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Report on Sheveluch (Russia) — 17 March-23 March 2010


Sheveluch

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 17 March-23 March 2010
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2010. Report on Sheveluch (Russia) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 17 March-23 March 2010. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (17 March-23 March 2010)

Sheveluch

Russia

56.653°N, 161.36°E; summit elev. 3283 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


KVERT reported that during 12-19 March seismic activity from Shiveluch was above background levels, possibly indicating ash plumes rising to an altitude of 5.5 km (18,000 ft) a.s.l. Hot avalanches were seen at night. Gas-and-steam plumes sometimes containing ash were seen on 12, 13, 15, and 16 March; plumes seen in satellite imagery on 13 and 16 March drifted 90 km E and SE. Analyses of satellite imagery revealed a large daily thermal anomaly from the lava dome. Based on information from KVERT, the Tokyo VAAC reported that on 21 March an ash plume rose to an altitude of 2.7 km (9,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted NE. The Aviation Color Code level remained at Orange.

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.

Sources: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT), Tokyo Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)