Logo link to homepage

Report on Veniaminof (United States) — 24 October-30 October 2018


Veniaminof

Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 24 October-30 October 2018
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 2018. Report on Veniaminof (United States) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 24 October-30 October 2018. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.

Weekly Report (24 October-30 October 2018)

Veniaminof

United States

56.17°N, 159.38°W; summit elev. 2507 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


AVO reported that the eruption from the cone in Veniaminof’s ice-filled summit caldera, continued during 24-30 October. Satellite data showed elevated surface temperatures from minor lava fountaining and flows. Low-amplitude continuous tremor was detected. The webcam in Perryville, 35 km SE, periodically recorded diffuse ash emissions that often rapidly dissipated; minor ashfall was recorded in Perryville on 25 October. Based on satellite data acquired on 25 October the lava flows had traveled as far as 1.2 km from the vent, and the area of the flow field had doubled in the past month. Fractures in the ice sheet adjacent to the lava flow continued to grow due to meltwater flowing beneath the ice sheet. The Aviation Color Code remained at Orange (the second highest level on a four-color scale) and the Volcano Alert Level remained at Watch (the second highest level on a four-level scale).

Geological Summary. Veniaminof, on the Alaska Peninsula, is truncated by a steep-walled, 8 x 11 km, glacier-filled caldera that formed around 3,700 years ago. The caldera rim is up to 520 m high on the north, is deeply notched on the west by Cone Glacier, and is covered by an ice sheet on the south. Post-caldera vents are located along a NW-SE zone bisecting the caldera that extends 55 km from near the Bering Sea coast, across the caldera, and down the Pacific flank. Historical eruptions probably all originated from the westernmost and most prominent of two intra-caldera cones, which rises about 300 m above the surrounding icefield. The other cone is larger, and has a summit crater or caldera that may reach 2.5 km in diameter, but is more subdued and barely rises above the glacier surface.

Source: US Geological Survey Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO)