Global Volcanism Program

Most Recent Weekly Report: 28 August-3 September 2013 Cite this Report

SVERT reported that a possible thermal anomaly over Ketoi's Pallas Peak was detected in satellite images on 26 August and 1 September. The Aviation Color Code remained at Yellow.

Source: Sakhalin Volcanic Eruption Response Team (SVERT)

Most Recent Bulletin Report: September 2015 (BGVN 40:09) Cite this Report

Thermal anomalies and large gas-and-steam emissions during July-August 2013

Pallas Peak, the large cone in the caldera on Ketoi Island in the central Kurile Islands, last erupted in September 1960. Scientists on monitoring flights during the 1980's sometimes observed fumarolic activity on the outer N slope of Pallas Peak (SEAN 06:12, 12:04, and 14:03), and the Sakhalin Volcanic Eruption Response Team (SVERT) reported increased fumarolic activity based on satellite imagery analysis on 4 May 2010.

Gas-and-steam emissions from Pallas Peak were again observed in satellite imagery during 16-17 January 2013. On 25 and 29-30 July 2013 a thermal anomaly on Pallas Peak was detected in satellite data. Gas-and-steam emissions were also observed drifting 100 km NW on 25 July. On 27 July gas-and-steam emissions possibly containing ash drifted 45 km SSE. Though this eruption was uncertain, SVERT raised the alert level to Yellow.

Additional gas-and-steam emissions were observed on 29 July, and possibly again on 31 July, 4 August, and 9 August 2013. Thermal anomalies were identified during 5-7, 9, possibly 10-11, 12, and possibly 26 August. After another possible thermal anomaly on 1 September there were no further reports of anomalous activity by SVERT.

A copyrighted photo taken by Joseph Szeles from a ship on 15 January 2014 showed a small fumarolic plume rising from the caldera.

Information Contacts: Sakhalin Volcanic Eruption Response Team (SVERT), Institute of Marine Geology and Geophysics, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Science, Nauki st., 1B, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia, 693022 (URL: http://www.imgg.ru/en/, http://www.imgg.ru/ru/svert/reports); Joseph Szeles, Brussels, Belgium (URL: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jo_sze/11962181276/)

Weekly Reports - Index

2013: January | July | August
2010: May

28 August-3 September 2013 Cite this Report

SVERT reported that a possible thermal anomaly over Ketoi's Pallas Peak was detected in satellite images on 26 August and 1 September. The Aviation Color Code remained at Yellow.

Source: Sakhalin Volcanic Eruption Response Team (SVERT)

14 August-20 August 2013 Cite this Report

SVERT reported that a thermal anomaly over Ketoi's Pallas Peak was detected in satellite images on 12 August. The Aviation Color Code remained at Yellow.

Source: Sakhalin Volcanic Eruption Response Team (SVERT)

7 August-13 August 2013 Cite this Report

SVERT reported that a thermal anomaly over Ketoi's Pallas Peak was detected in satellite images during 5-7 and 9 August, and possibly during 10-11 August. Steam-and-gas emissions were detected on 9 August. The Aviation Color Code remained at Yellow.

Source: Sakhalin Volcanic Eruption Response Team (SVERT)

31 July-6 August 2013 Cite this Report

SVERT reported that during 29-31 July a thermal anomaly from Ketoi's Pallas Peak was observed in satellite imagery. Gas-and-steam emissions were also observed on 29 July, and possibly observed on 31 July and 4 August. The Aviation Color Code remained at Yellow.

Source: Sakhalin Volcanic Eruption Response Team (SVERT)

24 July-30 July 2013 Cite this Report

SVERT reported that on 25 July a thermal anomaly from Ketoi's Pallas Peak was observed in satellite imagery along with gas-and-steam emissions drifting 100 km NW. On 27 July gas-and-steam emissions possibly containing ash drifted 45 km SSE.

Source: Sakhalin Volcanic Eruption Response Team (SVERT)

16 January-22 January 2013 Cite this Report

SVERT reported that gas-and-steam emissions from Ketoi's Pallas Peak were observed in satellite imagery during 16-17 January.

Source: Sakhalin Volcanic Eruption Response Team (SVERT)

5 May-11 May 2010 Cite this Report

SVERT reported that increased fumarolic activity from Ketoi was noted in satellite imagery on 4 May.

Source: Sakhalin Volcanic Eruption Response Team (SVERT)

Bulletin Reports - Index

Reports are organized chronologically and indexed below by Month/Year (Publication Volume:Number), and include a one-line summary. Click on the index link or scroll down to read the reports.

12/1981 (SEAN 06:12) Intense fumarolic activity on the N slope

04/1987 (SEAN 12:04) Fumarolic activity

03/1989 (SEAN 14:03) Fumaroles very active on Pallas Peak

09/2015 (BGVN 40:09) Thermal anomalies and large gas-and-steam emissions during July-August 2013

Information is preliminary and subject to change. All times are local (unless otherwise noted)

December 1981 (SEAN 06:12) Cite this Report

Intense fumarolic activity on the N slope

Intense fumarolic activity was occurring on the outer N slope [of Pallas Peak during the 20 September 1981 overflight]. There were sulfur deposits near the fumaroles. However, no apparent fumarolic or solfataric activity was observed at Zavaritski Caldera (46.925°N, 151.95°E) or Prevo Peak (47.02°N, 152.12°E). Both are on Simushir, the island immediately SW of Ketoi.

Information Contacts: G. Steinberg, Sakhalin Complex Institute.

April 1987 (SEAN 12:04) Cite this Report

Fumarolic activity

Moderate fumarolic activity was noted on the outer N slope of Pallas Peak's main crater area during an 11 October aerial survey.

Information Contacts: G. Steinberg and B. Piskunov, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

March 1989 (SEAN 14:03) Cite this Report

Fumaroles very active on Pallas Peak

During a 14 January overflight, a group of highly active fumaroles was noted on the N slope of Pallas Peak's S cone, on the E margin of Ketoi caldera.

Information Contacts: G. Steinberg, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

September 2015 (BGVN 40:09) Cite this Report

Thermal anomalies and large gas-and-steam emissions during July-August 2013

Pallas Peak, the large cone in the caldera on Ketoi Island in the central Kurile Islands, last erupted in September 1960. Scientists on monitoring flights during the 1980's sometimes observed fumarolic activity on the outer N slope of Pallas Peak (SEAN 06:12, 12:04, and 14:03), and the Sakhalin Volcanic Eruption Response Team (SVERT) reported increased fumarolic activity based on satellite imagery analysis on 4 May 2010.

Gas-and-steam emissions from Pallas Peak were again observed in satellite imagery during 16-17 January 2013. On 25 and 29-30 July 2013 a thermal anomaly on Pallas Peak was detected in satellite data. Gas-and-steam emissions were also observed drifting 100 km NW on 25 July. On 27 July gas-and-steam emissions possibly containing ash drifted 45 km SSE. Though this eruption was uncertain, SVERT raised the alert level to Yellow.

Additional gas-and-steam emissions were observed on 29 July, and possibly again on 31 July, 4 August, and 9 August 2013. Thermal anomalies were identified during 5-7, 9, possibly 10-11, 12, and possibly 26 August. After another possible thermal anomaly on 1 September there were no further reports of anomalous activity by SVERT.

A copyrighted photo taken by Joseph Szeles from a ship on 15 January 2014 showed a small fumarolic plume rising from the caldera.

Information Contacts: Sakhalin Volcanic Eruption Response Team (SVERT), Institute of Marine Geology and Geophysics, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Science, Nauki st., 1B, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia, 693022 (URL: http://www.imgg.ru/en/, http://www.imgg.ru/ru/svert/reports); Joseph Szeles, Brussels, Belgium (URL: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jo_sze/11962181276/)

This compilation of synonyms and subsidiary features may not be comprehensive. Features are organized into four major categories: Cones, Craters, Domes, and Thermal Features. Synonyms of features appear indented below the primary name. In some cases additional feature type, elevation, or location details are provided.

Synonyms

Sirahata | Sironemuri | Ketoi-jima | Ketoy

Cones

Feature Name

Feature Type

Elevation

Latitude

Longitude

Pallas Peak

Stratovolcano

1002 m

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

Latitude
Longitude

290200

1960 CE

1172 m / 3844 ft

47.35°N
152.475°E

Volcano Types

Stratovolcano
Caldera
Pyroclastic cone(s)

Rock Types

Major
Andesite / Basaltic Andesite
Basalt / Picro-Basalt

Tectonic Setting

Subduction zone
Oceanic crust (< 15 km)

Population

Within 5 km
Within 10 km
Within 30 km
Within 100 km

1
10
11
90

Geological Summary

The circular, 10-km-wide Ketoi island, which rises across the 19-km-wide Diana Strait from Simushir Island, hosts of one of the most complex volcanic structures of the Kuril Islands. The rim of a 5-km-wide Pleistocene caldera is exposed only on the NE side. A younger 1172-m-high stratovolcano forming the NW part of the island is cut by a horst-and-graben structure containing two solfatara fields. A 1.5-km-wide freshwater lake fills an explosion crater in the center of the island. Pallas Peak, a large andesitic cone in the NE part of the caldera, is truncated by a 550-m-wide crater containing a brilliantly colored turquoise crater lake. Lava flows from Pallas Peak overtop the caldera rim and descend nearly 5 km to the SE coast. The first historical eruption of Pallas Peak, during 1843-46, was its largest.

References

The following references have all been used during the compilation of data for this volcano, it is not a comprehensive bibliography.

Gorshkov G S, 1958. Kurile Islands. Catalog of Active Volcanoes of the World and Solfatara Fields, Rome: IAVCEI, 7: 1-99.

Gorshkov G S, 1970. Volcanism and the Upper Mantle; Investigations in the Kurile Island Arc. New York: Plenum Publishing Corp, 385 p.

Vlasov G M, 1967. Kamchatka, Kuril, and Komandorskiye Islands: geological description. In: {Geol of the USSR}, Moscow, 31: 1-827.

Eruptive History

There is data available for 4 Holocene eruptive periods.

Start Date	Stop Date	Eruption Certainty	VEI	Evidence	Activity Area or Unit
[ 2013 Jul 25 ]	[ 2013 Aug 12 ]	Uncertain			Pallas Peak
1960 Sep 27	Unknown	Confirmed	2	Historical Observations	Pallas Peak
1924	Unknown	Confirmed	2	Historical Observations	Pallas Peak
1843 Jul	1846	Confirmed	2	Historical Observations	Pallas Peak

Deformation History

There is no Deformation History data available for Ketoi.

Emission History

There is no Emissions History data available for Ketoi.

Photo Gallery

Clouds surround the circular, 10-km-wide Ketoi Island in this Space Shuttle view (with north to the upper left). A dark-colored 1.5-km-wide freshwater lake (bottom center) fills a large explosion crater. Above it and to its right, clouds drape the summit of Pallas Peak, a post-caldera cone with its own crater lake. The rim of a 5-km-wide caldera in the NE part of the island is visible at the top center. Lava flows from Pallas Peak overtop the caldera rim and descend to the SE coast. The first historical eruption of Pallas Peak, during 1843-46, was its largest.

NASA Space Shuttle image ISS005-E-6024, 2002 (http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/).

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

There are no samples for Ketoi in the Smithsonian's NMNH Department of Mineral Sciences Rock and Ore collection.

Affiliated Sites

WOVOdat
   Single Volcano View
   Temporal Evolution of Unrest
   Side by Side Volcanoes

WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

Large Eruptions of Ketoi

Information about large Quaternary eruptions (VEI >= 4) is cataloged in the Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions (LaMEVE) database of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA).

MIROVA

Middle InfraRed Observation of Volcanic Activity (MIROVA) is a near real time volcanic hot-spot detection system based on the analysis of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data. In particular, MIROVA uses the Middle InfraRed Radiation (MIR), measured over target volcanoes, in order to detect, locate and measure the heat radiation sourced from volcanic activity.

MODVOLC Thermal Alerts

Using infrared satellite Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, scientists at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i, developed an automated system called MODVOLC to map thermal hot-spots in near real time. For each MODIS image, the algorithm automatically scans each 1 km pixel within it to check for high-temperature hot-spots. When one is found the date, time, location, and intensity are recorded. MODIS looks at every square km of the Earth every 48 hours, once during the day and once during the night, and the presence of two MODIS sensors in space allows at least four hot-spot observations every two days. Each day updated global maps are compiled to display the locations of all hot spots detected in the previous 24 hours. There is a drop-down list with volcano names which allow users to 'zoom-in' and examine the distribution of hot-spots at a variety of spatial scales.

EarthChem

EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS).