Why No Volcanoes on the East Coast?
We’re waiting to see if Mount St. Helens will erupt again inWashington State, but we never hear about volcanic activityon the East Coast of the U.S. There’s a scientific reasonfor this.
Sally Harris writes that the kinds of geological conditionsthere don?t support volcanic activity. Geoscientist R.J.Tracy says, “The active margin of North America is itswestern margin, and only the northwestern segment of itcurrently has the right conditions to produce volcanoes likeMount St. Helens. The interior of North America and the Eastcoast lie far from any currently active plate boundaries andtherefore are not locales where volcanism can occur.”
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