Russian volcano sends ash plume kilometres high in Kamchatka

Moscow, Aug 5 (IANS) Klyuchevskoy volcano in Russia's far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula ejected an ash plume reaching 7 kilometres above sea level on Tuesday, with the cloud drifting southeast toward the Pacific Ocean, local authorities reported.

"There are no settlements in the path of the ash cloud, and no ash fallout has been recorded in populated areas. No registered tourist groups are currently in the vicinity of the volcano," the Kamchatka branch of the Ministry of Emergency Situations said on its Telegram channel.

The volcano has been assigned an orange aviation colour code, indicating a high likelihood of ash emissions and potential hazards to aviation.

The eruption activity intensified on Monday, when the Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences recorded four separate ash plumes from Klyuchevskoy, with the highest reaching 9 kilometres above sea level, reports Xinhua news agency.

Authorities have warned that ash emissions of 6 to 10 kilometres remain possible on several active volcanoes in the region and urged residents and tourists to avoid travelling within a 10-kilometre radius of these volcanoes.

Standing at 4,754 meters above sea level, Klyuchevskoy is the tallest active volcano in Eurasia and is located in the Ust-Kamchatsky District. Its current eruptive phase began in April.

The volcanic activity follows a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Kamchatka on July 30, which was the strongest in the region since 1952. The quake was felt as far as the northern Kuril Islands, triggering a tsunami warning and prompting a state of emergency in the Severo-Kurilsk district.

"According to our data, the last time such widespread volcanic activity occurred in Kamchatka was in 1737, following a magnitude-9 earthquake," Alexey Ozerov, Director of the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, was quoted by TASS news agency as saying.

Ozerov said the powerful seismic event on July 30 may have reawakened the region's "sleeping giants."

Yury Demyanchuk, head of the volcanology station in the village of Klyuchi, said he had not seen such widespread volcanic activity in his five decades of work in Kamchatka, Xinhua news agency reported.

"On Krasheninnikov Volcano, both summit and central eruptions have begun simultaneously, which may indicate intense internal seismic processes. As for Kambalny Volcano, I last worked on it in 1979. While it has been quiet for decades, it should not be considered extinct," Demyanchuk said.

He noted that the previous eruption of Krasheninnikov likely occurred in the 15th century and is known only from layers of volcanic ash. "Of course, no one was monitoring it in the 1400s, so we can say that today we are witnessing truly unique natural phenomena," he added.

As of Sunday, six volcanoes were showing active signs: Avachinsky, Klyuchevskoy, Bezymianny, Kambalny, Karymsky, and, most recently, Krasheninnikov, which is located in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve.

--IANS

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