Mmmm, steaming hot slab...

May 9, 2006 10:50 AM

A huge, steaming hot slab of rockhas been growing out of Mount St Helens by over one meter a day since last November. Here's a time-lapse movie of the slab growing.
posted by gottabefunky (54 comments total)

"Slab" is one of those words that just becomes a weird sound the more you say it. Slab slab slab slab slab...
posted by gottabefunky at 10:50 AM on May 9, 2006

My pop lives out there, but he's far enough away to be safe when (not if) she blows again.

Makes you wonder what it'll take for those closer to the mountain to start packing.

Beautiful picks though, thanks gottabefunky.
posted by bardic at 10:51 AM on May 9, 2006

Quick, somebody call Dean Potter so he can climb it!
posted by JekPorkins at 10:52 AM on May 9, 2006

Looks like the cork's about to pop.
posted by SteveInMaine at 10:57 AM on May 9, 2006

Gottabefunky, I do that all the time (helps to defuse anger at someone - repeat their name a buncha times). Interesting to see someone else besides me does it...
posted by notsnot at 11:08 AM on May 9, 2006

You can barely see the slab from the webcam
posted by Meaney at 11:11 AM on May 9, 2006

They're gonna have to flush twice.
posted by Smedleyman at 11:18 AM on May 9, 2006

Wittgenstein's thoughts on "slab."
posted by pwb503 at 11:26 AM on May 9, 2006

That is amazing! Wow, cool! Thanks.
posted by nickyskye at 11:28 AM on May 9, 2006

Is that a huge, steaming, hot slab of rock in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
posted by spock at 11:40 AM on May 9, 2006

Your link should be replaced with this link:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060509.html

By tomorrow, the main APOD page will have different content.
posted by vacapinta at 11:41 AM on May 9, 2006

Man, Wittgenstein was annoying when he tried to analyze language, which he knew no more about than any other amateur.

That's one slabby slab!
posted by languagehat at 11:46 AM on May 9, 2006

Re: St. Helens blowing her top again ...

It's unlikely until after this slab grows into a new mountain peak. That's kind of how volcanoes work; they grow organically almost with slabs of rock like this until the rock starts to weaken and blocks the chambers that allow the gasses and magma to escape, and then the build up pressure until they go boom.

I would be much more worried about Mt. Ranier or Mt. Hood, to be honest.
posted by SpecialK at 11:48 AM on May 9, 2006

Meh, I've seen slabbier.
posted by TwelveTwo at 11:51 AM on May 9, 2006

does that video not work for anyone else?
posted by puke & cry at 12:03 PM on May 9, 2006 [1 favorite]

It's only two seconds long, and appears to have maybe 10 frames...
posted by delmoi at 12:18 PM on May 9, 2006

On top of that, the last 4-5 frames are identical.
posted by Chuckles at 12:22 PM on May 9, 2006

I for one welcome our sucky slab timelapse video overlords.
posted by kalessin at 12:25 PM on May 9, 2006

That .avi really could have been an animated gif.
posted by BackwardsHatClub at 12:29 PM on May 9, 2006

link Not Safe For those individuals suffering from diverticulitus or mild impaction.
posted by CynicalKnight at 12:36 PM on May 9, 2006

needs more slab.
posted by blue_beetle at 12:36 PM on May 9, 2006

I have the uncontrollable urge to touch it...


and then kill a tapir with a thigh bone.
posted by djrock3k at 12:37 PM on May 9, 2006

what it'll take for those closer to the mountain to start packing

I can't quit you, rock slab!
posted by CynicalKnight at 12:38 PM on May 9, 2006

That .avi really could have been an animated gif.

Here's an animated GIF version of the AVI. It loops, too! (warning: largeish file)
posted by zsazsa at 12:44 PM on May 9, 2006

"All these volcanoes are yours, except St. Helens. Attempt no landings there."
posted by bondcliff at 12:56 PM on May 9, 2006

steaming hot rock slab

That really says it all.
posted by slogger at 1:01 PM on May 9, 2006

Off-point observation: it sounds the same (except for the first and last word), but it's easier to say labs labs labs labs.
posted by pmbuko at 1:11 PM on May 9, 2006

Actually, it doesn't sound the same. Slab is /slab/ and labs is /labz/, so you're getting a z instead of an s.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled slab report...
posted by languagehat at 1:21 PM on May 9, 2006

So this basically changes everything we thought we knew about geology.
The Creationists must be over the moon.
posted by Flashman at 1:52 PM on May 9, 2006

Was anyone else thinking of the birthday cake from the Little Rascals?
posted by Smart Dalek at 2:02 PM on May 9, 2006

bondcliff, I just want you to know that *I* appreciated your joke.
posted by papercake at 2:12 PM on May 9, 2006

While I appreciate the difficulty involved in climbing up the side of an active volcano, planting a camera and snapping pictures, 4 frames shouldn't really be considered a time lapse video.

Call me when you have at least 2400 frames of this neolithic erection.
posted by crunchland at 2:16 PM on May 9, 2006

Damn. Run fer the hills, Olympia. That is some seriously cool stuff.
posted by fourcheesemac at 2:28 PM on May 9, 2006

fourcheesemac: Er? Olympia's not particularly close to St. Helens at all, and the wind blows the other way. Longview, Kelso, Vancouver, or Yakima would be way worse places to be if it erupted again.
posted by Captain_Tenille at 2:35 PM on May 9, 2006

Here's an animated GIF version of the AVI. It loops, too! (warning: largeish file)


Neato, thanks.
posted by BackwardsHatClub at 2:41 PM on May 9, 2006

So is this thing going to blow up again?
posted by LarryC at 2:51 PM on May 9, 2006

yes. again and again and again.

how big? that's the real question. i think in the visitor's center (the last time i was there, at least), they were estimating another 1980-style explosion in the next 80 years, with several mid-to-low-tier booms occurring regularly in the meantime.
posted by acid freaking on the kitty at 3:39 PM on May 9, 2006

Your link should be replaced with this link:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060509.html

Operator please hope me!
posted by gottabefunky at 3:59 PM on May 9, 2006

Woohoo! Here we go, the The Great Old Ones cometh! "(They)are currently imprisoned—a few beneath the sea, some inside the Earth..." Keep an eye out for disturbances at Latitude 47° 9' S, Longitude 126° 43' W too.
The dead rise, the stars blotted out, the three-lobed burning eye, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria!
posted by Zack_Replica at 4:31 PM on May 9, 2006

But -- parallax! -- looking past the top of the slab to the wall of the crater, lining them up, it appears the slab's hardly moving upward at all.

The pictures seem mostly to show the loose debris that used to be stacked up to near the top of the slab falling away from it.

Unless they're slowly raising the camera with each frame ...
posted by hank at 4:34 PM on May 9, 2006

Yeah - about a quarter the way in, the slab actually shrinks, too - then rises up again. Oh my god! Volcano Koro!!!
posted by strawberryviagra at 5:03 PM on May 9, 2006

The top of the slab broke off. Look at the last frame, at the top edge of the slab, on the left. There's a little point sticking up. Then watch it from the beginning. That little point is a bit down from the top of the slab, then the top of the slab breaks off and the point becomes the top.
posted by Happy Monkey at 5:09 PM on May 9, 2006

You can barely see the slab from the webcam
You can, once they've shown you where to look. Finding The Fin Before It Finally Falls With A Flourish.
posted by tellurian at 5:32 PM on May 9, 2006

So come up to the lab
And see what's on the slab
I see you shiver with antici
posted by Eekacat at 5:33 PM on May 9, 2006

actually, I think it might be making a fort
posted by Eekacat at 5:35 PM on May 9, 2006

Making a fort, pitching a tent - same difference.
posted by loquacious at 5:57 PM on May 9, 2006

They're gonna have to flush twice.
posted by Smedleyman at 2:18 PM EST on May 9

Why did I have the exact same thought?
posted by Pollomacho at 6:34 PM on May 9, 2006

I don't think thats the slab breaking off, I think it's ash washing off, if you watch the notch on the right edge, you can clearly see it rising. It is pretty amazing that the time laps is only for 5 days
posted by Megafly at 6:41 PM on May 9, 2006

there was a band a few years back called 'raging slab' that i enjoyed, if only for the name.
posted by quonsar at 6:55 PM on May 9, 2006

That's cool. My brother and I got shirts last year (too small, unfortunately) that said,

"Official St Helens Investigative Team"
above the acronym,
O. S.H.I.T.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 7:16 PM on May 9, 2006

Hm, yup, that there's an emergent slab o' rock alright.

You might want to see a doctor or something.
posted by blacklite at 7:58 PM on May 9, 2006

Metafilter: They're gonna have to flush twice.
posted by eleyna at 9:08 PM on May 9, 2006

Man, if I could only find a cure for this Brain Cloud...
posted by thanotopsis at 10:59 AM on May 10, 2006

That's cool. My brother and I got shirts last year (too small, unfortunately) that said,

"Official St Helens Investigative Team"
above the acronym,
O. S.H.I.T.

LMAO!!! I would get one just so my son could wear it to school.
posted by Julie21Horse at 3:36 PM on May 10, 2006