Oral Presentations: UC 330
Presentation Type
Presentation
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Sarah Halvorson
Faculty Mentor’s Department
Geography
Abstract / Artist's Statement
On the morning of May 18, 1980, in the state of Washington, Mount Saint Helens violently erupted, causing the reshaping of the volcano and the largest historical landslide on Earth. This volcanic episode caused significant modifications to the surrounding landscape, including the loss of 70% of the volcano’s glacier mass and 1,314 feet of elevation. Capturing this dynamic environment cartographically has been a challenge. This paper reports on a study aimed at investigating a particular type of cartography called geomorphological mapping, which represents landscapes and their processes of change over time. The study also applies this type of mapping to Mount Saint Helens’ features before its 1980 eruption and present day. Making a geomorphological map comes with many challenges, including choosing how to represent landforms with symbols, colors, lineation, shading, letters, and numbers to make the map understandable and applicable to all users. This study draws on geographic data from many sources and time eras, ground truthing, georeferencing historical maps, digitizing features, and identifying patterns. The results of this mapping process and investigation show the representation of change in Mount Saint Helens’ geographic features and its surrounding landscape.
Category
Physical Sciences
Mapping Mount Saint Helens: Capturing the Volcano's Geomorphologic Change over Time
UC 330
On the morning of May 18, 1980, in the state of Washington, Mount Saint Helens violently erupted, causing the reshaping of the volcano and the largest historical landslide on Earth. This volcanic episode caused significant modifications to the surrounding landscape, including the loss of 70% of the volcano’s glacier mass and 1,314 feet of elevation. Capturing this dynamic environment cartographically has been a challenge. This paper reports on a study aimed at investigating a particular type of cartography called geomorphological mapping, which represents landscapes and their processes of change over time. The study also applies this type of mapping to Mount Saint Helens’ features before its 1980 eruption and present day. Making a geomorphological map comes with many challenges, including choosing how to represent landforms with symbols, colors, lineation, shading, letters, and numbers to make the map understandable and applicable to all users. This study draws on geographic data from many sources and time eras, ground truthing, georeferencing historical maps, digitizing features, and identifying patterns. The results of this mapping process and investigation show the representation of change in Mount Saint Helens’ geographic features and its surrounding landscape.