A fresh look at Mount St. Helens | Earth | Science News - 0 views
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Life returns Some researchers feared the area north of the volcano would remain a sterile moonscape for decades. But scientists studying the blast-seared zone north of the peak found vegetation on the landslide within a few years,
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Nine years after the eruption, plants had returned to just over 10 percent of the hummocky terrain. Twenty years on, vegetation had expanded to cover about two-thirds of the deposit. Today, Frenzen says, about 80 percent of the once sterile area sports vegetation.
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Some of the first plants to return were lupines, most of which are perennial plants that add nitrogen to the soil.
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"Life returns Some researchers feared the area north of the volcano would remain a sterile moonscape for decades. But scientists studying the blast-seared zone north of the peak found vegetation on the landslide within a few years, "