Skip to main content
Log in

Ages of calderas, large explosive craters and active volcanoes in the Kuril-Kamchatka region, Russia

Bulletin of Volcanology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The ages of most of calderas, large explosive craters and active volcanoes in the Kuril-Kamchatka region have been determined by extensive geological, geomorphological, tephrochronological and isotopic geochronological studies, including more than 600 14C dates. Eight ‘Krakatoa-type’ and three ‘Hawaiian-type’ calderas and no less than three large explosive craters formed here during the Holocene. Most of the Late Pleistocene Krakatoa-type calderas were established around 30 000–40 000 years ago. The active volcanoes are geologically very young, with maximum ages of about 40 000–50 000 years. The overwhelming majority of recently active volcanic cones originated at the very end of the Late Pleistocene or in the Holocene. These studies show that all Holocene stratovolcanoes in Kamchatka were emplaced in the Holocene only in the Eastern volcanic belt. Periods of synchronous, intensified Holocene volcanic activity occurred within the time intervals of 7500–7800 and 1300–1800 14C years BP.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Aramaki S, Fukuyama H, Kamo K, Kamada M (1981) Field Excursion Guide to Sakurajima, Kirishima and Aso Volcanoes. Part I. Tokyo: 1–17

  • Braitseva OA, Melekestsev IV (1991) Eruptive history of Karymsky volcano, Kamchatka, USSR, based on tephra stratigraphy and 14C dating. Bull Volcanol 53:195–206

    Google Scholar 

  • Braitseva OA, Melekestsev IV, Erlich EN (1974) Most recent volcanic activity. In: Luchitsky IV (ed) Kamchatka, Kurile and Commander Islands. Nauka, Moscow, pp 369–394 [in Russian]

    Google Scholar 

  • Braitseva OA, Egorova IA, Sulerzhitsky LD, Nesmachny IA (1980) Maly Semiachik volcano. In: Masurenkov YuP (ed) A Volcanic Center: Structure, Dynamics and Substance of the Karymsky Center. Nauka, Moscow, pp 199–235 [in Russian]

    Google Scholar 

  • Braitseva OA, Melekestsev IV, Flerov GB, Ponomareva VV, Sulerzhitsky LD, Litasova SN (1984) Holocene volcanism of the Tolbachik regional zone of cinder cones. In: Fedotov SA (ed) Great Tolbachik Fissure Eruption, Kamchatka, 1975–1976. Nauka, Moscow, pp 177–209 [in Russian]

    Google Scholar 

  • Braitseva OA, Litasova SN, Ponomarenko AK (1987) Application of tephrochronological dating to determine the age of a key archaeological site in Eastern Kamchatka. Volcanol Seismol 5:507–514

    Google Scholar 

  • Braitseva OA, Florenskii IV, Ponomareva VV, Litasova SN (1989a) The history of the activity of Kikhpinych volcano in the Holocene. Volcanol Seismol 7:895–872

    Google Scholar 

  • Braitseva OA, Kirianov VYu, Sulerzhitsky LD (1989b) Marker intercalations of Holocene tephra in the Eastern volcanic zone of Kamchatka. Volcanol Seismol 7:785–814

    Google Scholar 

  • Braitseva OA, Melekestsev IV, Bogoyavlenskaya GE, Maksimov AP (1991) Bezymianny volcano: the history of formation and activity dynamics. Volcanol Seismol 12:165–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Braitseva OA, Litasova SN, Sulerzhitsky LD (1992a) Validity of radiocarbon dating in regions of active volcanism in Kamchatka. Quaternary Int 13/14:143–146

    Google Scholar 

  • Braitseva OA, Melekestsev IV, Ponomareva VV, Kirianov VYu, Litasova SN, Sulerzhitsky LD (1992b) Tephra of the largest pre-historic eruptions of Kamchatkan volcanoes in Holocene. Quat Int 13/14:177–180

    Google Scholar 

  • Braitseva OA Sulerzhitsky LD, Litasova SN, Melekestsev IV, Ponomareva VV (1993) Radiocarbon dating and tephrochronology in Kamchatka. Radiocarbon 35:463–476

    Google Scholar 

  • Chester DK, Duncan AM, Guest IE, Kilburn CKI (1985) Mount Etna. The Anatomy of a Volcano. Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge, 404 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Crandell DR, Mullineaux DR (1978) Geology of Mount St. Helens volcano Washington. Geol Surv Bull 1383-C:1–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Easton RM (1987) Stratigraphy of Kilauea volcano. In: Volcanism in Hawaii. Geol Surv Prof Pap 1350:243–260

  • Gill J (1981) Orogenic Andesites and Plate Tectonics. Springer, Berlin, 390 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Gushchenko II (1965) Ashes from North Kamchatka and Conditions of their Formation. Nauka, Moscow 144 pp [in Russian]

    Google Scholar 

  • Kracvaya TS (1967) New data on the age of the Kuril Lake young pumice deposits. Voprosy Geografii Kamchatki, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky 5:128–129 [in Russian]

    Google Scholar 

  • Masurenkov YuP (ed) (1980a) A Volcanic Center: Structure, Dynamics and Substance of the Karymsky Center. Nauka, Moscow, 300 pp [in Russian]

    Google Scholar 

  • Masurenkov YuP (ed) (1980b) Long existing center of endogenic activity in South Kamchatka. Nauka, Moscow 172 pp [in Russian]

    Google Scholar 

  • Melekestsev IV (1973) Types and age for active volcanoes in the Kurile-Kamchatka region. Bull Volcanol Stantsii 48:17–23 [in Russian]

    Google Scholar 

  • Melekestsev IV, Braitseva OA (1988) Giant collapses on volcanoes. Volcanol Seismol 6:495–508

    Google Scholar 

  • Melekestsev IV, Sulerzhitsky LD (1990) Ksudach volcano (Kamchatka) over the last ten thousand years. Volcanol Seismol 9:537–556

    Google Scholar 

  • Melekestsev IV, Braitseva OA, Kraevaya TS (1970) Application of the complex techniques to determine the age of Quaternary volcanic formations (in the case of Kamchatka). Izv AN SSSR Ser Geol 10:149–153 [in Russian]

    Google Scholar 

  • Melekestsev IV, Braitseva OA, Sulerzhitsky LD, Kozhemyaka NN, Ogorodov NV, Egorova IA, Lupikina EG (1971) The age of volcanoes of the Kurile-Kamchatka volcanic region. In: Volcanism and the Deep Interior of the Earth. Nauka, Moscow, pp 68–75 [in Russian]

    Google Scholar 

  • Melekestsev IV, Braitseva OA, Erlich EN, Kozhemyaka NN (1974a) Volcanic mountains and plains. In: Luchitsky IV (ed) Kamchatka, Kurile and Commander Islands. Nauka, Moscow, pp 162–234 [in Russian]

    Google Scholar 

  • Melekestsev IV, Egorova IL, Lupikina EG (1974b) Inner ridge of the Kurile islands arc. In: Luchitsky IV (ed) Kamchatka, Kurile and Commander Islands. Nauka, Moscow, pp 265–327 [in Russian]

    Google Scholar 

  • Melekestsev IV, Braitseva OA, Ponomareva VV, Sulerzhitsky LD (1990) Ages and dynamics of the active volcanoes of the Kurile-Kamchatka region. Int Geol Rev 32:436–448

    Google Scholar 

  • Melekestsev IV, Felitsyn SB, Kirianov VYu (1991a) Opala volcano eruption. A.D., 500 — the largest explosive eruption on Kamchatka in our era. Volcanol Seismol 13:21–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Melekestsev IV, Glushkova OYu, Kirianov VYu, Lozhkin AV, Sulerzhitsky LD (1991b) The origin and age of the Magadan volcanic ashes. Dokl AN SSSR 317:1187–1192

    Google Scholar 

  • Melekestsev IV, Litasova SN, Sulerzhitsky LD (1991c) On the age and scale of the directed-blast catastrophic eruption of the Avachinsky volcano (Kamchatka) in the Late Pleistocene. Volcanol Seismol 13:135–146

    Google Scholar 

  • Melekestsev IV, Ponomareva VV, Volynets ON (1995) Kizimen volcano, Kamchatka — a future Mount St. Helens. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 65:205–226

    Google Scholar 

  • Novograblenov PT (1932) The catalogue of volcanoes of Kamchatka. Isv Gos Geogr Sci XIY-1:88–99 [in Russian]

    Google Scholar 

  • Ono K, Soya T, Mimura K (1981) Volcanoes of Japan (second edition) 1:2 000 000 Map Series, Geol Surv Japan, Tokyo

    Google Scholar 

  • Piyp Bl (1956) Kliuchevskoi volcano and its eruptions during 1944–1945 and in the past. Proc Lab Volcanol AN SSSR, Moscow, 310 pp [in Russian]

  • Ponomareva VV (1990) The history of Krasheninnikov volcano and the dynamics of its activity. Volcanol Seismol 9:714–741

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose WI (1987) Santa Maria Guatemala: bimodal soda-rich calcalkalic stratovolcano J Volcanol Geotherm Res 33:109–129

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubin M, Lockwood JP, Friedman I (1987) Effects of volcanic emanations on carbon-isotope content of modern plants near Kilauea volcano. In: Volcanism in Hawaii. US Geol Survey Prof Pap 1350:209–211

  • Selyangin OB (1990) Geological structure and evolution of the calderas of Ksudach volcano. Volcanol Seismol 9:690–713

    Google Scholar 

  • Selyangin OB, Braitseva OA, Egorova IA, Sulerzhitsky LD, Nesmachny IA (1979) Geological and tephrochronological studies of recent volcanoes. In: Problems of Deep Magmatism. Nauka, Moscow, pp 31–49 [in Russian]

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheimovich VS, Patoka MG (1979) Opala and other Holocene centers of explosive eruptions in southern Kamchatka. Volcanol Seismol 5:92–95 [in Russian]

    Google Scholar 

  • Sibrava V, Bowen DQ, Richmond GM (eds) (1986) Quaternary glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere. Quat Sci Rev 5:511

  • Sulerzhitsky LD (1970) Radiocarbon dating of volcanoes. Bull Volcanol 35:85–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Thorarinsson S (1967) Hekla and Kafla. The share of acid and intermediate lava and tephra in the volcanic products through the geological history in Iceland. In: Iceland and Mid Ocean Ridges. Soc Sci Iceland 2:51–70

  • Tsuya H, Machida E, Shimozuru S (1981) Field Excursion Guide to Fuji, Asama Kusatsi-Shirane and Nantai Volcanoes. Part I. Tokyo, 22 pp

  • Vlodavets VI (ed) (1957) Catalogue of the active volcanoes of the USSR. In: Bull Volcanol Stancii 25:180 pp [in Russian]

  • Zielinski GA, Mayewski PA, Meeker LD, Whitlow S, Twickler MS, Morrison M, Meese DA, Gow AJ, Alley RB (1994) Record of volcanism since 7000 B.C. from the GISP2 Greenland ice core and implications for the volcano-climate system. Science 264:948–952

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Braitseva, O.A., Melekestsev, I.V., Ponomareva, V.V. et al. Ages of calderas, large explosive craters and active volcanoes in the Kuril-Kamchatka region, Russia. Bull Volcanol 57, 383–402 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00300984

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00300984

Key words

Navigation