Lava lobe growing at Mount St. Helens

By The Associated Press

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The new lava lobe in Mount St. Helens' crater has sprouted a pistonlike protrusion the size of a 30-story building — glowing red at night.

"The magma is pushing the plug upward. It's going high in the sky," said hydrologist Carolyn Driedger of the U.S. Geological Survey at the Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Wash.

One section of the new lobe has risen by 330 feet in the past nine days, Driedger said.

"The whole area is lifting or rising," she said. Exact dimensions are not yet known but will be determined from photos taken Thursday.

"It seems like every time you think you know what's going on, [the volcano] twists and does something different," said Jeff Wynn, chief scientist for volcano hazards at the observatory.

Magma, or molten rock, is reaching the surface at the rate of 7 to 8 cubic meters per second — or about one large dump-truck load every second, Wynn said.

Like the old lava dome, formed in the six years after St. Helens' devastating May 18, 1980, eruption, the new lobe is made of a type of volcanic rock called dacite, Wynn said.

Driedger said the activity could continue for weeks or months.

The mountain rumbled back to life Sept. 23, with shuddering seismic activity that peaked above magnitude 3 as hot magma broke through rocks in its path.

Molten rock first reached the surface on Oct. 11, marking the resumption of dome-building activity that had stopped in 1986.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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