Mt. Rainier, the coolest of bros

[Churchill]

So one of my interests is seismology and such, and I am by no means classically trained or an expert in the field, but I do know a thing or two about a thing or two. I was poking around my old friend Mt. Rainier because I was thinking of taking a trip to do another winter climb and I saw some activity on the cams the other day. (There was also a fatal avalanche recently as well)

So I looked at some of the other WA Cascade peaks, and Mt. Hood (who never has volcanoes) had 17 in November and a little more research turned up that quite a few Cascade peaks have "woken" up so to speak.

The "official" report from USGS is that the quakes are ice quakes, or rather, glacial movement occurring at the base of the glacier, hence the frequency of the seismologic activity being so low (like that of earthquakes). They also go on to say that because the signature doesn't resemble that of earthquakes, but rather what they've previously documented as ice quakes or glacial movement that that's what it has to be.

I'll just note two things: Rainier being active (and the Pac NW) at the level it currently is, in light of relatively recent volcanic activity worldwide, is something to take note of; anyone who knows the difference between harmonic events/tremors, glacial movement, tectonic earthquakes and volcanic earthquakes (shallow) can tell you by looking at these images that the official explanation is not exactly accurate.

There was a lot of concern following Japan's last quake that other areas in the Pacific would become active, most notable Juan de Fucas and the WA Cascades as they are by far the most "overdue" for an eruption. As you know, another earthquake occurred this morning off the coast of Japan.

This isn't to say the sky is falling, or that any volcano will erupt - in fact magma movement isn't uncommon and due to (quite) a lot of factors in the Pac NW it moves pretty often. It just doesn't often move around Mt. Rainier, cause tremors under the caldera, and activate Mt. Hood, Adams, Baker, Shasta etc.

I only bring it up because it's interesting to me and having lived in Seattle, the actual danger of an eruption makes St. Helens look like a kid pouring water into a sand castle.




Seattle news report:
http://www.king5.com/news/Thousands-...-95996979.html

Seismologic recorders:
http://old.pnsn.org/WEBICORDER/BETTE...web/index.html
(Check out RCM, RCS, and RVCX 24h, 1-3d)

[Mazmaz]

Wow a volcano eruption in the US would be so cool.

[Guitarman]

Wow a volcano eruption in the US would be so cool.

Not from where I'm sitting lol. I'm in Portland, so well within the blast zone for Mt. Hood. My parents still talk about Mt. St. Helens blowing and the sky being blanketed in ash.

[Roranora]

Pff, just wait for Yellowstone.

[Indalecia]

Yellowstone going up would be a helluva cool way to go, at least.

[Coren]

Not for those of us not actually blown to bits... nuclear winter, starvation, no thanks.

[kuronosan]

I'd imagine we're due for a hyper-disaster this year, as long as it isn't the Yellowstone Caldera.

[ronin sparthos]

Yellowstone going up would be a helluva cool way to go, at least.

The Mayans knew.

[Fhqwghads]

I wonder what all the people who live in the path of pyroclastic flows do to fool themselves into cheery obliviousness of the impending doom which sits only a few miles away. People like those in Puyallup, etc. In the event of an eruption they wouldn't have very long to GTFO before they're all cooked.

[Churchill]

My plan was to get on the roof of our building at work. We had a joke where we made privates go on volcano watch all night, basically just to fuck with them. In this case it would be for reals

[Kerberoz]

Not for those of us not actually blown to bits... nuclear winter, starvation, no thanks.

[Ddz]

I was just talking about this yesterday. Coincidentally I was at Mt. Crystal (pretty much a foothill of Mt. Rainier). I'm glad it didn't blow it's top yesterday, I'd have been toast! Here's a pic of Rainier from the top, was a beautiful day.

http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/9707/photoohx.jpg

[Churchill]

That's on the north side yeah?

[Ddz]

That's on the north side yeah?

North-east yeah.

[Churchill]

Where the clouds are is where you make the final stretch if you start at Muir and don't go straight up the glacier. I wanted to climb the north side this winter but meh.

[Dolmen]

Mt. Rainier is overdue for an eruption, so it will be interesting to see if/when it does, and the power of the blast (based on the VEI). The mud flows alone would devastate that area.

[TummieGaruda]

I see a Megathrust earthquake happening in the next 100 years because one is long overdue from the Juan de Fuca plate.

[Mazmaz]

So do people have volcano insurance?

[Ddz]

Pretty sure the entire Puyallup-Kent Valley area was formed by the last eruption, lol. Would be awesome if it happened in my/our lifetime here. I am far enough away to gtfo :D