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Report on Sheveluch (Russia) — 11 August-17 August 2010


Sheveluch

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 11 August-17 August 2010
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2010. Report on Sheveluch (Russia) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 11 August-17 August 2010. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (11 August-17 August 2010)

Sheveluch

Russia

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


KVERT reported that during 6-13 August seismic activity from Shiveluch was above background levels, suggesting that possible ash plumes rose to an altitude of 6.5 km (21,300 ft) a.s.l. on 9 August and to an altitude of 4 km (13,100 ft) a.s.l. the other days. Cloud cover prevented visual observations. Satellite imagery analysis showed a daily thermal anomaly on the volcano and an ash plume that drifted 55 km NW on 10 August. 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)