Sheveluch erupts ash up to 9.1 km (30 000 feet), Russia

A powerful eruption of Russia's Sheveluch volcano took place at 23:30 UTC on May 2, 2017. The Aviation Color Code remains Orange.

According to the Tokyo VAAC, the volcanic ash was reaching 9.1 km (30 000 feet) above sea level at 03:40 UTC. At 03:20 UTC, it was extending 170 km (106 miles) WNW of the crater.

Volcanic ash is continuously observed on satellite imagery, the Tokyo VAAC said at 06:00 UTC.

KVERT said explosive-extrusive eruption of the volcano continues. Ash explosions up to 8 to 10 km (26 200 – 32 800 feet) a.s.l. could occur at any time. The ongoing volcanic activity could affect international and low-flying aircraft, it warned.

Geological summary

The high, isolated massif of Sheveluch volcano (also spelled Shiveluch) rises above the lowlands NNE of the Kliuchevskaya volcano group. The 1 300 cu km (311.9 cu miles) volcano is one of Kamchatka's largest and most active volcanic structures. The summit of roughly 65 000-year-old Stary Shiveluch is truncated by a broad 9-km-wide late-Pleistocene (5.6 miles) caldera breached to the south. Many lava domes dot its outer flanks. The Molodoy Shiveluch lava-dome complex was constructed during the Holocene within the large horseshoe-shaped caldera; Holocene lava dome extrusion also took place on the flanks of Stary Shiveluch.

At least 60 large eruptions have occurred during the Holocene, making it the most vigorous andesitic volcano of the Kuril-Kamchatka arc. Widespread tephra layers from these eruptions have provided valuable time markers for dating volcanic events in Kamchatka. Frequent collapses of dome complexes, most recently in 1964, have produced debris avalanches whose deposits cover much of the floor of the breached caldera. (GVP)

Featured image: Sheveluch erupting on April 16, 2017. Credit: Yu. Demyanchuk, IVS FEB RAS, KVERT