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Report on Avachinsky (Russia) — November 1997


Avachinsky

Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, vol. 22, no. 11 (November 1997)
Managing Editor: Richard Wunderman.

Avachinsky (Russia) Fumarolic plume on 22 December

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 1997. Report on Avachinsky (Russia) (Wunderman, R., ed.). Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, 22:11. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.BGVN199711-300100



Avachinsky

Russia

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


Seismicity continued at normal background levels during November 1996-December 1997. On 22 December, a fumarolic plume rose ~200 m above the crater.

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: Vladimir Kirianov, Kamchatka Volcanic Eruptions Response Team (KVERT), Institute of Volcanic Geology and Geochemistry, Russia; Tom Miller, Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO).