Curiousitousness: October 2004 Archives

Mount St Helens has erupted again after a long breather; nothing major, as yet, but still a source of fascination as I've always been enthralled by volcanoes, with vivid images of the catastrophic eruption of 1980 stuck in my head from when I was three or four years old -- this was, of course, recorded footage in documentary form, since I was only four months and two days old when the majestic old mountain obliterated itself in the largest avalanche in recorded history -- what a reminder.

Of course, earth-geeks will all know that we're thousands of years overdue for a volcanic super-eruption, the kind of geotectonic event with the power to affect the planet in its entirety; though I could be wrong, the Toba super-eruption in present day Indonesia was probably the last of these, and that was a good 70 000 years ago. While the Sunda arc, a subduction zone between the Indian Ocean and Eurasian plates, remains a source of geological excitement, the mountain currently predicted to be the next man up is Mt Rainier, the centrepiece of the beautiful Olympic National Park near Seattle, Washington. I would say that I'd be sorry to see it go, as it's one of the prettiest areas I've ever seen, but considering the Toba eruption may have brought the human population of the world down to 10 000 in the blink of a geological eye, I probably won't be around long enough to form much of an opinion.