Nature Spot

When the famous Mount St Helens volcano erupted in Washington in 1980, huge tracts of the surrounding countryside were stripped of life. Vast areas are now covered with totally barren pumice plains. The absence of soil on such plains made many think that life would not reappear for a century or so. However, plants began growing after only six years. How could this be?

The mystery was solved when researchers found that insects which were being caught in up-drafts were ‘raining’ on to this devastated area at a surprising rate of more than one tonne each day.

Most of these insects perish rapidly from lack of food, then their dead carcasses provide the nutrients for reappearing plant species, which provide more nutrients when they die, and so on.

This hitherto unsuspected ‘insect rain’ is just one of the many mechanisms which could have contributed to the rapid biological recovery of the post-Flood earth.

Reference

Quantum television program, Australian Broadcasting Commission, October 17, 1990.