Fog and Wildflowers at Mount St Helens
by Carolyn Derstine
Title
Fog and Wildflowers at Mount St Helens
Artist
Carolyn Derstine
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
When Mount Saint Helens, a volcanic peak in the Cascade Range, southwestern Washington, U.S. erupted on May 18, 1980, it was one of the greatest volcanic explosions ever recorded in North America and left destruction over some 200 square miles. But over the intervening decades, flowers have fought their way into the death zone and sprout from the dead-looking gray soil made up of pumice and ash spewed out by the eruption. However, the flowers are more than beautiful patches of brightness enlivening a somber landscape: They’re pioneers in a slowly recovering ecosystem. As generations of plants grow, bloom, and die, they improve the soil for future plants. It will take hundreds of years to turn this area back to the old-growth forest it once was, but wildflowers are cheerfully leading the way. Fog partially obscures the view from the Johnston Ridge Observatory Center of the sediment-clogged valley of the North Fork of the Toutle River below Mount St. Helens.
Uploaded
October 17th, 2019
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