KVERT reported that during 13-14 May a series of explosions at Sheveluch generated ash plumes that rose 4.5-5 km (14,800-16,400 ft) a.s.l. and drifted SW and SE. Powerful explosions on 16 May generated ash plumes that rose as high as 11 km (36,100 ft) a.s.l. and drifted about 150 km ENE. Pyroclastic flows descended the S flank. Two explosions were detected on 18 May. Ash plumes during 16-19 May drifted 400 km ENE. The Aviation Color Code (ACC) remained at Orange during 13-19 May, except for a few hours on 16 May when the strong explosions prompted KVERT to raise the ACC to Red.

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)