On May 18, 1980 Mount Saint Helen erupted and changed the landscape in a large area of the Pacific Northwest. A young geologist who was recognized for his study of landslides and avalanches working with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) was asked to study the large bulge growing on the north face of the volcano. He had been contacted only a few months prior to the eruption. His brief study concluded a forecast of the likely sequence of events which would likely transpire when the bulge became a landslide that would trigger an eruption on the face of the volcano. Unfortunately, he was unable to predict the exact timing of such an event. When the landslide actually occurred, in the sequence and scale as predicted, the resulting eruption occurred on the north flank of the volcano also as predicted as opposed to its summit changing the landscape of that area of the PNW.

That geologist was Barry Voight, brother of the actor Jon Voight and musician Chip Taylor, who continued to study Mount St. Helens and other volcanos around the globe. His predictions of the pyroclastic flows which would likely occur on the Caribbean Island of Montserrat caused their government to evacuate the capital city of Plymouth beginning three years prior to the volcanic eruption in 1997. The pyroclastic flows destroyed the airport and much of the city.

On a side note, one of my required engineering courses at Penn State in the late 70s was Geology for Civil Engineers. The professor was a young Barry Voight who spent many years at Penn State passionately teaching geology until his retirement.

Thanks, that was interesting. Prior to the eruption I spent many days hiking in the Mt. Margaret backcountry and on the slopes of Mt. St.Helens. Beautiful country. Still is.

Silent

Even as far away as Billings, Montana, we had ash covering everything. I don't remember how many days it took to make the trip, but it was memorable.