KVERT reported that during 1-8 January seismic activity from Shiveluch was above background levels, possibly indicating ash plumes rising to an altitude of 7.5 km (24,600 ft) a.s.l. Fumarolic activity was occasionally seen when the weather was clear. Analyses of satellite imagery revealed a large daily thermal anomaly from the lava dome and a gas-and-steam plume that drifted 40 km SW on 6 January. Ashfall was reported in Klyuchi (about 45 km SW) on 4 January. The Level of Aviation Color Code remained at Orange. Based on information from KEMSD and analyses of satellite imagery, the Tokyo VAAC reported that during 6-11 January eruptions produced plumes that rose to altitudes of 4.3-6.4 km (14,000-21,000 ft) a.s.l.

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.

Sources: Tokyo Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC), Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)