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Report on Sheveluch (Russia) — 26 January-1 February 2011


Sheveluch

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 26 January-1 February 2011
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2011. Report on Sheveluch (Russia) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 26 January-1 February 2011. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (26 January-1 February 2011)

Sheveluch

Russia

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

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


KVERT reported that during 21-28 January moderate seismic activity from Shiveluch was recorded, and an intense thermal anomaly over the volcano was detected in satellite imagery. Gas-and-steam emissions were visually observed during 23-26 January and an ash plume was observed rising to an altitude of 4 km (13,100 ft) a.s.l. on 26 January. Satellite imagery showed an ash plume drifting 54 km S on 26 January. The Aviation Color Code remained at Orange.

The Tokyo VAAC reported that on 31 January and 1 February possible eruptions detected in satellite imagery produced plumes that rose to altitudes of 3.4-3.7 km (11,000-12,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted NE. Subsequent notices on both days stated that ash had dissipated.

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)