Report on Sheveluch (Russia) — 1 June-7 June 2011
Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 1 June-7 June 2011
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.
Please cite this report as:
Global Volcanism Program, 2011. Report on Sheveluch (Russia) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 1 June-7 June 2011. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.
Sheveluch
Russia
56.653°N, 161.36°E; summit elev. 3283 m
All times are local (unless otherwise noted)
KVERT reported that during 27 May-3 June seismic activity at Shiveluch indicated that possible ash plumes rose to altitudes of 4.7-9 km (15,400-29,500 ft) a.s.l. During 29-30 May satellite imagery showed a thermal anomaly over the lava dome. Those same two days, ground-based observers noted that ash plumes rose to an altitude of 10 km (32,800 ft) a.s.l. and drifted S. Clouds prevented observations on the other days. During 30-31 May long ash clouds drifted 1,000 km SW and approached Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The Aviation Color Code remained at Orange.
Based on information from KVERT and analyses of satellite imagery, the Tokyo VAAC reported that on 4 June an eruption produced a plume that rose to an altitude of 5.2 km (17,000 ft) a.s.l. According to KEMSD, eruptions during 5-6 June produced plumes that rose to altitudes of 6.1-9.1 km (20,000-30,000 ft) a.s.l. Plumes drifted E on 5 June.
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: Tokyo Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC), Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)