ASU volcanologist quoted on Mount St. Helen’s eruption

Thirty years ago this week, Washington’s Mount St. Helens burst and led to the largest explosive eruption in U.S. recorded history. In the May 12 issue of Nature, Arizona State University volcanologist Jonathan Fink commented on the scientific discoveries and opportunities that followed the disaster, saying that “a whole generation of volcanologists came out of that period.” 

Despite all the destruction, the blast stimulated interest in volcanic eruptions. The U.S. government boosted funding for research in this area by more than a factor of 10, opened up new volcano observatories, and within a few years developed an international program to respond to volcanic crises around the world. 

"St. Helens blew up in a very photogenic way near a major American city and caused dozens of fatalities, millions of dollars of destruction, and incredibly violent stories and pictures," says Fink, a professor in ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Sustainability. "It was impossible to ignore." 

Fink chaired both the National Research Council's review of the USGS Volcano Hazards Program and the Smithsonian Institution's review of their Global Volcanism Program. In 1992-93, he served as the Director of the National Science Foundation's Geochemistry and Petrology Program, which funds most volcano research in the U.S. 

Fink noted that support for volcano research increases steeply right after a calamity, then declines to a steady, lower level until the next event. "The amount of the temporary increase tends to scale with the number of deaths or the total dollars of destruction or the media coverage," he adds. 

Fink and two other ASU geologists at the time – Steve Self and Mike Malin – received the first federal research grant to work at the volcano after it exploded and were the first non-government scientists to conduct field work there, beginning in June 1980. Fink and his students studied St. Helens’ mudflows and lava dome for the next decade. 

Accompanying the increased funding and new research opportunities, were many careers in volcanology and a new understanding of explosive volcanism and how to forecast it — tools that have helped save thousands of lives over the intervening decades. 

An expert on volcanic eruptions, Fink currently directs ASU’s Center for Sustainability Science Applications, which deals with urban sustainability, climate change and sustainable technologies.