NOVA: Mount St. Helens: Back from the Dead

The May 18, 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens - a strato-volcano in southeastern Washington State -still checks in as the single most economically devastating volcanic catastrophe in the history of the U.S. The casualties were scarcely limited to dollars, though: 57 people died, untoward numbers of animals perished, and the eruption devastated hundreds of square miles of surrounding geographic territory and wiped out homes and businesses. But perhaps the biggest shock arrived in the years to follow: in lieu of remaining desolate as many had predicted, the area around the mountain witnessed a resurgence in plant and animal life, until the crater itself eventually became active once again. As written, produced and directed by Nick Davidson and aired on PBS as an episode of its groundbreaking NOVA series, this documentary special draws on such resources as magnetic mapping, GPS and much more to ask incisive questions about the forces causing these geological and environmental shifts - forces that may lie rooted in a hidden patchwork of faults far beneath the mountain's surface, and that could easily help geologists predict future eruptions.