7Wonders of Mount St. Helen’s

by Lloyd Anderson

Introduction: The 7 Wonders, summarized below, are seven kinds of geological features resulting from the eruptive activity of the ‘80’s and displayed at the Mount St. Helens (MSH) Creation Information Center. Because they formed rapidly, they challenge evolutionary thought, which routinely assigns long ages to such formations.

1. Mountain rearranged beyond recognition in minutes. MSH was acclaimed the most beautiful of the Cascade peaks. Cone-shaped and snow-covered, it towered over heavily-forested deep ravines and a crystal clear lake to its north. In March of 1980, magma began moving up into the mountain, wedging it apart. A powerful earthquake at 8:32 a.m., May 18, caused a chain reaction of devastation. In 90 seconds the top and insides of the volcano plunged into the valley to the north opening up a vast, gaping, horseshoe-shaped crater. 

   The collapsing north side released the pressure within, producing a lateral, northward, fan-shaped explosion that achieved the power of 1000 Hiroshima-class atomic bombs in 30 seconds. In the next three minutes the blast destroyed 234 square miles of forest. Volcanic rock filled the deep ravines, lifted the bottom of Spirit Lake by a football field, and buried the highway and river system draining the north and northwest sides of the mountain. The mountain continued to erupt until evening, expending the power of 20,000 atomic bombs, leaving a hideous, lifeless moonscape. 

   For 150 years geological evolution minimized the role of catastrophic events. Yet in minutes the eruption of this minor volcano produced the work of a million years of gradual change.

2. Canyons formed in five months. In the five months following the eruption two canyons were formed by mud and pyroclastic flows, establishing drainages for the 1.5 x 2.0 mile crater. The primary drainage, Step Canyon, is up to 700’ deep. To its east is Loowit Canyon. Both canyons cut through 100’ of solid rock. Creeks flow through them. The typical evolutionary explanation is that a creek slowly forms a canyon over vast ages. In this case we know that the canyons were formed quickly; then a stream began to run through them. Textbooks say the most spectacular canyon in the world, the Grand Canyon, was formed by stream erosion over a hundred million years. Now scientists who specialize in geological erosion believe it was formed rapidly, just like these canyons at MSH. 

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