https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_eruption_of_Mount_St._Helens#/media/File:Mt_St_Helens_fractured_tree.png
By Snottywong – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17822565

This photograph was taken near Mount St. Helens in  Washington State on August 23rd 2010. It shows a tree that was fractured among many others on May 18th, 1980 during the eruption of Mt. St. Helens.

Today in Science 10 Honours, we learned about two different types of volcanoes: composite and shield, their characteristics, and the differences between them. This composite volcano was formed because of the subduction of the Juan de Fuca plate under the North American plate, and is very explosive, meaning that its eruptions are quite violent.

The tree shown in the photo was snapped off its base because it was in the direct blast zone, and the earth in that zone was stripped and scorched as well.

Sources used:

“1980 Eruption of Mount St. Helens.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2017.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_eruption_of_Mount_St._Helens

Royal Geographical Society. Microsoft Word – Geography Level 8 1.1 Transcript.doc. N.p.: n.p., n.d. PDF.

http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/C62A6824-C12E-4D6C-A879-14ED8240CA04/0/CGT_NetRaising_8StHelensessay.pdf