Mt St. Helens and Mt Adams, seen from the air while crossing the Cascade Range in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. In 1980, after more than a century of dormancy, Mt St. Helens erupted spectacularly, leaving behind the vast horseshoe-shaped crater visible in this photograph.
The eruption followed an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale, when the mountain’s northern flank collapsed and sent the blast outward to the north rather than upward from the summit in a typical eruption. The collapse created a crater 1.6 km, or 1 mile, wide, a volcanic scar carved into the mountain’s northern flank.
The eruption killed fifty-seven people and destroyed 250 homes. Mt St. Helens is also known as Lawetlat’la to the Cowlitz people and Loowit to the Klickitat people.
