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Mount St. Helens Succession Collection

Mount St. Helens 1976
Aerial view, Mount St. Helens 1976

The Mount St. Helens Succession Collection consists of 235 photographs taken by Dr. Roger del Moral since 1980. These consist of a series of "permanent plot views", photos taken of the same site over a period of years, general aspects of impacted habitats, and photos of some of the more common species of plants. The impacts of the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens varied from very minor deposits of ash to total destruction. These photos capture some of the changes that have occurred during the last 20 years.

  1. In order to effectively access sequences of slides showing the same site at various intervals (typically of a few years each), the following codes may be entered in the Slide ID Number field (note that * is a wild card):
    • For Butte Camp tephra impacts: BCA*; BCB*, BCC*, BCD1*
    • For Lightly Scoured sites at Pine Creek Ridge: PCA*
    • For Moderately Scoured sites at Pine Creek Ridge: PCB*
    • For Heavily Scoured sites on the south cone: BCD3*; BCD5*
    • For mudflows near Butte Camp: Lahar*
    • For primary sites on a heavily blasted ridge: SR*
    • For sites on a moderately blasted ridge: TR*
    • For primary sites sites on pumice: PP*
    • For primary sites on the east slope: AP*
  2. Species may be seached effectively in the Slide Id Number field using the first two letters of the genus and specific name (e.g., Spraguea umbellata = Spum)
  3. Locations may be used to search for particular impacts using the location column. Locations include: Pumice Plain*, Butte Camp, Pine Creek, Lahar, Studebaker Ridge, Toutle Ridge, and Abraham Plain.

Data from these and other permanent plots collected by Dr. del Moral are available at this website: http://faculty.washington.edu/moral/

Many of the slides found in this web site were obtained with the support of the National Science Foundation under LTREB Grants No. 0089704, 9406957, 8906544 and earlier grants.

About the Database

The information for the Mount St. Helens Succession Collection database was researched and prepared by Dr. Roger del Moral in 1999. Image scanning and subject research was done by Dianna Harbin and Kelly Mecifi. The images were scanned using a Hewlett-Packard PhotoSmart and saved in .jpg format. Some manipulation of the photographs was done to present the clearest possible digital image. The scanned images were then linked with descriptive data using the UW Content program.


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