Report on Sheveluch (Russia) — 29 September-5 October 2010
Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 29 September-5 October 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, 29 September-5 October 2010. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.
Sheveluch
Russia
56.653°N, 161.36°E; summit elev. 3283 m
All times are local (unless otherwise noted)
KVERT reported that during 24 September-1 October seismic activity from Shiveluch was above background levels and suggested that possible ash plumes rose from the volcano. Gas-and-steam plumes were observed during 23, 25, and 28-29 September. Satellite imagery analyses showed a daily thermal anomaly on the volcano and gas-and-steam plumes that drifted 70 km SE on 29 September. Based on analyses of satellite imagery, the Tokyo VAAC reported a possible eruption on 3 October; a subsequent notice stated that ash had dissipated. 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.
Sources: Tokyo Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC), Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)