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Researchers Target Mt. St Helens


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June 14, 2012, 1:01 am

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"It's an ambitious study." That's what University of Washington Professor and principle investor John Vidale calls it. University of Washington is being joined with other colleges across the nation, including Oregon State University, in studying the volcano 60 miles down into the earth. At that depth researchers will be able to see magma and tectonic plates rises. The same plates that past research has warned are capable of producing magnitude-9 earthquakes. Researchers plan to do this by essentially blasting there way through with explosives. A Rice University professor will set up 2,500 seismographs around St. Helens in the next few years and set off 10 to 20 underground explosions in 80-foot-deep wells. Researchers say you shouldn't be able to feel anything from the explosions but they should be visible for up to 100 miles.
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The goal is to be able to image the volcano at depth previously unreached, most research done today is at about 10 miles into the earths crust. The $3,000,000 bill for this study will be footed by a National Science Foundation grant. The first results will be available in a few years. If successful they would be able to better predict the risk of eruption, not just on ST. Helens, but around the world.

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