Is Mount St. Helens a Supervolcano?

Is Mount St. Helens a Supervolcano? According to findings from New Zealand scientists, Mt. St. Helens could be exactly that. Mt. St. Helens has been known for years as one of many volcanoes that litter Washington State and the "ring of fire" that works its way around the Pacific Ocean.

It's an interesting notion that has been presented by these scientists, which includes the theory that several of the largest volcanoes in the area are actually linked by underground caverns. What that could mean is that they all work together to form one large Supervolcano, and that Mt. St. Helens could be at the center of it all.

The thought process behind the article that these New Zealand scientists published in NewScientist, is that three of the major volcanoes in the area are linked by a deep column that leads to a pool of what could be molten rock. That pool of molten rock is theorized to connect Mount St. Helens to Mount Rainier and Mount Adams as well. That would make it one of the largest Supervolvanoes in existence, and hold the potential of a cataclysmic eruption that could be devastating. Such an eruption would be able to blanket the sky with ash and basically lower the temperature of the entire planet over a certain span of time.

So, is this a real thing? Could Mount St. Helens really be a Supervolcano? Well local scientists in Washington State aren't quite as certain as the visiting New Zealand scientists. A magnetotellurics specialist at Oregon State University stated that "Whether finding high conductivity in this area is evidence that there's really something unusual here is the thing that is more questionable." He also stated that part of the conductivity that the New Zealand scientists are seeing within the mountain is probably just water. He doesn't come out and simply refute what the New Zealanders found, but he does question how close to reality their theories could be.

Mount St. Helens has been seeing activity on and off for the past couple of years, and everyone in the area still remembers when Mount St. Helens erupted back in 1980. If what the New Zealand scientists have found turns out to be fact, a Supervolcano eruption could be many times more powerful than the last one. Most of these findings (by both sides) are really just conjecture though, because not a whole lot is known about what is under these particular volcanoes. They could all be linked, or they could all be working separately, but there isn't a concrete test with which to prove that. For now area residents can look at this information, but may be forced to take it with a grain of salt unless they want to uproot their lives.

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