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Report on Avachinsky (Russia) — May 1992


Avachinsky

Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, vol. 17, no. 5 (May 1992)
Managing Editor: Lindsay McClelland.

Avachinsky (Russia) Fumarolic activity around 1991 dome

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 1992. Report on Avachinsky (Russia) (McClelland, L., ed.). Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, 17:5. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.BGVN199205-300100



Avachinsky

Russia

53.256°N, 158.836°E; summit elev. 2717 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


Fumarolic activity was occurring from numerous points around the margins of the January 1991 lava dome during a 13 May overflight. Numerous circumferential and radial fissures, previously observed in October 1991, covered the dome's surface, but the small lava flows that extended down the SSE and SW flanks were no longer visible.

Geological Summary. Avachinsky, one of Kamchatka's most active volcanoes, rises above Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka's largest city. It began to form during the middle or late Pleistocene, and is flanked to the SE by Kozelsky volcano, which has a large crater breached to the NE. A large collapse scarp open to the SW was created when a major debris avalanche about 30,000-40,000 years ago buried an area of about 500 km2 to the south, underlying the city of Petropavlovsk. Reconstruction of the volcano took place in two stages, the first of which began about 18,000 years before present (BP), and the second 7,000 years BP. Most eruptions have been explosive, with pyroclastic flows and hot lahars being directed primarily to the SW by the collapse scarp, although there have also been relatively short lava flows. The frequent historical eruptions have been similar in style and magnitude to previous Holocene eruptions.

Information Contacts: H. Gaudru, SVE, Switzerland; G. de St. Cyr, T. de St. Cyr, and I. de St. Cyr, Lyon, France; T. Vaudelin, Genève, Switzerland.