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Report on Chirinkotan (Russia) — 4 June-10 June 2014


Chirinkotan

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 4 June-10 June 2014
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2014. Report on Chirinkotan (Russia) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 4 June-10 June 2014. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (4 June-10 June 2014)

Chirinkotan

Russia

48.98°N, 153.48°E; summit elev. 724 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


SVERT reported that an eruption at Chirinkotan had begun on 24 May; thermal anomalies and gas emissions sometimes containing ash were detected in satellite images. On 5 June seldom and weak thermal anomalies suggested cooling lava flows. The Aviation Color Code was lowered to Green.

Geological Summary. The small, mostly unvegetated 3-km-wide island of Chirinkotan occupies the far end of an E-W volcanic chain that extends nearly 50 km W of the central part of the main Kuril Islands arc. It is the emergent summit of a volcano that rises 3000 m from the floor of the Kuril Basin. A small 1-km-wide caldera about 300-400 m deep is open to the SW. Lava flows from a cone within the breached crater reached the shore of the island. Historical eruptions have been recorded since the 18th century. Lava flows were observed by the English fur trader Captain Snow in the 1880s.

Source: Sakhalin Volcanic Eruption Response Team (SVERT)