Mount St. Helens puffs out a new steam cloud as mountain vibrates with weak quakes
MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. Mount St. Helens has shot off a new cloud of steam. The dark steam rose at dawn from an area of the crater where rock has been growing rapidly upward. The plume rose several hundred feet above the volcano, and light wind slowly blew it toward the south and southeast.
Scientists didn't immediately determine whether the steam cloud contained any volcanic ash.
The emission follows an increase in earthquake activity over the previous two days, with weak quakes occurring every two minutes until today, when the vibrations were more frequent but weakened to magnitude one or less.
Since September 23rd, thousands of small earthquakes have shaken the peak in the Cascade Range.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
|
