Magma levels rising in Mount St. Helens, but is it a sign of an impending eruption?

THE most devastating volcano in America is stirring once again but is this a sign of another eruption on the way?

Under pressure. Mount St. Helens in Washington, USA erupted with deadly consequences back

MOUNT St. Helens was America’s most devastating volcano on record when it blew its top in 1980. Now could another eruption be imminent?

Geologists have observed magma levels are slowly rising inside the volcano that killed 57 people in the state of Washington.

“The magma reservoir beneath Mount St. Helens has been slowly re-pressurising since 2008,” the U.S. Geological Survey said in a statement on Wednesday. “It is likely that re-pressurisation is caused by (the) arrival of a small amount of additional magma 4 to 8km (2.5 to 5 miles) beneath the surface.”

But the report by Reuters quells any fears of another catastrophic explosion in the immediate future by reassuring this is an expected trait of an active volcano and “does not indicate the volcano is expected to erupt anytime soon”.

An indication to how much ash was spewed during the 1980 Mount St Helens eruption.

The natural disaster back in 1980 was triggered by a 5.2 magnitude earthquake and saw the 2.5 kilometre sized peak unleash ash, gas, a pyroclastic flow and a landslide that not only took many lives but also devastated forests and river systems over a 595 kilometre square area.

The USGS, and the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network at University of Washington, closely monitor ground deformation and seismicity at the volcano.

This summer, they will also measure its released gases and gravity field, measurements that can be used to monitor subsurface magma and forecast eruptions.