Sheveluch erupts ash to 12.2 km (40 000 feet) a.s.l., Russia

Russia's Sheveluch volcano erupted at 01:12 UTC on June 27, 2017, sending a plume of ash up to 12.2 km (40 000 feet), according to the Tokyo VAAC.

In their Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation issued 01:23 UTC, KVERT said that video data show an ash explosion about 7 km (23 000 feet) a.s.l. moving east. At 01:20, ash plume/cloud was located about 5 km (3.1 miles) east of the volcano.

Explosive-extrusive eruption of the volcano continues. Ash explosions up to 10 – 15 km (32 800 – 49 200 feet) a.s.l. could occur at any time, the observatory said.

Ongoing activity could affect international and low-flying aircraft.

The Aviation Color Code remains Orange.

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 km³ (311.9 mi³) 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 volcano erupting on December 31, 2015. Credit: Yu. Demyanchuk, IVS FEB RAS, KVERT