Report on Chirinkotan (Russia) — 15 March-21 March 2017
Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 15 March-21 March 2017
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.
Please cite this report as:
Global Volcanism Program, 2017. Report on Chirinkotan (Russia) (Sennert, S, ed.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 15 March-21 March 2017. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.
Chirinkotan
Russia
48.98°N, 153.48°E; summit elev. 724 m
All times are local (unless otherwise noted)
Based on satellite images, SVERT reported that on 21 March an ash plume from Chirinkotan rose to an altitude of 6 km (20,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted 15 km E. The Aviation Color Code was raised to Yellow (the second lowest on a four-color scale).
Geological Summary. The small, mostly unvegetated 3-km-wide island of Chirinkotan occupies the far end of an E-W volcanic chain that extends nearly 50 km W of the central part of the main Kuril Islands arc. It is the emergent summit of a volcano that rises 3000 m from the floor of the Kuril Basin. A small 1-km-wide caldera about 300-400 m deep is open to the SW. Lava flows from a cone within the breached crater reached the shore of the island. Historical eruptions have been recorded since the 18th century. Lava flows were observed by the English fur trader Captain Snow in the 1880s.
