Mount St Helens 1980 Volcano Eruption - News Article PDF

STAGE 4 Unit focus: Volcanoes Text focus: Newspaper Violent Volcano May 19th 1980. It is our understanding that the build-up of pressure led to...

STAGE 4 Unit focus: Volcanoes Text focus: Newspaper Violent Volcano May 19th 1980. It is our understanding that the build-up of pressure led to a more powerful explosion. The eruption caused a glowing The most destructive volcanic activity in American history cloud of superheated gas to blow out of the mountain face rocked the state of Washington yesterday. Fi y-seven people at supersonic speed. According to our contacts at the United lost their lives, and tens of thousands more have been impacted States Geological Survey, everything within 8 miles of the blast by the devastating eruption of Mount St. Helens. Located in the would have been killed immediately. Anything within 19 miles south-west of the state, there have been warnings of seismic would have been fla ened by the shock-wave that followed. In activity for the past few months. total, an area of roughly 230 square miles was devastated by Scientists at the University of Washington have been the initial blast. monitoring earthquake activity near to the site since March. Even as people were coming to terms with the initial eruption, An earthquake measuring 4.2 was logged below the volcano on a second was occurring at the summit. This explosion sent 20th March. Another was recorded three days later. This was a cloud of ash 10 miles into the atmosphere. It is predicted the start of a series of continuous tremors. These continued to travel over a considerable distance in the coming days. until 27th March. Then, a large explosion at the peak of the Members of the public have been urged to avoid the ash volcano released steam nearly 2,000 metres into the air. More wherever possible. It is estimated that hundreds of tons of ash eruptions were observed over the following weeks until they could be produced in total. stopped abruptly on 22nd April. It is unlikely that scientists will be able to determine the full Two days ago, scientists noticed that the north side of the extent of the damage to the local area until the a ermath of volcano had bulged out by nearly 140 metres. A scientist at the the eruption passes. Early reports indicate that a large portion university told us that this indicated magma was rising towards of the mountain has been removed by the explosions. the summit. Volcanologists are currently monitoring the area but do not Volcanologist, David Johnston, had been stationed on the side expect any further activity from the volcano. of the mountain to check for any changes. He woke up just before dawn yesterday and radioed in his daily report. There was no new information to report. Less than two hours later, a magnitude-5.1 earthquake shook the volcano. Mr Johnston radioed through a final message saying, “This is it!” The earthquake caused a crack in the rock within minutes and Mount St. Helens exploded. Mr Johnston was one of the first casualties. Photo credit: USGS/Robert Krimmel A ding ro Rea und all resources ©2019 Literacy Shed e um C u r r ic ul Th http://www.literacyshedplus.com  VOCABULARY FOCUS 1. What does the word “impacted” mean in the first paragraph? 2. Which word tells you that tremors happened over and over again? 3. Why has the author described it as a “devastating eruption”? 4. If you were a member of the public, what impact would the use of the word “urged” have? 5. Find a word closest in meaning to “work out” or “find out information”. VIPERS QUESTIONS R Where in Washington is Mount St. Helens? V Which word was important in finding the previous answer? P Why hasn’t the author given a precise measurement for how high the steam was released? R What was the job of the first person killed by the eruption? E The author has used lots of scientific language. What effect does this have on the reader? all resources ©2019 Literacy Shed http://www.literacyshedplus.com