| The productive conifer forest that had surrounded Mount St. Helens, Washington, was destroyed by the cataclysmic eruption of the volcano on May 18.1980. Large quantities of organic material were introduced into the nearby surface waters, either as soil and plants incorporated into pyroclastic, mudflow, or debris-avalanche deposits, or as blowndown timber swept into lakes by the lateral blast of hot volcanic gases. The resulting major increases in the concentration of dissolved organic material were one of the most significant changes in the water chemistry of surface waters of the blast zone. -- McKnight, et.al., 1984 |
