Mount St. Helens VS Yellowstone (Yellowstone Monthly Update - May 2024)

Mount St. Helens and Yellowstone are two of the most well-known volcanoes in the United States. They have some pretty obvious differences, but they have some similarities as well. So, just how similar are Mount St. Helens and Yellowstone?
0:00 Introduction
3:06 Previous month's activity
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[@usgs]

Quick correction of a slip of the tongue -- it's subduction of the Juan de Fuca plate that is fueling volcanism in the Cascades. Also, the map showing ash distribution only includes that part of the Mount St. Helens ash fall that was more than an inch. Lesser amounts fell over a much broader area. You can see a generalized map of this area in the USA at pubs.usgs.gov/gip/msh/ash.html.

[@Listening-to-you]

Next up : hummingbird vs. tyrannosaurus rex.

[@kymkauffman5000]

😂😂😂

[@joshbeadle1051]

Nah, it's grenade vs super nova

[@skiak004]

Great presentation- thank you! You should have WAY more visitors.

[@SceneArtisan]

Mike, ya might want to get some antacid for that NASTY indigestion you suffered at the end there! 😂😂

[@icare7151]

I was on Mt. ST Hellen’s the year before it blew it top off.

[@ophenia1925]

Cool. It must have felt strange to see it after.

[@icare7151]

@@ophenia1925 Very strange.

[@stevencroon]

The range of ash from St Helens is always underestimated. We had considerable ash drop east past Butte Montana. and some spots in the mountains received heavier amounts. I experienced this first hand in the Georgetown Lake area near Philipsburg when visibility was reduced to less than 50 yards.

[@usgs]

You're right -- the map shown in this video only indicates the area of thickest ash fall, where it was more than an inch or two. But there was still noticeable fall over a broad area east of the volcano. Another map showing that broader area in the USA is at pubs.usgs.gov/gip/msh/ash.html.

[@debvoz]

Thanks for these reports! You always do a great job of explaining things in a way that is easy for a layperson to understand. I always look forward to the updates because I find Yellowstone a fascinating place and enjoy learning more about it

[@dikirkland]

Well done Mike!

[@firebird2552]

I always enjoy these videos but I really enjoyed this one

[@thunderdragon8341]

ty for this info i find it fascinating and shows me what mt rainer could do when it blows i live in one of the lahar areas for rainer

[@chrisl7839]

Thanks for the presentation and update! Subscribed.

[@astrotometry]

Great report. Thank you.

[@RolfStones]

I have a question, we love to talk about the massive eruptions at Yellowstone, but how common are (relatively) small eruptions at yellowstone?

[@usgs]

Those smaller eruptions are far more common than the big explosions. Since the last big caldera-forming eruption 631,000 years ago there have been a few dozen lava flows (most recently about 70,000 years ago, so in an absolute sense they still aren't terribly common). These have largely filled the caldera, especially on the west side. There's more information about the occurrence and timing of these flows at www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/lotta-lava-new-insights-timing-yellowstones-most-recent-rhyolite-eruptions.

[@RolfStones]

@@usgs thanks!

[@Pottery4Life]

Thank you very much, Mike. Climbed St. Helens in 1976 with my Dad. A wonderful memory.

[@sunnyone-ct4rp]

Thanks

[@warpdriveby]

...this bout is like putting an ant up against an elephant! I love the cascades and have hiked and camped from Shasta to Garibaldi for years. I listened to a fascinating lecture on estimating eruptions from remnants like welded tuff/ignimbrite. (not a geologist, is that spelled right?) The speaker offered analysis and modeling of deposits of various ages/lava compositions, sizes of eruptions etc and is quite convinced that we have wildly underestimated the volume of essentially all VEI-8 eruptions. There's one caldera, I think Long Valley, so 2-ish hours from Los Angeles, is the one, but I've also seen 10,000km³+ for La Garita. Geology Hub, another fantastic channel has a video including or dedicated to it, but I actually hadn't gotten to it yet, now I'm even more interested to find out what has been found and how it can be explained.

[@usgs]

Yes, you spelled it correctly! Caldera-forming eruptions usually produce ignimbrites just because of the volume and thickness of ash deposits. Estimating their thicknesses can be a challenge where exposures are poor. Much of the ignimbrite volume can be found in the source caldera itself -- the ash basically falls back and fills in part of the hole that was created during the eruption. Without drilling records or serendipitous exposures, it can be hard to know the thickness of the deposits within the calderas. In the case of the big calderas of the San Juans in Colorado, like La Garita, there has been enough erosion to be able to see the intracaldera thicknesses.

[@warpdriveby]

@@usgs Awesome, thanks for the answer, I'm glad to have learned that my memory will return, in time.

[@pauldavis1943]

Exactly 44 years ago today my dad said "let it blow... What harm coikd it do?"

[@RyanLee809]

Your dad has one heck of a sense of humor lol

[@FishKepr]

@@RyanLee809Not to mention an interesting accent.

[@RyanLee809]

@@FishKepr hahaha good point

[@misteramerica3610]

Cool comparison

[@starozz3019]

tnks mike!

[@cauxzieruffhausen9547]

Wow. We can comment now.

[@Bigfoot-px9gj]

At 1:07 you asked *_"I don't think we need to talk about Yellowstone's explosive potential, right?"_* Given the number of Yellowstone doomsday videos on KZbin, I think you *should* talk about it, and you should do it _every month_. Because all of those videos that have inaccurate information are scaring people who don't know anything about Yellowstone. Yes, Mt. St. Helens is rather weak when compared to Yellowstone. But people need to know what geology experts have to say about the fear mongering doomsday stuff people are posting here on KZbin.

[@The_Dudester]

Unfortunately, there are a number of tinfoil hat wearers who believe that Yellowstone will erupt any second and that the government is hiding that. I even had to correct my next door neighbor, who usually talks sense, but he was talked into this doomsday stuff.

[@jhamaker]

I know the risk of a major eruption at Yellowstone in the near term is negligible. But I'm curious if there is a risk of a phreatic eruption at any given time given all the geothermal activity?

[@usgs]

Not necessarily a phreatic eruption, but a hydrothermal (steam) explosion is definitely a hazard. Water flashing to steam can drive explosions that range from small -- the formation of Porkchop Geyser in 1989, for example -- to huge, like Mary Bay, which is 1.5 miles across and is the largest known hydrothermal explosion crater in the world. These explosions do not involve magma, but rather changes in pressure in the shallow subsurface that can cause rapid phase changes (liquid water to steam). Small hydrothermal explosions occur somewhere in Yellowstone about every year or so, but usually in the backcountry, where they escape notice. Certainly these explosions are an underappreciated hazard in the region. We've got some information on this at www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/real-hazards-yellowstone and www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/if-eruption-so-unlikely-why-do-we-monitor-yellowstone-all.

[@jhamaker]

@@usgs interesting information. Thank you for sharing.

[@88997799]

Nobody knows when it will happen but we’ll know at the same time when it does go off.

[@usgs]

Fortunately, there's no real indication of Yellowstone becoming more active anytime soon. The magma chamber is mostly solid (we know this from seismic imaging, which is sort of like taking an MRI of the subsurface), and there's no sign of any rejuvenation. Most eruptions there are lava flows, not massive explosions, but even a lava flow event needs a supply of eruptible magma.

[@toenail4437]

i saw the thumbnail and i thought they were going to rap battle

[@usgs]

Maybe a future idea? 🤣 🎤

[@sallyhausken2307]

I worked at Lake Lodge many many summers ago. Tourists: please take care of it.

[@eaglepursuit]

I like that hoodie

[@llamalover02]

We'd like to see the current monitoring efforts for MSH, too! :)

[@usgs]

That's the best monitored volcano in the Cascade Range! You can see a map of monitoring stations at www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/mount-st.-helens. Click on any of the sites to see the data!

[@stevenmaus5390]

Isn’t it the Juan de fuca plate not Pacific?

[@usgs]

You're right -- good catch!

[@patricknorton5788]

It's not part of the Pacific Plate, but it is beneath the Pacific Ocean.

[@warrenglover]

Wait after eclipse than 40 day than what next ? You X mark already..

[@jforce91]

The claim "Mount Saint Helens is the most explosive volcano in the cascade range" is contestable. In the last 100 years maybe. But in the last millenia; Newberry, Mazama, and Three Sisters volcanoes would all like a word. As well as various other rhyolitic centers within the cascade range...

[@usgs]

It's definitely true that some Cascade volcanoes have had large explosive eruptions. Glacier Peak has had some biggies, too! But in terms of frequency of explosive eruptions, Mount St. Helens leaves them all in the dust. There's more about the history of the volcano over the last few thousand years at www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/mount-st.-helens/science/holocene-activity-prior-may-18-1980-eruption.

[@alexbradmckay]

2:25, you say mt. St. Helens mountain didn't even form until 4000 years ago. Is that true or a mistake?

[@usgs]

Not a mistake! There has been volcanism in the area for 275,000 years. But the edifice that we know today didn't really start growing until about 4000 years ago. More on the history of today's Mount St. Helens at www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/mount-st.-helens/science/holocene-activity-prior-may-18-1980-eruption.

[@erfquake1]

Wait, what? Mt St Helens is only about 4000 years old??

[@usgs]

File that under "strange but true." Volcanism has been occurring in the region for 275,000 years, but the mountain we know today only started growing about 3900 years ago. More info on that at www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/mount-st.-helens/science/holocene-activity-prior-may-18-1980-eruption.

[@raymondr7789]

Great presentation, miles ahead of most of the crap on KZbin

[@daphnekivinen9482]

I lived there and there was no lava flow unless it was under the ground. There were pyroclastic flows. I watched it from the time it started erupting. Lived 12 air miles from Mount Saint Helen's and worked for the GPNF.

[@RoxnDox]

Pyroclastic flows from the most recent eruption, yes. The domes that grew in the crater can almost be counted, though they were more like squeezing out toothpaste and never really ‘flowed’. Prior eruptions of MSH did produce lava flows, enough to build the mountain. He could perhaps have been more specific on that bit.

[@usgs]

The most recent lava flows at Mount St. Helens occurred after the May 18, 1980, explosion. Lava erupted in a number of discrete episodes between 1980 and 1986, and then again in a continuous episode during 2004-2008. You can see a time-lapse movie of the more recent lava dome eruption at kzbin.info/www/bejne/nmelYqCvirB0iZY.

[@daphnekivinen9482]

@@usgs I have never heard of that and I was there until 1993. We had pumice October 1980. I will ask my FS friends about the 2004-2008 lava. I still live in the area and retired in 2007.

[@daphnekivinen9482]

@@usgs We never called it a lava flow. We new it was lava, but we called it dome growth. You made it sound like the lava flows we've been seeing in Iceland and Hawaii.

[@usgs]

@@daphnekivinen9482 Yes, it's typically referred to as a lava dome when it just piles up around the vent, as it has done at Mount St. Helens. Very similar features are present in Yellowstone, although much larger in volume, and many of those also flowed pretty far from their vents because they were so big. In both cases, the flows are thick and the lava is basically solid when it erupts.

[@deb1000001]

Yellowstone is a caldera. If it erupts it will be horrific.

[@usgs]

Not necessarily. Most Yellowstone eruptions are lava flows. Granted, they are really think and voluminous lava flows (not like the thin ones in Hawaii), but they aren't the massive explosions. Since the eruption that formed Yellowstone caldera 631,000 years ago there have been a few dozen of these flows, the last one occurring about 70,000 years ago. You can see a map of the more recent flows at www.usgs.gov/observatories/yvo/news/lotta-lava-new-insights-timing-yellowstones-most-recent-rhyolite-eruptions.

[@L.LGodwill]

Yes , We are as individuals very short living on Earth ; So don't waist your time . Be knowledge seeker