he ice and snow caps that melted caused mudflows. The mud traveled down the same path. It was incredibly destructive. The mudflows tore down houses, steel bridges and blocked the Columbia River with its debris.
             The next day showed a very different MSH. The mountain had lost more that three quarter of a cubic mile of rock and was now 1,200 feet shorter. What used to be a lush green slope was now a gray wasteland that looked like the surface of the moon.
             Mount St. Helens was built by many eruptions over thousands of years. With each eruption, hot rock from inside the earth forced its way to the surface. This type of rock is called magma. Once the magma reaches the surface of the earth it is called lava.
             With some eruptions, the magma was liquid so the lava flowed out of the volcano and hardened. With others, the magma was thick so it burst violently with sprays of molten rock. It rained
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