St Helens is one of the most active volcanoes of the Cascade mountains.
The volcano Saint-Kheles (mount Saint Helena), located in the U.S. state of Washington, does not have its own source of magma.
Figured it out by seismologists from the University of new Mexico, who believe that the eruption cause streams of molten rock coming from a different region of the Cascade mountains.
Such geological structures are called zombies and volcanoes. The findings of scientists published a paper in the journal Nature Communications.
St Helens is one of the most active volcanoes of the Cascade mountains — mountain range located in Western North America and is part of the Pacific ring of fire. However, mount St. Helens is geologically quiet region called predpoved wedge.
Scientists conducted seismic mapping of the surrounding area of St Helens. They placed several thousand sensors to detect movement of the rocks. Geologists also staged a series of explosions to follow the movement of the shock waves in the earth and cavities. They found that under the volcano is no magma chamber — a reservoir where are accumulated before the eruption of molten rock.
The researchers believe that the source of magma is on the East of the volcano, closer to the rest of the Cascade mountains, where the surface layers of the earth’s crust more hot. However, seismologists still do not know what forces cause fiery rocks to move to the West, to Saint-Kheles. Currently, studies are being conducted which should help to answer this question.
