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Report on Sheveluch (Russia) — 30 May-5 June 2012


Sheveluch

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 30 May-5 June 2012
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2012. Report on Sheveluch (Russia) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 30 May-5 June 2012. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (30 May-5 June 2012)

Sheveluch

Russia

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


KVERT reported that during 25 May-1 June explosive activity at Shiveluch continued. Ground-based observers and satellite imagery indicated that a viscous lava flow continued to effuse in the active crater, and was accompanied by fumarolic activity and lava-dome incandescence. Observers noted that ash plumes rose to an altitude of 9 km (29,500 ft) a.s.l. on 25 and 27 May, and to an altitude of 6 km (19,700 ft) a.s.l. during 29-30 May. Satellite imagery showed ash plumes drifting 555 km SW, SE, and E during 25-30 May, and a thermal anomaly over the lava dome during 26-29 May. The Aviation Color Code remained at Orange.

Based on analyses of satellite images, the Tokyo VAAC reported that a possible eruption on 2 June produced an ash plume that rose to an altitude of 9.1 km (30,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted S. Subsequent images during 2-3 June showed ash.

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.

Sources: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT), Tokyo Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)