Mount St. Helens

volcanoes · Washington State · natural disasters · geology

Explosive 1980 eruption. On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted with tremendous force, blowing off its entire top 1,300 feet and sending ash across the entire United States. The blast was so powerful it flattened entire forests like toothpicks.

Pacific Northwest location. Mount St. Helens sits in Washington State, about 52 miles northeast of Portland, Oregon, and 98 miles south of Seattle. It's part of a chain of dangerous volcanoes stretching along the west coast of North America.

Part of Ring of Fire. This volcano belongs to the Cascade Volcanic Arc, which is connected to the famous Pacific Ring of Fire, a horseshoe-shaped band of active volcanoes surrounding the Pacific Ocean. These volcanoes are where Earth's crusty plates collide and create extreme heat.

Still very active. Mount St. Helens is classified as an active stratovolcano, meaning it could erupt again, though scientists monitor it carefully. It's built up of layers of hardened lava, ash, and rock stacked on top of each other over thousands of years.

Named after a diplomat. Explorer George Vancouver named the volcano after his British friend Alleyne FitzHerbert, 1st Baron St Helens, when he surveyed the area in the late 1700s. It's one of the few volcanoes named after a person rather than a Native American word.