KVERT reported that seismic activity at Shiveluch was slightly above background levels during 14-21 March. Based on seismic interpretation, ash plumes possibly rose to an altitude of 3.5 km (11,200 ft) a.s.l. on 13 and 17 March. According to video footage and visual observations, an ash plume rose to an altitude of 4 km (12,800 ft) a.s.l. on 17 March and fumarolic activity from the lava dome was observed during 17 and 19-20 March. Observations of satellite imagery revealed that a gas plume drifted 17 km SW on 17 March and a thermal anomaly was present in the crater during the reporting period. The Level of Concern Color Code remained at 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 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 roughly 65,000-year-old Stary Shiveluch is truncated by a broad 9-km-wide late-Pleistocene caldera breached to the south. Many lava domes occur on its outer flanks. The Molodoy Shiveluch lava dome complex was constructed during the Holocene within the large open caldera; Holocene lava dome extrusion also took place on the flanks of Stary Shiveluch. 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.

Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)