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Report on Sheveluch (Russia) — 14 June-20 June 2017


Sheveluch

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 14 June-20 June 2017
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2017. Report on Sheveluch (Russia) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 14 June-20 June 2017. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (14 June-20 June 2017)

Sheveluch

Russia

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


KVERT reported that during 10-13 June explosions at Sheveluch produced ash plumes that rose as high as 8 km (26,200 ft) a.s.l. and drifted 1,500 km SE and NW. At 0425 on 15 June powerful explosions generated ash plumes that rose as high as 12 km (39,400 ft) a.s.l. The Aviation Color Code was raised to Red (the highest level on a four-color scale), and then back down to Orange at the end of the day. Ash plumes drifted 1,000 km NE and SW during 15-16 June. Ash fell in Klyuchi (50 km SW), Maiskoe, Kozyrevsk (115 km SW), and Atlasovo (160 km SW).

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)