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Geologist merges science with eyewitness interviews of Mount St. Helens’ 1980 eruption

Photo of a helicopter resting on volcanic ash, with felled trees and partially buried construction equipment in the background

May 18, 2015 marks the 35th anniversary of Earth’s largest terrestrial landslide in historical times—a result of a restless volcano and a uniquely violent eruption. The top of Mount St. Helens plowed into Spirit Lake, throwing water 860 feet above lake level, a great inland tsunami. A ground-hugging hot surge sped across valleys and ridges, killing dozens of people and nearly all other life as it leveled 234 square miles of forest.

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