Word: semimolten
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...seismographs and tiltmeters - which measure the swelling of the earth's surface - scientists have determined that the eruption was triggered by a magnitude5 earthquake that shook the mountain on May 18, the day of the volcano. The tremor dislodged a flank of the mountain already swollen from rising semimolten rock. A huge hunk of the mountain rumbled downhill like a great sliding door, uncovering rock saturated with compressed gases. Exposed to the air, the gases exploded. Geologists are encouraged by the fact that the lava dome that has been forming in Mount St. Helens' crater now appears...