Report on Sheveluch (Russia) — 8 December-14 December 2010
Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 8 December-14 December 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, 8 December-14 December 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 moderate seismic activity from Shiveluch was detected during 3-10 December. A bright thermal anomaly over the volcano was observed in satellite imagery. Plumes composed of either gas and steam or ash were seen in satellite imagery drifting 322 km SE on 3 December. Seismic data analyses on 6 December suggested that ash plumes rose to an altitude of 5 km (16,400 ft) a.s.l. Gas-and-steam activity was observed visually during 3, 6, and 8-9 December. The Aviation Color Code level remained at Orange.
Based on analyses of satellite imagery and information from KVERT, the Tokyo VAAC reported that on 14 December an eruption produced a plume that rose to an altitude of 4.6 km (15,000 ft) a.s.l.
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)