Mystery of milky-white Kalama River may be solved

Study of water sample suggests cause of milky-white water.

Independent testing found a milky white substance colored the Kalama River just after a long lasting deluge engulfed Mt. St. Helens in October 2015. Unlike the milky coloring change of the Kalama River in 1980, and 2004, this time Mt. St. Helens remained quiet. What was different this time?

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - Twice before, in 1980 and in 2004, locals who live along the Kalama River noted that Mt. St. Helens volcano would soon erupt after observing the Kalama river turn milky white for just short of an hour.  October 2015 the river turned milky white and remained so for many days, yet there wasn't an eruption.  Along the banks of the headwaters of the Kalama River revealed why the river remained milky for a number of days.

A long duration rainstorm deluge at Mt. St. Helens, October 10, 2015, dislodged a whitish colored slide of ashen debris, called pyroclastic deposits, on the West flank of the volcano.  A narrow drainage stream, from the volcano's upper west flank, carried this debris into a flow channel just below the Kalama Springs headwaters.  Although Mt. St. Helens ash is typically grey in color, this particular slide of debris was white in color.  Specks of white pumice litter the the banks of the headwaters of the Kalama river while the finer white ash particles remained suspended in the waters through the 46 mile flow to the town of Kalama.

Yet the 1980 and 2004 Kalama River events were markedly different than the October 2015 event.

Short lasting "pulses" of milky coloring, lasting for an hour or two, is what locals observed, about a week prior to, volcanic eruptions at Mt. St. Helens.  The nature of this short duration "pulsing" of clear-milky-clear in the Kalama River is puzzling.  In the early reporting days of this phenomenon to geologists, one believed that someone possibly dumped a white liquid in the river upstream to create this short duration event.  The robust flow of the Kalama River requires a substantial amount of material to maintain a milky color, even if it is just for a few hours.

Geologists have yet to capture samples of the river during these short duration events.  Indeed, only an automated turbidity detector and sample collector would be necessary as a "pulse" may occur at any time of day.

More intriguing is that the same milky color may be achieved by the volcano through a natural combination of elements known to permeate Mt. St. Helens.  The simple process of water percolating through sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide.  Sulfur dioxide reacts with hydrogen sulfide at ambient temperatures. When SO2 is simultaneously bubbled with H2S into water, the water turns a milky white color, with a slight yellowish tinge.  Chemistry notation as (2)H2S + SO2 --> (2)H2O + (3)S.

The mountain has the ingredients of all of these materials, water percolating in the Kalama Springs on the western flank of the volcano, and the other two elements and gas within the mountain.
The identical result is a milky white coloring of the water from colloidal sulfur particles.  In this state, the sulfur is odorless so it wouldn't be detectable by smell.

The mystery continues.

Please contact marshconnolly@catholiconline.email if you would like to assist in the effort to solve this mystery. Fresh samples will be required for further testing so anyone living in the area is especially asked to help.

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