flat with their needles ripped off. In Figure 6.0, the slopes of Smith Creek valley, east of Mount St. Helens, show trees blown down by the lateral blast. Over four billion board feet of usable timber, enough to build 150,000 homes, was damaged or destroyed (Harris, 1987).

Mount Saint Helens is composite or stratovolcano. The United States Geological Society website defines a stratovolcano or composite volcano as a steep, conical volcano built by the eruption of viscous lava flows, tephra, and pyroclastic flows. Usually constructed over a period of tens to hundreds of thousands of years, stratovolcanoes may erupt a variety of magma types, including basalt, andesite, dacite, and rhyolite. A stratovolcano volcano consists of many separate vents (http://volcanoes.usgs.gov).

(3) "Seared zone, also called the "standing dead" zone, the outermost fringe of the impacted area, a zone in which trees remained standing but were singed brown by the hot gases of the blast (Tilling, et. al, p. 10, 1990)."

Visible eruptive activity temporarily stopped in late April and early May (Tilling et al. 1990). Between May 7 and May 16, small steam-blast eruptions resumed. It was during this period that there was a forceful intrusion of magma into the volcano. Extreme seismic activity and visible cracking and swelling of the volcano recorded this. It was this area on the mountain that became known as the "bulge,"(Figure 3.0) the initial growth of which probably began during the first eruption (March 27) or perhaps even a few days before. Through mid-May about 10,000 earthquakes were recorded. The earthquake activity was concentrated in a small zone less than 1.6 miles directly beneath the bulge on the north flank of Mount St. Helens (Tilling et. al. 1990).

Some common words found in the essay are:
Saint Helens, St Helens, Toutle River, Hiroshima Aylesworth, David Johnston, April Tilling, Richter Scale, Geological Society, Columbia River, JL Parrish, mount saint, saint helens, mount saint helens, carson 2000, et al, st helens, mount st, mount st helens, tilling et al, tilling et, cascade range, harris 1988, saint helens active, aylesworth 1983, et al 1990,
Approximate Word count = 2610
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)