The 1972 eruption of Alaid in the northern Kuril Islands, seen here in August, was characterized by both explosive and effusive activity. An ash plume towers above a small scoria cone that formed on a 2-km-long fissure on the NW flank, while white gas-and-steam plumes rise from the margins of this lava flow that traveled 1 km into the Sea of Okhotsk. The eruption began on 18 June and ended by 11 September.

Photo by A.M. Chirkov, 1972 (courtesy of Oleg Volynets, Institute of Volcanology, Petropavlovsk).

This image is made available under the Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 license terms.

Galleries: Ash Plumes and Ashfall | Lava Flows

Keywords: eruption | ash plume | ash | plume | explosive eruption | lava flow | steam | gas | lava water interaction

Alaid