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Kamchatka’s Shiveluch activity subsiding

The volcano was awarded the orange aviation code warning about possible danger for aircraft flying over Kamchatka

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, June 27 (Itar-Tass) - The activity of the Shiveluch volcano in Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula is subsiding after it spewed a plume of ash to an altitude of ten kilometers above sea level, Yuri Demyanchuk, the head of the volcanology observatory in the settlement of Klyuchi some 50 kilometers away from the gian mount’s foot, told Itar-Tass on Thursday.

According to Demyanchuk, ash fallouts in Klyuchi have stopped. The volcano is covered with clouds but it can be seen that the ash plume is not that big as it was hours ago.

A spokesman for the Kamchatka branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Geophysical Service also said that seismic data points to decreasing activity.

The volcano emitted a column of ash to a height of ten kilometers at 07:10 local time on Thursday (23:10 Moscow time, June 26). The eruption was accompanies by an outburst of seismic activity that lasted for 40 minutes. Ash blanket in the settlements of Klyuchi and Lazo (156 kilometers away from the volcano) reached one millimeter. The local emergencies services warned about possible ash fallouts in four more settlements located at a distance of up to 100 kilometers off the volcano in the direction where its ash plume is moving. People are recommended to wear masks when outside.

The volcano was awarded the orange aviation code warning about possible danger for aircraft flying over Kamchatka.

Shiveluch is the northernmost active volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula. It is located 450 kilometers northeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The absolute height of the volcano is 3,283 meters. The highest point of its active part, called Young Shiveluch, is 2,500 meters above sea level, the diameter of the crater is 1.5 kilometers. Catastrophic eruptions took place in 1864 and 1964, when a large part of the lava dome collapsed and created a devastating debris avalanche. Young Shiveluch has been active since September 1980. Specialists have been continuously monitoring the volcano for more than 30 years.