Mount Saint Helens Living Laboratory

This curriculum is designed for grade levels 4-8. Adaption and adjustment is encouraged for grade levels 9 and higher though the Mount St. Helens Monument has already adapted some of the lessons for use at all levels.

The first three links below (Human Responses, Earth Windows, and Disturbance Ecology) contain curriculum lessons. The last two links are supplemental and are linked from within the lessons when they are needed.

 

Human Responses - Human

Earth Windows - Geologic

Disturbance Ecology - Biologic

Instructional Strategies

Classroom Supplements

The Mt. Saint Helens eruptions are an incredibly insightful tool for volcanologists and scientists who study flow emplacement and igneous processes occurring beneath volcanoes due to the extensive documentation that was gathered during this historical eruption. Links below provide some well-cited, non-comprehensive overview on the eruptive and petrologic processes that occur(ed) at Mt. Saint Helens. These are mostly geared towards students and educators in a university or research setting.

 

USGS Mt. Saint Helens Webpage

Mt. Saint Helens Water Content (Gardner et al., 1995)

Amphibole (Rutherford et al., 1993)

Phase Equilibria (Rutherford et al., 1985)