Bulge near South Sister volcano is barely growing, scientists find
BEND, Ore. (AP) — A bulge near the prominent Cascade Range volcano known as South Sister has nearly stopped growing, scientists say.
The uplift was spotted more than a decade ago and led scientists to wonder if volcanic activity was ahead, The Bulletin newspaper of Bend reports. But they now say an eruption is unlikely.
Such bulges are common around volcanoes, and most stop growing after a few years, scientists said.
The U.S. Geological Survey says the South Sister uplift probably started in late 1997, pushed by magma pooling four miles below the surface. The ground has risen about 9 inches in all. The bulge is about 10 miles in diameter.
Early on, it rose about an inch or two per year. Now, it's moving up at about 3?10 of an inch per year.
"The rate now is low enough now that it is almost undetectable," said Dan Dzurisin, a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the Cascade Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Wash.
A federal scientist studying satellite radar images noticed the bulge in 2000. The Geological Survey set up an array of sensors tied into the Global Positioning System and collected years' worth of data. The data shows the diminishing growth.
"We know now, in hindsight, that the rate has been declining since the very beginning," Dzurisin said.
South Sister rises 10,358 feet. Scientists consider it an active volcano and say it last erupted 2,000 years ago.
The heart of the bulge is about three miles west of South Sister and actually closer to a lesser-known peak, The Husband, whose summit is 7,524 feet.
The bulge isn't evident to people on the ground.
"It is a very, very subtle, very, very broad uplift of the surface," Dzurisin said.
Information from: The Bulletin
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
You suckers believe this crap from the same group of money sucking "scientists" who brought you <boo> global warming? Â
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Gullible.
 @Festivus Would I believe a scientist who's work it is to know these things, or some politician that takes money from big corperations to say Global Warming is a Hoax?
 @No_Conservitards Settle down.  It was (apparently too well disguised) satire.
Go to USGS and look at what is happening just south of Bend.
Many small quakes around Paulina Lake and Palunia peak.
East of Sisters dome building event..
This will suck big time when it goes.... I remember MT ST Helens ..rock can only expand so much before it gives way.
"A bulge near the prominent Cascade Range volcano known as South Sister..."
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Anyone know what "South Sister" was up to 9 months ago?
 @xilef regnu "The heart of the bulge is about three miles west of South Sister and actually closer to a lesser-known peak, The Husband, whose summit is 7,524 feet."
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It's obviously somebody's Husband. An adulterer no less.
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Anyone know a place that makes birthday CAKES?
@xilef regnu Wow! What a great joke. For a fifth grader.
 @Mechanic  @xilef Lighten up Francis....
Well played.
@jpk You need an aerostat with a 12ga to take out Herman...
@WebFootSTi Can't fire firearms, or use things that go boom, in the city limits. Now, perhaps a small drone might just work at terminating this little critter with prejudice?
Great! I am now really relieved to know this. However, on another newsfront, the mounds my attack gopher Herman, keeps making in the front yard, are imperceptively rising, indicating to me the strong possibility that he may still be there. Pictures at 11. LOL
 @jpk Fire at the celluloid factory. No Film at 11. :-)
Shuckie darn! I'd be willing to donate Herman to a good home though?
 @jpk and loose the protection of a Go-Go-Gopher? I can't do that to you... (even it the ODFW would allow it)
False alarm! Everyone can go back to what they were doing. No eruptions today - or this year.
You right, volcanoes never erupt in the northwest...........
I know the feeling.