KVERT reported that the current eruption continued through the week and included several strong ash eruptions that sent plumes to altitudes of 7-10 km (~22,000-33,000 ft) and drifted more than 200 km to the NE. Visual and satellite observations determined that lava extrusion continued on the NE and N flanks of the lava dome. This viscous block lava generated moderate ash explosions; fumarolic activity, hot avalanches, and incandescence at the summit also continued. A thermal anomaly was detected in daily satellite images.

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)