Where did they dispose of all the ash from Mt. St. Helens after the
clean up?
Dan
Hi Dan,
I'm not sure of the answer to this one. I think that there was much more
of a problem with all the wet ash and mudflow material in the rivers than
with the ash that fell out of the eruption cloud onto the ground. The
main problems were than the ash would cause the rivers to fill with silt
and then boats couldn't navigate them and they would be much more prone
to flooding the neighboring countryside. The "People After The May 18th
Eruption" section of the Mt.St. Helens section of VolcanoWorld has a
number of photos and explanations dealing with all the problems of the
huge amount of volcanic sediment that was suddenly added to all the
region's rivers and streams.
I found an article describing the damage to public works (roads, bridges,
airports, etc.) and it gives the volumes of ash that were removed, but it
doesn't say where it was removed to. There is a photo of an area where some
ash was dumped. It is a location usually used to dump excess snow during the
winter. A lot of the mudflow material ended up in the Columbia river and I
imagine it was dredged out of the river and dumped out in the ocean, but
I don't know for sure. I will forward your question to one of our Mt.
St. Helens experts.
Sincerely,
Scott Rowland
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