Avachinskaya Sopka

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Avachinskaya Sopka
Avachinskaya Sopka (Avacha)

Avachinskaya Sopka (Avacha)

height 2741  m
location Kamchatka ( Russia )
Coordinates 53 ° 15 '0 "  N , 158 ° 49' 59"  E Coordinates: 53 ° 15 '0 "  N , 158 ° 49' 59"  E
Avachinskaya Sopka (Kamchatka Region)
Avachinskaya Sopka
Type active stratovolcano
Age of the rock 900,000 years
Last eruption 2001

The avachinsky ( Russian Авачинская сопка ; also Gorjelaja Sopka , Awatschinski or Awatscha ; Russian Авачинский, Авача ) is an active stratovolcano on the peninsula of Kamchatka in the far east of Russia .

Location and description

The volcano is within sight 27 kilometers north of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky , the capital of the Kamchatka region , and is 2,741 meters high. It is a so-called Somma volcano , which means that the volcanic cone grows out of the caldera of a larger, older volcano (4 km in diameter). The Avacha crater has a diameter of 350 meters and was around 220 meters deep until its eruption in 1991. Typical of this type of volcano, lava closes the crater like a plug before eruptions.

Geological history

The Avacha lies on the Pacific ring of fire at a point where the Pacific plate pushes under the Eurasian plate at a speed of 80 millimeters per year . The subduction of the Pacific plate is the cause of the strong volcanic activity in southern Kamchatka.

The volcano is one of the most active on the peninsula and became active around the middle of the Pleistocene . It has a horseshoe-shaped caldera that was formed by a flank collapse around 30,000 to 40,000 years ago. The associated debris avalanche covered an area of ​​more than 500 km 2 south of the volcano, including the area of ​​the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Later eruptions within the caldera, particularly 18,000 and 7,000 years ago, created the volcano's current shape.

Today's activity

At the summit of the Avacha

In historical times the Avacha has erupted at least 17 times, with the eruptions almost always explosive and then a lava flow to the southwest developed into the broken caldera. The last strong eruption took place in 1945 and was noted on the volcanic explosion index (VEI) with a strength of 4. About 0.25 km 3 of magma was ejected. In 1991 and 2001 there were minor eruptions of the volcano.

To this day there are regular earthquakes in the area of ​​the volcano. Gases with a temperature of over 400 ° C are emitted from several fumaroles in the area of ​​the crater  . Because of its proximity to the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the volcano was designated in 1996 together with the neighboring volcano Korjakskaja Sopka as one of the " Decade Volcanoes " of the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI), which are worth a more detailed study its history and its influence on inhabited areas.

swell

  • D. Droznin, V. Levin, J. Park, E. Gordeev: Detailed Mapping of Seismic Anisotropy Indicators in Southeastern Kamchatka. American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002.
  • V. Levin, J. Park, E. Gordeev, D. Droznin: Complex Anisotropic Structure of the Mantle Wedge Beneath Kamchatka Volcanoes. American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002.
  • YA Taran, CB Connor, VN Shapar, AA Ovsyannikov, AA Bilichenko: Fumarolic activity of Avachinsky and Koryaksky volcanoes, Kamchatka, from 1993 to 1994. In: Bulletin of Volcanology. v. 58, 1997, pp. 441-448

Web links

Commons : Avachinsky Volcano  - collection of images, videos and audio files