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Report on Sheveluch (Russia) — 25 March-31 March 2015


Sheveluch

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 25 March-31 March 2015
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2015. Report on Sheveluch (Russia) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 25 March-31 March 2015. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (25 March-31 March 2015)

Sheveluch

Russia

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


KVERT reported that during 20-27 March lava-dome extrusion onto Sheveluch’s N flank was accompanied by incandescence, hot block avalanches, and fumarolic activity. Strong explosions on 20, 22, and 25 March generated ash plumes that rose to altitudes of 7-10 km (23,000-32,800 ft) a.s.l. Ash plumes visible in satellite images drifted more than 600 km N, E, and SE during 20-22 and 25-26 March. A daily thermal anomaly was also visible in satellite images. The Aviation Color Code 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.

Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)