This page shows images taken of volcanic ash particles collected right after the August 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. I had stored the ash since 1980 and just had the opportunity to look at them under a microscope with a digital imaging system.

We were in the area on or about August 7th, 1980 during an ash emission. We camped out in Snoqualmie National Forest on Highway 12. That's where we collected the ash. The exact name of the campground is unknown at this time. The particles collected represent what was deposited on the ground and may contain not only ash particles but pollens, dust, and miscellaneous combustion particles.  These images were produced by a microscope system with the light source coming from the bottom. This prevents the three-dimensional viewing of particles that are light absorbing. Click on the image thumb-nails below to see larger images. If you have any comments or ideas about these particles or the images themselves please send me an e-mail. I'm open to suggestions to what some of these particles are.
 

	The particle in the center of the image has clean cut edges with some features inside that look like occulsions or bubbles.
	The particle in the center appears almost spherical.  Notice the small particles attached surrounding the particle are approximately 1 µm in diameter.
	This elongated particle looks like it is composed of several seperate particles attached in some way.  Notice that some of the smaller pieces have much smaller particles approximately 1 µm in diameter.

 

Thanks to Matt Meyers, who let me use his microscope system and the generous use of his time to help me in this adventure.

last modified 8 June 2003

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