KVERT reported that seismic activity from Shiveluch was above background levels during 14-16 October and at background levels during 17-22 October. Seismic data on 14 October suggested that ash plumes rose to an altitude of 3.8 km (12,500 ft) a.s.l. Satellite imagery analyses showed a daily thermal anomaly on the volcano and ash plumes that drifted 72 km SE on 15 and 16 October. Gas-and-steam plumes sometimes containing ash were observed during 15-18 October. The Aviation Color Code level 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)