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Report on Sheveluch (Russia) — 5 January-11 January 2011


Sheveluch

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 5 January-11 January 2011
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2011. Report on Sheveluch (Russia) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 5 January-11 January 2011. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (5 January-11 January 2011)

Sheveluch

Russia

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


KVERT reported that moderate seismic activity from Shiveluch was detected during 31 December-7 January. A bright thermal anomaly over the volcano was observed daily in satellite imagery. Seismic data showed that possible ash plumes rose to an altitude of 5 km (16,400 ft) a.s.l. on 2 January. That same day an explosion generated ash plumes that rose to an altitude of 8 km (26,000 ft) a.s.l. and were observed in satellite imagery drifting 92 km S. Moderate gas-and-steam activity was visually observed during 2 and 5-6 January. The Aviation Color Code level 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)