View of Mount St. Helens from Portland, Oregon MOUNT ST. HELENS, WASH. Mount St. Helens in Washington state has erupted, sending a plume of steam and ash 7,600 metres into the air.
The volcano has been active in previous months. A minor eruption lasted 24 minutes last October, sending up 3,000 metres of steam and ash.
The U.S. Geological Survey detected magma moving below the surface, along with the increased presence of gases such as carbon dioxide, indicating a violent explosion, but nothing happened.
It grew a dome top 80 stories high in December, which began expanding at a rate never seen before by scientists studying the volcano. Infrared images showed fresh lava was rising at temperatures of almost 800 C.
At the time, scientists said it would take 11 years before erupting the way it did back 1980, when it killed 57 people and covered towns more than 400 kilometres away with ash.
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US volcano Mount St Helens erupts Posted 10:25am (Mla time) Mar 09, 2005 By Agence France-Presse
Restive US volcano Mount St. Helens erupted Tuesday, sending a plume of smoke and ash 10,800 meters (36,000 feet) into the air, officials said.
But the eruption of the volcano, which exploded into life in 1980, killing 57 people, did not appear to pose an immediate danger to people as the area is sparsely inhabited, they said.
"There was an eruption at 5:30 pm local time (0130 GMT) and the cloud of ash is estimated at 36,000 feet," Rob Harper told Agence France-Presse. "We are monitoring the situation."
KOMO television in the Oregon city of Portland showed the giant plume hanging over the crater of the volcano which rumbled back to life last October after years of silence.
The huge plume of smoke and ash prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to order air traffic to avoid the area.