Logo link to homepage

Report on Alaid (Russia) — 26 May-1 June 2010


Alaid

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 26 May-1 June 2010
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2010. Report on Alaid (Russia) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 26 May-1 June 2010. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (26 May-1 June 2010)

Alaid

Russia

50.861°N, 155.565°E; summit elev. 2285 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


KVERT reported that on 23 May a gas-and-steam plume from Alaid was seen in satellite imagery drifting 11 km ESE. No other signs of possible increasing activity were seen in imagery or noted by observers on Paramushir Island during 21-28 May. KVERT lowered the Aviation Color Code to Green.

Geological Summary. The highest and northernmost volcano of the Kuril Islands, Alaid is a symmetrical stratovolcano when viewed from the north, but has a 1.5-km-wide summit crater that is breached open to the south. This basaltic to basaltic-andesite volcano is the northernmost of a chain constructed west of the main Kuril archipelago. Numerous pyroclastic cones are present the lower flanks, particularly on the NW and SE sides, including an offshore cone formed during the 1933-34 eruption. Strong explosive eruptions have occurred from the summit crater beginning in the 18th century. Reports of eruptions in 1770, 1789, 1821, 1829, 1843, 1848, and 1858 were considered incorrect by Gorshkov (1970). Explosive eruptions in 1790 and 1981 were among the largest reported in the Kuril Islands.

Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)