Avacha Volcano, Kamchatka, Far East Russia

Abstract

Avachinsky volcano, also known as Avacha or Avachinskaya Sopka, (53°15′N, 158°50′E) is an active 2,741 m high strato-volcano situated on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Far East of Russia. It is located just within the sight of the local capital of Petropavlovsk Kamchatski. Together with the neighboring Koryaksky volcano (3,456 m), it has been designated as a Decade Volcano by the International Asso ciation of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, because it is one of the 16 volcanoes whose history of explosive eruptions in the proximity to populated areas is worth studying. They are named Decade Volcanoes because the project was initiated as a part of the United Nations-sponsored International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction.

Kamchatka Peninsula makes a segment of the Pacific Ring of Fire, at a region where the Pacific Plate subducts underneath the Eurasian Plate at a rate of about 80 mm/year. The wedge of the Earth's mantle material, sandwiched between the subducting Pacific Plate and the overlying Eurasian Plate, is believed to be the source of dynamic volcanism occurring over the whole Kamchatka Peninsula. Kamchatka with its length of more than 1,500 km stretches from north to south, and along its longitudinal axis, the peninsula is framed by two mountain belts, a Sredinny (Central) and a shorter Vostochny (= Eastern) mountain ridge. The highest volcano of Kamchatka Kluchevskaya sopka (4,750 m) is located in between them, dominating the whole region.