#vulcanism

Panorama: Mt. St. Helens from Norway Pass, Washington, 2003.

Wizard Island, Crater Lake through a porthole, 2014.

Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove @jvn.photo

Some of the lava flows I’ve recorded seem to defy physics when you see them move. Evidently, they do not but the way they flow, interact & clash is sometimes so bizarre. #iceland

Johann von Charpentier – Scientist of the Day

Johann Friedrich Wilhelm von Charpentier, a German geologist and mining engineer, died July 27, 1805, at the age of 67; he was born in Dresden in 1738.

The Cascade Range in western North America are a remarkably quiet volcanic chain. Even though potentially active volcanoes stretch from Lassen Peak in the south to Garibaldi in the north, the only volcano to erupt in the past century is Mount St. Helens (twice). That's it. Compare that to places like Japan, Kamchatka, Indonesia and other volcanic arcs where it isn't uncommon for multiple volcanoes to be popping off simultaneously, the Cascades feel downright silent.

This is why the volcanological community get excited when something, anything, happens. The something that has everyone's attention right now is the return of the "bulge" on the west side of South Sister, part of the Three Sisters volcanoes west of Bend in Oregon.