Castle Lake is a
barrier lake formed by the
May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, when an avalanche dammed the South Fork of
Castle Creek. The lake covers just slightly more than . In 1981 a spillway was constructed to alleviate concerns about sudden erosion. The lake is difficult to access, but trails have been built to it and recreational fishing is allowed.
Description
Castle Lake is a sub-alpine lake covering an area of just over , located northwest of Mount St. Helens.
Castle Lake's outflow runs towards
Coldwater Lake, another lake newly formed by the eruption.
It is surrounded by precipitous ridges consisting of
andesitic
Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...
and
dacitic
Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite ...
volcanic bedrock.
History
When Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980, debris from an avalanche measuring 2.5 cubic kilometers blocked South Fork Castle Creek, creating a lake as runoff was impeded by the resulting debris wall which was in height.
The blockage of Castle Creek measures long with a mean width of .
The lake filled rapidly during the winter of 1980–1981, and was expected to overflow the blockage in the fall of 1982.
However, a subsequent study predicted an earlier overflow, so in October 1981 a spillway long and wide was constructed to prevent the lake from flowing over the blockage, while at the same time the lake was cleared of the numerous downed trees that were blown into the lake by the eruption explosion.
In 1991, rainbow trout appeared in the lake, apparently resulting from the migration of stock introduced to Coldwater Lake a few years earlier.
The trout of Castle Lake are a self-perpetuating population, successfully spawning in the streams that feed Castle Lake.
Recreation
Construction started in 1989 on
Gifford Pinchot National Forest
Gifford Pinchot National Forest is a National Forest located in southern Washington, managed by the United States Forest Service. With an area of 1.32 million acres (5300 km2), it extends 116 km along the western slopes of Cascade Ran ...
trail number 221, called the Castle Lake Trail.
The trail-head splits from Castle Ridge Trail #216 and runs for to Castle Lake.
The hiking distance from Toutle, Washington is .
Trout fishing is seasonally accessible and allowed.
Ecological issues
There has been significant concern that despite the spillway construction, the debris blockage that created Castle Lake could erode suddenly, and create a flood posing significant risks to the communities of
Castle Rock,
Kelso,
Longview, and
Toutle.
In a study conducted by
given to the
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...
, the probability of such a breach was considered very low.
However, the conditions which created the dam are unprecedented, and therefore little to no historical data exists to support any conclusion regarding stability.
The blockage appears to be stable regarding overtopping erosion, but the susceptibility to earthquake or hydrologic events remains undetermined.
References
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Lakes of Washington (state)
Landslide-dammed lakes
Lakes of Cowlitz County, Washington
1980 in Washington (state)
Mount St. Helens