Shiveluch Volcano

Shiveluch Volcano Latest News

The Shiveluch volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula erupted twice recently, sending ash plumes up to 8 kilometres above sea level.

About Shiveluch Volcano

• It is one of the largest and most active volcanoes located on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, one of the most intense volcanic regions in the world.
• It’s estimated to be between 60,000-70,000 years old.
• It is a stratovolcano—a steep-sloped volcano composed of alternating layers of solidified ash, hardened lava, and volcanic rocks.
• It sports a summit reaching 3,283 meters (10,771 feet).
• Many lava domes dot its outer flanks.
  • It has had more major eruptions than any other volcano in our current period of geologic time,  with an estimated 60 substantial eruptions in the past 10,000 years.
  • The volcano has been continuously erupting since August 1999, but occasionally undergoes powerful explosive events, including in 2007.
• It has been spewing ash and steam intermittently—with occasional dome collapses, pyroclastic flows, and lava flows, as well—for the past decade.

Key Facts about Kamchatka Peninsula

• It lies in far eastern Russia, between the Sea of Okhotsk on the west and the Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea on the east.
• About the size of New Zealand, it is one of the largest peninsulas in the world.
• It is one of the world’s most concentrated areas of geothermal activity.
• Of the 127 volcanoes on the peninsula, 22 are still active, as are a number of geysers and hot springs.
• Climate: Severe, with prolonged, cold, and snowy winters and wet, cool summers.
• Most of Kamchatka is tundra.
• The main center is the city and port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
• The Kuril Island chain runs from the southern tip of the peninsula to a short distance from Japan’s northern Hokkaido Island.
• The volcanoes of Kamchatka have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996.

Source: MSN

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