Dec, 1918] 



The Great Hot Mud Flow 



129 



mud, and upon investigation found that their roots were only 

 about a foot beneath the surface. They had grown on the 

 summit of a morainic hill which, after having been deeply 

 buried, had been almost laid bare again by the readjustment of 

 the mud after the first wave had passed. 



But there was none of that evidence of violent damage 

 which would have accompanied the rush of a flood of water 

 down the Valley. Although the bushes were bent and twisted 



Photograph by R. F. Griggs 



THE EDGE OF THE MUD FLOW. 



The burned and broken remnants of the trees below the high mud mark stand in 



strong contrast to the undisturbed forest which, though killed 



by the eruption, was beyond the reach of the mud. 



beneath its weight, they were not broken nor uprooted as they 

 would have been if the heavy mud had rushed upon them at a 

 high speed. 



EVERY STICK BURIED BY MUD FLOW REDUCED TO CHARCOAL. 



Near the edge of the mud flow a few trees remained sticking 

 up out of the mud. When we took hold of these we found to our 

 astonishment that they had been burned off a foot beneath the 

 surface. Later, in sections where the flow had been cut into 

 by erosion, we found that every particle of wood that had been 

 buried by the mud had been turned to charcoal. In some 

 places we found the mat of old tundra vegetation, transformed 



