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Report on Sheveluch (Russia) — 16 November-22 November 2016


Sheveluch

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 16 November-22 November 2016
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2016. Report on Sheveluch (Russia) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 16 November-22 November 2016. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (16 November-22 November 2016)

Sheveluch

Russia

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


KVERT reported that during 11-18 November lava-dome extrusion onto Sheveluch’s N flank was accompanied by strong fumarolic activity, dome incandescence, ash explosions with ash plumes as high as 6 km (19,700 ft) a.s.l., and hot avalanches. Satellite images showed a daily thermal anomaly over the dome, and ash plumes that drifted as far as 170 km E on 12 and 15 November. The Aviation Color Code remained at Orange (the second highest level on a four-color scale).

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)