The eruption of Mount St Helens covered parts of the surrounding area in a thick layer of ash 2 1 S T C E N T U R Y S K I L L S L I B R A R Y COOL STEM CAREERS GEOSCIENTIST CHAPTER ONE STUDYING THE EARTH Neil awoke one Sunday morning in his home in Washington State and looked out the window He couldn’t believe what he saw It looked like snow but the date was May 18 1980 and late spring was certainly not the season
for it to be snowing in the Northwest Yet everything outside Neil’s window was covered in several inches of white stuff Neil rubbed his eyes and took a closer look The stuff covering everything wasn’t pure white it was light gray Whatever it was kept dropping from the sky making the air look misty Then Neil saw his father outside walking through the falling stuff He was in short sleeves and wearing a surgical mask Neil’s father however was not a doctor Neil realized what was falling and covering the ground ash Everywhere he looked he saw volcanic ash He soon learned that less than 40 miles 64 kilometers away Mount St Helens had erupted The volcano had blasted off most of its north side The earth had quaked and a column of ash from the explosion rose 15 miles 24 km into the air in just 15 minutes Most of the heavy dark ash was blown north and east Luckily Neil’s house was south and west On the day of the earthquake winds carried away about 520 million tons 470 million metric tons of ash In Spokane Washington 250 miles 402 km away the air was so full of dark ash that it seemed like nighttime in the middle of the afternoon The next day people in Alberta Canada were scraping ash off their cars They lived more than 600 miles 966 km away from the volcano
Fifty-seven people died in the May 1980 eruption 2 1 S T C E N T U R Y S K I L L S L I B R A R Y COOL STEM CAREERS GEOSCIENTIST According to geoscientists experts who study the earth the eruption was the most damaging volcanic event in U S history The mountain blew a cloud of steam gas rocks and ash out its side at more than 300 miles an hour 483 km hour It knocked down 230 square miles 596 square km of trees in three minutes It also killed 57 people thousands of deer elk and bears and millions of fish When the quakes and eruptions settled the mountain looked hollowed out The blast had created a huge crater that
opened to the north The eruption was so powerful that it reduced the height of the mountain by 1,300 feet 396 meters This devastating event gave geoscientists an opportunity to study a volcanic eruption up close Geoscientists study natural processes such as volcanic activity that are happening every moment Because the earth has so much going on there are many kinds of geoscientists Each kind of geoscientist studies a particular natural process Geologists are geoscientists who study nature the earth’s history and the materials and processes that shape our planet They study layers of rock canyons caves and natural history Some focus on glaciers some on underground oil reserves and others on mining for metals Paleontologists study fossils By looking at these remains and the impressions of plants and animals in solid rock they try to determine the history of life on our planet To learn about prehistoric animal behavior some look for fossilized tracks made by animals that moved in large herds or traveled alone Some focus on dinosaurs while others look at the fossil remains of plants and simple life-forms Volcanologists study volcanoes They investigate volcanoes and volcanic events to better understand their destructive powers and to predict future eruptions Other geoscientists called meteorologists study weather These people look at gases and particles in our atmo sphere They also research weather events such as hurri canes and tornadoes Meteorologists carefully investigate our planet’s climate to determine how and why it changes
