Activity similar to previous months continued through early November, with high seismicity and a plume visible during clear weather. A gas-and-ash plume rose as high as 2-3 km above the crater on 10-19 September, with very high seismicity. Tectonic earthquakes centered 6-8 km under the volcano (40-50/day) registered on seismometers at distances of 8-70 km from the dome; volcanic tremor was continuous. Rock avalanches from the extrusive dome also occurred in mid-September. During 20-24 September, a gas-and-steam plume rose up to 300 m above the crater. Tectonic earthquakes on 21 September (67) and 23 September (17) were centered less than 2 km below the volcano. The level of seismicity had decreased by 24 September, but volcanic tremor remained continuous. By 30 September, more than 20 tectonic earthquakes/day were occurring at depths of less than 1 km. The gas-and-ash plume also increased in the last week of September to a height of 1 km.

During the first week of October, 2-5 tectonic earthquakes/day occurred at depths of less than 1 km beneath the volcano. Seismicity increased slightly during 7-14 October to 3-7 tectonic earthquakes/day at the same depth. Weak volcanic tremor was generally present 7-10 hours/day, although on 12 October tremor occurred for about 18 hours. The gas-and-ash plume rose ~1 km through mid-October, with weak volcanic tremor continuing. From 14-21 October, the gas-and-steam plume reached as high as 1.5 km above the crater; cloud cover prevented observations in late October. During that same period, seismicity increased from 10 to 41 tectonic earthquakes/day at a depth of less than 1 km beneath the volcano, with weak volcanic tremor 24 hours/day. Seismicity remained very high through 26 October, with almost continuous strong tremor recorded. Weak continuous tremor was registered at all seismic stations in the area on 28 October.

After four days of clouds obscuring the volcano, a gas-and-steam plume was observed on 2 November rising 2-3 km above the crater rim. Weak volcanic tremor was continuing 24 hours/day and registering on all of the seismic stations. A steam-and-gas plume rising ~2-2.5 km above the crater rim on 6 November extended ~50 km S. By that time, all the snow had melted off the SE slope of the dome. As of 6 November, continuous volcanic tremor was still being recorded, and the overall level of seismicity was above background.

Geological Summary. The high, isolated massif of Sheveluch volcano (also spelled Shiveluch) rises above the lowlands NNE of the Kliuchevskaya volcano group. The 1,300 km3 andesitic volcano is one of Kamchatka's largest and most active volcanic structures, with at least 60 large eruptions during the Holocene. The summit of roughly 65,000-year-old Stary Shiveluch is truncated by a broad 9-km-wide late-Pleistocene caldera breached to the south. Many lava domes occur on its outer flanks. The Molodoy Shiveluch lava dome complex was constructed during the Holocene within the large open caldera; Holocene lava dome extrusion also took place on the flanks of Stary Shiveluch. Widespread tephra layers from these eruptions have provided valuable time markers for dating volcanic events in Kamchatka. Frequent collapses of dome complexes, most recently in 1964, have produced debris avalanches whose deposits cover much of the floor of the breached caldera.

Information Contacts: V. Kirianov, IVGG.