The Environmental Impact Of The Lateral Blast

In 1980, Mount Saint Helens unleashed its destructive power and many, people, animals, and plants were exterminated. Consequently, the Lateral Blast, was caused by the collapse of the north side of the volcano and when it fell, it unleashed a powerful explosion, that destroyed and scorched 230 square miles of land. Furthermore, the Lateral Blast, greatly impacted Mount Saint Helens ecosystem, for once it happened it destroyed miles of forests, killed off organisms and scorched vegetation in the area. Now the Lateral Blast destroyed miles of forests, because according to the article the Lateral Blast, it says that, ¨Direct blast zone, the innermost zone, averaged about 8 miles in radius, an area in which virtually everything, natural or manmade, was obliterated or
carried away. For this reason, this zone also has been called the tree-removal zone." This means, that scientists classified zones that the Lateral Blast hit, and they split it up into 3 zones, the Direct Blast Zone, Channelized Blast Zone, and Seared Zone. But specifically the the Direct Blast Zone, was the zone that was closest to Mount Saint Helens and in that zone, the trees in the forests were destroyed because of the sheer force of the Lateral Blast. Also in the article, the Recovery of Spirit Lake, it is written, ¨the eruption obliterated whole forests, triggered massive mud slides, and scalding mud flows...¨ So this is stating basically, that the eruption did in fact, destroy whole forests, but also triggered mudslides, and mudflows, which would have also helped the removal with trees along with the blast. In addition, the article Impact and Aftermath, the author notes, “Trees amounting to more than 4 billion board feet of salable timber were damaged or destroyed, primarily by the lateral blast. This conveys, that 4 million of specifically salable timber were destroyed or damage, and the amount could be more because the Lateral Blast went very far into the countryside and went on for miles. To this extent, it is safe to say that trees were in fact destroyed by the Lateral Blasts, and some only damaged, but that would have been the trees, that were farther away from the origin of the Lateral Blast.
Not only did the Lateral Blast destroyed the trees in the forests closest to Mount Saint Helens, but it also killed off any organisms that were near Mount Saint Helens.
This is mentioned in the article, Mount Saint Helen, where it states, ¨During search-and-rescue missions in the first few days after the eruption, emergency personnel saw many elk carcasses throughout the blowdown zone.¨ So this means that animals did die, like the elk for example, that many carcasas of the species were found all over the blast zone, which makes sense because the elk, is a very large mammal and tried to run but could not outrun the blast and could not hide from it so it would die fairly easily to the power of the Lateral Blast.. Consequently, this is also mentioned in the article, Overview of Ecological Responses to the Eruption of Mount Saint Helens: 1980-2005, that ¨The suite of physical processes operating during the eruption created a full spectrum of survival from nearly complete retention of biota, biotic structures, and abiotic features (such as soil, cliffs, and streams) to complete extirpation of life and loss (or gross reconfiguration) of landforms and drainage networks.¨ In a few words, this is saying
that

this is saying that the Lateral Blast, had a wide arrange of survivals, but it also exterminated most life, restructured the land, and rivers, so even though some species survived, the Lateral Blast was truly destructive and the surviving species would have been impacted in their food webs. In any case, this shows how the Lateral Blast almost killed off all the organisms around Saint Mount Helens, so the organisms were greatly impacted, because it would make sense that their food webs would also be messed up because they would have some organisms missing in their food web, so they would have to adapt rather quickly to survive the Lateral Blast destruction on organisms. Now I have talked about how the Lateral Blast, has destroyed countless forest, killed many organism, but it has also scorched all vegetation that surround it. For instance in the article, How did eruption impacts vary around volcanos? It says, ¨Trees up to 17 miles (27 km) from the volcano were felled by blast (blowdown zone) and scorched by hot gases (scorch zone).¨ This is saying that, the trees that were far away, 17 miles away were indeed affected by the Lateral Blast, but were also scorched by hot gasses so not only were the trees closest to the lateral blast destroyed but trees far away were scorched by intense heat, and vegetation in the forests would have also been scorched as well. Moreover in another article, it states, ¨The 600 km2(230 mi2) devastated area was blanketed by a deposit of hot debris carried by the blast.¨ This is telling us that 600 km was devastated by hot debris that was carried by the Lateral Blast, so it would have affect greatly the forests, the ones that were very far away, and would have killed off their vegetation, because it would have scorched most of the vegetation.
So as I stated previously, that Lateral Blast did indeed scorched the vegetation and it did so in a manner of force, and range, that was unexpected. In brief, due to the Lateral Blasts, destruction of trees, killing of many species, and scorching of vegetation, it was a very big impact on Mount Saint Helens ecosystem, and changed everything.

Cited Sources:
Crisafulli, Charles M, et al. “Mount St Helens.pdf.” Google Drive, Google, drive.google.com/file/d/0B_21VCe0MxfTRUhGWjFBNE5CZU0/view.
“Life Persists.” Mount St Helens Science and Learning Center, www.mshslc.org/return-to-life/eruption-impacts/life-persists/.
“Lateral Blast.” MSH Lateral "Blast" [USGS], USGS, 25 June 1997, pubs.usgs.gov/gip/msh/lateral.html. http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/how-do-volcanoes-affect-plants-and-animals “1980 Cataclysmic Eruption.” USGS: Volcano Hazards Program CVO Mount St. Helens, USGS, 30 Mar. 2017, volcanoes.usgs.gov/volcanoes/st_helens/st_helens_geo_hist_99.html.