# Seeing a volcano erupt and ROTK **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 8, 2006, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-a-volcano-erupt-and-rotk/343607 "2006-02-08T22:43:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-a-volcano-erupt-and-rotk/343607/1 "2006-02-08T22:43:41Z")
At the end of Peter Jackson’s _Return of the King_, Aragorn et al see Oroduin violently erupt. Are they actually too close to survive? There’ve been previous threads about Frodo and Sam, so we won’t go there, and we’re not interested in the earth fissures which just happen to spare the heroes. I do note that they see the _side_ of Oroduin break away so the main force of the eruption may be away from them, but how does this compare with real eruptions, like Mt St Helens? Oh, and this is GQ, not CS, so GQ answers only please. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-a-volcano-erupt-and-rotk/343607/2 "2006-02-08T23:10:22Z")
Don’t know the force of the Doom explosion, but since the mountain was likely 60 or so miles from the battle at the Black Gate > **[Tuckborough - The Thain's Book](https://www.tuckborough.net)** > > The Thain's Book > [@](#): > > A road led northwest from the Dark Tower to the Black Gate, about 100 miles away. Mount Doom was about 30 miles directly west of the Dark Tower. and if it was similar in intensity to Mt. St. Helens, even at maximum, then Aragorn was fine. Furthest extent of damage from MSH was 19 miles, and that was from the directed (lateral) blast, not the general blast. > **[1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_eruption_of_Mount_St._Helens)** > > On March 27, 1980, a series of volcanic explosions and pyroclastic flows began at Mount St. Helens in Skamania County, Washington, United States. A series of phreatic blasts occurred from the summit and escalated until a major explosive eruption took place on May 18, 1980. The eruption, which had a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 5, was the most significant to occur in the contiguous United States since the much smaller 1915 eruption of Lassen Peak in California. It has often been declared the m... > [@](#): > > Lateral blast result > > Everyone in the quiet zone did see the resulting huge ash cloud that was sent skyward from St. Helens’ northern foot. The near-supersonic lateral blast, loaded with volcanic debris, **caused widespread devastation as far as 19 miles (30 km) from the volcano.** The area affected by the blast can be subdivided into three roughly concentric zones: > > Direct blast zone, the innermost zone, averaged about 8 miles (13 km) in radius, an area in which virtually everything, natural or artificial, was obliterated or carried away. For this reason, this zone also has been called the “tree-removal zone.” The flow of the material carried by the blast was not deflected by topographic features in this zone. > > Channelized blast zone, an intermediate zone, extended out to distances as far as 19 miles (30 km) from the volcano, an area in which the flow flattened everything in its path and was channeled to some extent by topography. In this zone, the force and direction of the blast are strikingly demonstrated by the parallel alignment of toppled large trees, broken off at the base of the trunk as if they were blades of grass mown by a scythe. This zone was also known as the “tree-down zone.” > > Seared zone, also called the “standing dead” zone, the outermost fringe of the impacted area, a zone in which trees remained standing but were singed brown by the hot gases of the blast. Later studies indicated that one-third of the 0.045 cubic miles (188,000,000 m³) of material in the flow was new lava, and the rest was fragmented, older rock. (Seared zone could be farther than 19 miles, but doesn’t seem to be much farther.) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-a-volcano-erupt-and-rotk/343607/3 "2006-02-08T23:56:01Z")
The Gates of Morder were a full 100 miles from Mt Doom. I doublecheck on the map. This is more than enough distance for safety sake. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-a-volcano-erupt-and-rotk/343607/4 "2006-02-09T12:53:04Z")
But in Peter Jackson’s ROTK Oroduin looks to be much closer than 100 miles - it’s easily visible from the Black Gate for a start. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-a-volcano-erupt-and-rotk/343607/5 "2006-02-09T13:53:56Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > But in Peter Jackson’s ROTK Oroduin looks to be much closer than 100 miles - it’s easily visible from the Black Gate for a start. The movie made a lot of mistakes, call it artistic licence. If I was to list all the mistakes the list would be huge. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-a-volcano-erupt-and-rotk/343607/6 "2006-02-09T17:15:20Z")
I don’t know about the force of explosion, but I’d be willing to bet that they would have been roasted alive sitting on a rock in the middle of a lava flow. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-a-volcano-erupt-and-rotk/343607/7 "2006-02-09T17:29:32Z")
> [@What Exit?](#): > > The movie made a lot of mistakes, call it artistic licence. > > If I was to list all the mistakes the list would be huge. > > Jim Yeah, I definitely view it as artistic license. I saw the theatrical releases of the movies, then read the book, which encouraged me to buy the extended edition DVDs… One of the few times I absolutely loved a book, and loved the film depiction equally as much, despite the differences. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2006, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seeing-a-volcano-erupt-and-rotk/343607/8 "2006-02-09T19:25:11Z")
I think I’ve had my answer. Thanks, all.