Eruption on Mount Shiveluch leads to widespread ash-fall on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Mount Shiveluch, a 3283 m high stratovolcano (cone shaped volcano made up of layers of ash and lava)on the eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, underwent a major eruption on Tuesday 11 April 2023, producing an ash column about 20 km high, and ash falls over an area of about 108 000 km². The event is not thought to have led to any fatalities, but has caused significant disruption to air traffic, as well as blocking roads on the ground, and contaminating water supplies in some areas.

Fallen ash blocking a street in the village of Klyuchi on the Kamchatka Peninsula following an eruption on Mount Shiveluch on 11 April 2023. Yury Demyanchuk/Volcanology Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences/AP.

Shiveluch is the northernmost of 30 active volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula, and is a member of the Kliuchevskaya Volcano Group, in the central part of the peninsula. The volcano is thought to have begun erupting between 60 000 and 70 000 years ago, and to have undergone about 60 significant eruptive episodes during the Holocene Epoch, with particularly notable episodes between 6500 and 6400 BC, between 2250 and 2000 BC, and between 50 and 650 AD. The current eruptive episode is thought ti have begun around 900 AD.

The Kamchatka Peninsula lies on the eastern edge of the Okhotsk Plate, close to its margin with the Pacific and North American Plates. The Pacific Plate is being subducted along the margin, and as it does so it passes under the southern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula, and as it does so is partially melted by the friction and the heat of the Earth's interior. Some of the melted material then rises through the overlying Okhotsk Plate as magma and fueling the volcanoes of southern Kamchatka.

Simple diagram showing the subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath the Okhotsk Plate along the Kuril Kamchatka Trench. The Kamchatka Peninsula is at the top of the diagram. Auburn University.

See also...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Twitter. 

Eruption on Shivaluch produces a 10 km high ash column.

Mount Shivluch, a 3.283 km high volcano on the eastern Kamchatka Peninsula, underwent a major eruption on Tuesday 27 May 2014, producing an ash column that rose 10 km above the summit of the mountain. Shivaluch is one of the Kamchatka Peninsula's most active volcanoes, and has been erupting more-or-less continuously for the past 10 years, though eruptions on this scale do not happen every day, the most recent having occurred on 10 May 2014.

Ash column above Mount Shivaluch on 27 May 2014. ITAR-TASS.

Shiveluch is the northernmost of 30 active volcanoes on the Kamchatka peninsula, fueled by the subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath the Okhotsk Plate, upon which the Kamchatka Peninsula is located. As the Pacific Plate sinks into the Earth it is partially melted by the heat and pressure of the planet's interior. Some of the melted material then rises through the overlying Okhotsk Plate, fueling the volcanoes of the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The approximate location of Mount Shivaluch. Google Maps.

See also...

 Eruption on Mount Shiveluch on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team has issued a warning  to aviation after an eruption began on Mount Shiveluch on...

 Eruptions on Mount Shiveluch.

Lava has been flowing intermittently on the north flank of Mount Shiveluch, a remote volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the...

 New eruption on Mount Shiveluch.

Mount Shiveluch, a volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East, underwent a major eruption on Thursday 27 June...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Eruption on Mount Shiveluch on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team has issued a warning  to aviation after an eruption began on Mount Shiveluch on the eastern Kamchatka Peninsula at about 1.00 am local time on Wednesday 11 September 2013 (1.00 pm on Tuesday 10 September GMT). The eruption produced an ash column 3.0-3.5 km in height which had drifted 31 km to the southeast when the warning was issued at 2.56 am local time. The eruption, which was initially detected by NASA's MODIS Terra satellite, appears to be ongoing. Due to the remote location of the volcano the eruption is unlikely to cause problems for anybody on the ground.

Mount Shiveluch in 2009. Alexander Belousov/Kamchatska Research Centre.

Shiveluch is the northernmost of 30 active volcanoes on the Kamchatka peninsula, fueled by the subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath the Okhotsk Plate, upon which the Kamchatka Peninsula is located. As the Pacific Plate sinks into the Earth it is partially melted by the heat and pressure of the planet's interior. Some of the melted material then rises through the overlying Okhotsk Plate, fueling the volcanoes of the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The approximate location of Mount Shiveluch. Google Maps.

See also Eruption on Mount Klyuchevskoi, Eruption on Mount Karymsky, Eruptions on Mount Shiveluch, New eruption on Mount Shiveluch and Eruption on Mount Shiveluch.

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Eruptions on Mount Shiveluch.

Lava has been flowing intermittently on the north flank of Mount Shiveluch, a remote volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East, since at least April this year (2013), according to the Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team, who have been monitoring the volcano both visually and by satellite observations. Prior to this lava had been flowing on the east flank of the volcano since January. Complete breaks in such activity are rare, and the volcano has not been completely free of lava flows for more than a few weeks since 2006. The volcano underwent an explosive eruption on 27 July,  producing an ash column that rose to a height of 6.1-6.4 km, according to the Tokyo Volcanic Ash Advisory Center, and a second such event on 29 July, this time producing a 3.5 km high ash column that drifted 60 km to the east, producing an ash cloud 15 km long and 7 km wide.

An ash cloud over Mount Shiveluch on 27 July 2013. Interfax.

Shiveluch is the northernmost of 30 active volcanoes on the Kamchatka peninsula, fueled by the subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath the Okhotsk Plate, upon which the Kamchatka Peninsula is located. As the Pacific Plate sinks into the Earth it is partially melted by the heat and pressure of the planet's interior. Some of the melted material then rises through the overlying Okhotsk Plate, fueling the volcanoes of the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The approximate location of Mount Shiveluch. Google Maps.

See also New eruption on Mount Shiveluch, Eruption on Mount Shiveluch, Eruption on Mount Kizimen, Volcanic activity on Mount Alaid and Volcanism on Mount Kliuchevskoi.

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

New eruption on Mount Shiveluch.

Mount Shiveluch, a volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East, underwent a major eruption on Thursday 27 June 2013, according to the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team. The eruption started at about 7.10 am local time (7.10 pm on Wednesday 26 June, GMT), and produced an ash column reaching 10 km into the air, accompanied by about 40 minutes of tectonic activity (Earthquakes). There have been ashfalls in the villages of Klyuchi and Lazo, 50 km and 156 km away from the volcano respectively, and while local authorities are not anticipating any hazard to life, they have distributed gas-masks and are asking people to remain indoors as a precaution.

Ash from the Shiveluch eruption. Damir Shakurov/NovostiTV.

The volcano has been producing lava flows throughout May and June, and has produced ash column twice in June 2013 - something it typically does several times a year. Ash from Shiveluch last reached the closest settlement, Ust-Kamchatsk, 85 km to the southeast, in October 2010, when an explosive eruption also destroyed much of a lava dome that had formed on the volcano, forming a new crater at the summit.

Shiveluch is the northernmost of 30 active volcanoes on the Kamchatka peninsula, fueled by the subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath the Okhotsk Plate, upon which the Kamchatka Peninsula is located. As the Pacific Plate sinks into the Earth it is partially melted by the heat and pressure of the planet's interior. Some of the melted material then rises through the overlying Okhotsk Plate, fueling the volcanoes of the Kamchatka Peninsula.

See also Eruption on Mount Shiveluch, Volcanic activity on Mount Alaid, Eruption on Mount Kizimen, Volcanism on Mount Kliuchevskoi, Eruption on Mount Bezymianny and Earthquake shakes the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Eruption on Mount Shiveluch.

An explosive eruption on Mount Shiveluch on the Kamchatka Peninsula threw ash cloud to an altitude of 9000 m on the morning of Monday 10 June 2013, according to the Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The initial eruption has been followed by an ongoing eruption sustaining an ash column averaging 6.9 km. This is a large eruption, but is unlikely to cause any problems for anyone, since few people choose to like close to the more-or-less constantly active volcano.

An ash column produced by Mount Shiveluch in 2000. Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team.

The volcano has been producing lava flows throughout May, and last produced an ash column in April - something it typically does several times a year. Ash from Shiveluch last reached the closest settlement, Ust-Kamchatsk, 85 km to the southeast, in October 2010, when an explosive eruption also destroyed much of a lava dome that had formed on the volcano, forming a new crater at the summit.

Shiveluch is the northernmost of 30 active volcanoes on the Kamchatka peninsula, fueled by the subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath the Okhotsk Plate, upon which the Kamchatka Peninsula is located. As the Pacific Plate sinks into the Earth it is partially melted by the heat and pressure of the planet's interior. Some of the melted material then rises through the overlying Okhotsk Plate, fueling the volcanoes of the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The location of Mount Shiveluch. Google Maps.

See also Eruption on Mount Kizimen, Volcanic activity on Mount Alaid, Volcanism on Mount Kliuchevskoi, Eruption on Mount Bezymianny and Eruption on Ivan Grozny.

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.