Mt. Ranier Shows Very Preliminary Signs of Awakening

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11-10-2004, 10:21 AM
Lane Meyer

Mt. Ranier Shows Very Preliminary Signs of Awakening

From the Cacscades Volcano Observatory on 11/8/04:

Quote:

Mount Rainier earthquake sequence: A sequence of about 18 earthquakes was recorded yesterday between 10:00 and 12:00 PST at Mount Rainier. The largest event, magnitude 3.2, occurred at 11:23, and was located at a depth of 1.6 kilometers in an area of persistent seismicity just south of the summit. Such earthquake sequences constitute typical behavior at Mount Rainier. The last one occurred in February 2002.

CNN Story

Keep this int he back of your mind for the next few months. If the EQ activity ramps up, then Ranier might wake up. If that happens, LOOK OUT. It will make Mt. St. Helens' 1980 eruption look like popping a pimple.

(As an aside - check out this sweet shot down into the crater of St. Helens taken by Elliot Endo of the USGS:
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Imgs/Jpg/M...-04-04_med.jpg )
11-10-2004, 10:26 AM
Mountainman

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lane Meyer

Keep this int he back of your mind for the next few months. If the EQ activity ramps up, then Ranier might wake up. If that happens, LOOK OUT. It will make Mt. St. Helens' 1980 eruption look like popping a pimple.
)

Not to self: Get ass up Ranier soon!
11-10-2004, 10:31 AM
13

Something's afoot with the Juan de Fuca!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lane Meyer

Keep this int he back of your mind for the next few months. If the EQ activity ramps up, then Ranier might wake up. If that happens, LOOK OUT. It will make Mt. St. Helens' 1980 eruption look like popping a pimple.

Um ... would it be prudent to evacuate metro Seattle if Rainier threatens to pop it's top?
11-10-2004, 10:34 AM
basom

Quote:

Originally Posted by 13

Um ... would it be prudent to evacuate metro Seattle if Rainier threatens to pop it's top?

i'm pretty sure tacoma would be wiped out by a massive flow, but i don't think seattle is in the path of least resistance.

tacoma sucks anyways. smells like poop.
11-10-2004, 10:42 AM
Lane Meyer

13 - That's a complicated question which is entirely dependent upon variables in the type of eruption, should there be one.

Without being familiar at all with Ranier, it's history, or eruption models/scenarios, I'd wage a guess that Seattle is far enough away. With the right wind and a directional blast eruption, however, it would surely be vulnerable to ash fall.

Puyallup, on the other hand, would be in trouble if the eruption commenced in such a way as to melt the glaciers perched on the W-NW flank. Parts of the city are built on very thick mudlfows that came from, you guessed it, Mt. Ranier. If you build your house on a mudflow deposti below an active volcano, there's a pretty good chance of it beingcovered again, much like a floodplain.
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Imgs/Gif/R...r_mudflows.gif

Here's a good link to read up on Ranier Hazards:
Volcanic Hazards Assesment for Mt. Ranier - USGS CVO
11-10-2004, 11:08 AM
13

Cool, that means I can fly into Seattle and we can chug brews and snap pictures of the unfolding carnage from the observation deck of the space needle. :cool:

... or not.
11-10-2004, 11:25 AM
Ubersheist

If it blows big right when the winds happen to be blowing northwards and/or westwards, very bad things could happen.

I've gathered from some of those PBS specials that Ranier tends to blow pretty big. However, even the PBS specials always tend to way over-exagerate geologic hazards and focus solely on worst-case scenarios, no matter how remote the possibilities are. I don't have time to read the reports, but I'm curious what the real hazards are like. This could be interesting!

By the way, Lane - the link you provided... the name P.T. Pringle is a guy who was on that Lassen field trip that I was on last month.

The geologic circles are small...
11-10-2004, 11:51 AM
KQ

Living with volcanic risk in the Cascades

Mt. Rainier

(Lahars are the greatest hazard)
11-10-2004, 12:11 PM
Telenater

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mountainman

Not to self: Get ass up Ranier soon!

Note to self: Wait and have to expend less effort to get up Rainer....
11-10-2004, 01:39 PM
BakerBoy

Actually, it'd be kind of nice if it wiped out about half those towns. South Seattle is a shithole, especially renton/kent/auburn area.
11-10-2004, 01:40 PM
joshbu

There is a volcano evac plan for all of the areas in your diagram Lane. In theory, the people living there are supposed to know them. In reality, it amounts to a bunch of street signs that 16 year olds like to steal and put in their basement.

Generally speaking, you're not losing much if Puyallup gets wiped. Weird little town: huge fairgrounds that sits empty most of the year, farmers, and car dealers. (One of the promienent dealers sons have run amuck down there since they were diapers. They act like they own the place, which for the most part, they do.)
11-10-2004, 01:46 PM
bad_roo

Volcano talk for pirates...

LAHAR!!!
11-10-2004, 01:54 PM
optics

Quote:

Originally Posted by BakerBoy

Actually, it'd be kind of nice if it wiped out about half those towns. South Seattle is a shithole, especially renton/kent/auburn area.

Yeah, but I'd still rather live in South Seattle than Bellingham.
11-10-2004, 01:55 PM
splat

Anyone familiar with what the Hopi prophecy says about Ranier blowing?
11-10-2004, 01:58 PM
iceman

Quote:

Originally Posted by bad_roo

Volcano talk for pirates...

LAHAR!!!

huh. I thought that was what the french pirate said.
11-10-2004, 02:04 PM
BakerBoy

Quote:

Originally Posted by optics

Yeah, but I'd still rather live in South Seattle than Bellingham.

Holy crap, its all yours! If you're implying the eruption of Mt. Baker might wipe us out, that's possible, but its easier to get out of town here...
11-10-2004, 02:05 PM
Game Over

National Geographic a few years had a picture of a subdivision excavation in Tacoma where they dug up a 10' diamater stump that got flattened by a lahar off Ranier.
11-10-2004, 02:37 PM
road trip

Geologists know how to make the bedrock. :fmicon:

BWAAAA HAAAA HAAAAA HAAAAA