Volcanic Case Study Mount St Helens

Causes of the Eruption
1. An eruption is caused by plates moving
2. Volcanoes are formed at either constructive or destructive plate boundaries
3. Convection currents in the magma cause the plates to move
Primary and secondary effects
1. Primary- death
2. Secondary death
3. Primary- destroys wildlife
4. Primary- Fires
5. Primary- Evacuation
6. Primary- Building ruined
7. Secondary- Part of the area becomes 'out of bounds'
8. Secondary- lack of food and water
Positive and Negative impacts
1. Positive- increased fertility in soil
2. Negative- destroys wildlife
3. Positive- becomes a better-known area. Increases tourism (long term)
4. Negative- destroys houses and buildings
5. Negative- kills people both directly (hit by rocks) and indirectly (contaminates water)
6. Negative- costs a lot of money to recover
7. Positive- other countries come together to help that country
Immediate and Long-Term responses
1. immediate response- sending out helicopters to search for those who need help
2. Immediate response-emergency treatmemt
3. Immediate response- finding shelter for survivors who houses had become inhabitable
4. Immediate response- clearing the ash
5. Long term response- re-building houses and buildings
6. Long term responses- re-planting forests
7. Long term response- re-build roads to bring back tourism
Monitoring and Predicting erruptions
1. Earthquakes are a frequent sign of an impending eruption
  1. Their frequency and strength can be recorded
2. Tiltmeters can identify small subtle changes in the landscape
3. GPS is used to identify changes as little as 1mm
4. Digital cameras on the crater's edge can photograph any changes
5. Gases are emitted before an eruption which contains a large amount of sulphur dioxide

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Volcanic Case Study Mount St Helens

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	Created by Eleanor Matthewman over 10 years ago