Powerful explosive eruption at Sheveluch volcano, Aviation Color Code raised to Red, Russia
Featured image: Eruption at Sheveluch volcano, Russia on August 17, 2024. Credit: FarEastFairytale (IVS FEB RAS employee's unofficial Telegram channel)
A new explosive eruption began at the “300 years of RAS” lava dome at Sheveluch volcano, Kamchatka, Russia at 11:45 UTC on August 17, 2024.
The initial explosions sent an ash plume up to 8 km (26 200 feet) above sea level and then to 9 km (29 500 feet) a.s.l. at 12:00 UTC, prompting KVERT to raise the Aviation Color Code from Orange to Red. Ashfall was reported in the Ust’-Kamchatsk village.
The ash cloud extended up to 920 km (570 miles) SE of the volcano by 22:10 UTC on August 17.
At 05:53 UTC on August 18, KVERT reported that the explosive eruption of the 300-year-old RAS lava dome continues, with explosions sending ash up to 5 km (16 400 feet) a.s.l. and an ash plume extending about 1 520 km (945 miles) east-southeast (ESE) of the volcano.
The press service of the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s department in the Kamchatka region said the eruption had no effect on the daily life of local residents, TASS reports.
“A minor ashfall was registered in the [nearby] settlement of Ust-Kamchatsk in the morning of August 18 [local time]. The settlement’s daily life was unaffected,” the statement says, adding that asfalls may take place in other populated areas nearby as well.
Contrary to many legacy media reports, the eruption started more than 7 hours before the M7.0 earthquake off the coast of Kamchatka on August 17.
The high, isolated massif of Sheveluch volcano (also spelled Shiveluch) rises above the lowlands north-northeast of the Kliuchevskaya volcano group.
The 1 300 km³ (312 cubic miles) andesitic volcano is one of Kamchatka’s largest and most active volcanic structures, with at least 60 large eruptions during the Holocene.
The summit of the roughly 65 000-year-old Stary Shiveluch is truncated by a broad 9 km-wide (5.6 miles) late-Pleistocene caldera breached to the south. Many lava domes occur on its outer flanks.
References:
1 VONA/KVERT Information Releases, August 17 and 18, 2024. KVERT, Institute of Volcanology and Seismology FEB RAS.
2 Shiveluch volcano in Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka region starts to erupt – TASS – August 18, 2024
3 Geological summary – Sheveluch – GVP – Accessed August 18, 2024
Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.
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