Mt. Fitzherbert

After snapping back to life with a series of earthquakes that started last September, the volcano has been a veritable lava assembly line, churning out a dump-truck load every second. The new dome inside the crater is growing up to 16 feet a day, shoving aside a 700-foot-thick glacier as if it were papier-mâché.

And there's no end in sight, say U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists.

"There's no reason to think it couldn't go on for another year, or for decades," said volcanologist Dan Dzurisin.

One year after Mount St. Helens awoke from its slumber, the volcano is still generating excitement and wonder among the scientists who study it.

At a briefing Friday to celebrate the one-year anniversary of an intense swarm of earthquakes that signaled the volcano's reawakening after 18 years of relative quiet, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey at the Cascades Volcano Laboratory in Vancouver shared what they've learned so far — at the news conference and via teleconferencing.

The volcano has been spitting out magma at a slow, steady pace ever since the molten rock first flowed to the surface last October, and there's no sign this buildup will stop or become explosive any time soon.

A year after Mount St. Helens awakened, steam rose from the growing lava dome Friday morning, a reminder of its eruptive past.

The mountain's dome has grown 1,400 feet higher over the past year. During the past 12 months, we've seen seven explosions, as well as lots of ash and steam. A year ago, it all started with some tiny earthquakes.

Hundreds of small earthquakes were reported beginning last Sept. 23. Geologists issued a "notice of volcanic unrest" for the first time since 1986.