Volcanoes of Kamchatka

The Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia) is one of the most volcanically active volcanic places on earth, second only perhaps to Iceland and Hawaii. In this part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire", there are over 100 active volcanoes (the Smithsonian Institution lists 109) and about 30 volcanoes that have erupted recently, in addition to hundreds of smaller monogenetic vents (i.e. that have formed during one single eruption).

The active volcanoes form a 700-km long volcanic belt from Shiveluch in the north to Kambalny in the south. The vigorous volcanism on Kamchatka, like that of the adjacent Aleutian and Kurile island arcs, is produced by the subduction of the Pacific plate under the E margin of the Eurasian plate.
During the past 10,000 years, at least about 30 very large (so-called Plinian) eruptions have occurred in Kamchatka, i.e. eruptions that have ejected more than 1 cubic kilometer of magma. With this record, Kamchatka is by far the place on earth with the greatest frequency of large explosive eruptions.

The most active volcanoes on Kamchatka are Klyuchevsky, Shiveluch, Karymsky and Bezymianny.

• Kamchatka volcano news page

Latest news:

Donnerstag, Aug 06, 2009 Kizimen volcano / Kamchatka, activity update: increasing seismicity [mehr]

Donnerstag, Aug 21, 2008 Chikurachki volcano / Kuril islands/ activity update: ash clouds [mehr]

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