Eurasia’s largest active volcano erupts in Kamchatka

In Kamchatka today, November 20, the summit eruption of the Klyuchevskoy volcano began, said the director of the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexei Ozerov. The press service of the Institute also reportedthat the Shiveluch volcano in the north of the peninsula began to throw out ash.

According to the scientist, in the summit crater of Klyuchevsky now there are single emissions of red-hot bombs with a frequency of up to ten explosions per hour. “Due to the significant depth of the Klyuchevskoy crater – about 200 m – only some of them are visible above the edge. The rest are marked by the glow above the crater,” Mr. Ozerov said. Volcanologists predict that the intensity of the volcanic eruption will increase. On the giant, lava flows are possible, the formation of mud flows that will pass along the riverbeds in the region of the volcano.

Alexei Ozerov noted that, as a rule, Klyuchevsky eruptions are quite long, they last from several weeks to several months, sometimes up to a year. During paroxysmal eruptions, the length of ash plumes can reach up to a thousand km. Ash emissions from the Klyuchevskoy volcano are extremely dangerous for aviation.

According to the Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the increase in seismicity in the area of ​​Klyuchevskaya Sopka began about an hour after a strong, magnitude 5.7, earthquake in the Kamchatka Bay. And two hours later, a glow in the crater was recorded on the volcano.

Klyuchevskoy volcano (height 4800 m above sea level, age – 7 thousand years) is the highest active volcano in Eurasia. It is located 30 km from the village of Klyuchi on the right bank of the Kamchatka River and 360 km from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The last time an eruption with lava flows at Klyuchevskoy occurred from October 2020 to March 2021.

Guzel Latypova, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky