All shook up.Washington State's most active volcano, Mount Saint Helens Mount Saint Helens: see Saint Helens, Mount. , began erupting in 2004. It has continued to rumble ever since. For the last few years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time mountain has produced a steady rhythm of tiny earthquakes--one every few minutes. Scientists believe the cause of the frequent quakes is a chunk of rock jerkily jerk·y 1 adj. jerk·i·er, jerk·i·est 1. Characterized by jerks or jerking: a jerky train ride. 2. being forced up and out of the volcano. The rock plugging up Mount Saint Helens formed when molten magma flowing up the volcano cooled and hardened before reaching the top. Rising magma continues to shove the solid rock out of the mountain about half a centimeter centimeter (sĕn`tĭmē'tər), abbr. cm, unit of length equal to 0.01 meter, the basic unit of length in the metric system. The centimeter is the unit of length in the cgs system. It is approximately equal to 0. at a time. And every time the rock moves, it triggers a small earthquake. The mountain probably won't pop its cork anytime soon, says Richard Iverson, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey The term geological survey can be used to describe both the conduct of a survey for geological purposes and an institution holding geological information. A geological survey . The magma forms into new rock just as fast as it's rising, causing the mountain's giant stopper to continue to grow. "Right now it is as tall as the Empire State Building and covers an area the size of 100 football fields," says Iverson. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion