Shiveluch (russian: Шивелуч), also called Sheveluch, which originates from the name "suelich" which means "smoking mountain" in

Itelmen The Itelmens (Itelmen: Итәнмән, russian: Ительмены) are an indigenous ethnic group of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. The Itelmen language is distantly related to Chukchi and Koryak, forming the Chukotko-Kamchatkan language ...

is the northernmost active

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

Kamchatka Krai Kamchatka Krai ( rus, Камча́тский край, r=Kamchatsky kray, p=kɐmˈtɕatskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), situated in the Russian Far East, and is administratively part of the Far Eastern Federal District. Its ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. It and Karymsky are Kamchatka's largest, most active and most continuously erupting volcanoes, as well as one of the most active on the planet. Shiveluch erupts around 0.015 km³ of magma per year, which causes frequent and large hot avalanches and

lava dome In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6% of eruptions on ...

formations at the summit. Ash emissions from this volcano often disrupt air traffic that connect the Asian and North American continents.

Geography

Shiveluch belongs to the Kliuchevskaya volcano group, located in central Kamchatka northwest of

Ust-Kamchatsk Ust-Kamchatsk (russian: Усть-Камча́тск) is a rural locality (a settlement) and the administrative center of Ust-Kamchatsky District of Kamchatka Krai, Russia, located on the eastern shore of the Kamchatka Peninsula at the mouth of th ...

. The nearest settlement from the volcano is Klyuchi, situated 50 km from the mountain. The settlement is small enough to evacuate rapidly in case of a major eruption.

Geologic setting

Shiveluch is a volcano within the Kuril-Kamchatka

volcanic arc A volcanic arc (also known as a magmatic arc) is a belt of volcanoes formed above a subducting oceanic tectonic plate, with the belt arranged in an arc shape as seen from above. Volcanic arcs typically parallel an oceanic trench, with the arc lo ...

which hosts tens of other volcanoes. As the

Pacific Plate The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At , it is the largest tectonic plate. The plate first came into existence 190 million years ago, at the triple junction between the Farallon, Phoenix, and Iza ...

crust subducts deeper under the

Okhotsk Plate The Okhotsk Plate is a minor tectonic plate covering the Kamchatka Peninsula, Magadan Oblast, and Sakhalin Island of Russia; Hokkaido, Kantō and Tōhoku regions of Japan; the Sea of Okhotsk, as well as the disputed Kuril Islands. It was fo ...

, the boiling points of

minerals In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...

underground are reduced by other materials including water which results in the materials melting and forming into magma which rises onto the surface and forms the volcanoes.

Structure

There are three elements of the volcano: the

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and per ...

Old Shiveluch (Старый Шивелуч); an ancient

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

; and the active Young Shiveluch (Молодой Шивелуч), with an elevation of about 2,800 metres (9,186 ft).Holocene Volcanoes in Kamchatka / Shiveluch
/ref> Shiveluch is one of Kamchatka's largest and most active volcanic structures. It is a stratovolcano composed of alternating layers of solidified ash, hardened lava and volcanic rocks.

Geologic history

Shiveluch began forming about 60,000 to 70,000 years ago, and it has had at least 60 large eruptions during the

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...

. During this era, the most intense period of volcanism — including frequent large and moderate eruptions — occurred around 6500–6400 BC, 2250–2000 BC, and AD 50–650. This coincides with the peak of activity in other Kamchatka volcanoes. The current active period started around 900 BC. Since then, the large and moderate eruptions have been following each other at 50 to 400 year-long intervals. Catastrophic eruptions took place in 1854 and 1957, when a large part of the lava dome collapsed and created a devastating debris avalanche. The most recent eruption of Young Shiveluch started on August 15, 1999, and continues . On February 27, 2015 Shiveluch erupted shooting ash into the atmosphere about 30,000 feet crossing the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Ameri ...

and into

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

Gallery

Image:Shiveluch activity (ash plume), 2012-11-06.png, Activity on 6 November 2012 Image:Jan 2011 Activity at Shiveluch Volcano.jpg, The heat signature of a

pyroclastic flow A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current or a pyroclastic cloud) is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter (collectively known as tephra) that flows along the ground away from a volcano at average speeds of bu ...

on Shiveluch in January 2011 Image:Feb 2011 Pyroclastic Flow Remnants at Shiveluch Volcano.jpg, This false-colour satellite image shows the remnants of a large pyroclastic flow on the slopes of Shiveluch. Image:2010 Activity at Shiveluch Volcano.jpg, Activity on 7 September 2010 Image:Volcanic Plume over Shiveluch Volcano 2010-02-13.jpg, Activity on 13 February 2010 Image:Shiveluch activity, 2009-10-03.jpg, Activity on 3 October 2009 Image:Shiveluch eruption.jpg, Activity on 9 May 2004 Image:Sheveluch, Kamchatka.jpeg, Activity (red dot) on 17 September 2002 Image:Plume from Shiveluch Volcano.jpg, Shiveluch releases a small plume of vapour

Geography

Geologic setting

Structure

Geologic history

Gallery

References

External links