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Report on Sheveluch (Russia) — 30 September-6 October 2009


Sheveluch

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 30 September-6 October 2009
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2009. Report on Sheveluch (Russia) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 30 September-6 October 2009. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (30 September-6 October 2009)

Sheveluch

Russia

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


KVERT reported that during 25 September-2 October seismic activity from Shiveluch was above background levels. Analyses of satellite imagery revealed a large daily thermal anomaly over the lava dome. Fumarolic activity was occasionally seen. Based on interpretations of seismic data, ash plumes possibly rose to an altitude of 7 km (23,000 ft) a.s.l. on 27 September and to an altitude of 4.5 km (14,800 ft) a.s.l. on other days. According to video camera data and visual observations, ash plumes rose to an altitude of 4 km (13,100 ft) a.s.l. on 28 September. An ash plume was seen on satellite imagery drifting 65 km ESE on 29 September. The Level of Aviation Color Code remained at Orange.

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)