PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, January 15 (Itar-Tass) — The Kizimen volcano on Kamchatka has spewed an ash column to a height of 4.5 kilometres above sea level. It poses no danger to the local population. No volcanic dust fall in the nearby settlements has been recorded, the Kamchatka Branch of the Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) reported on Tuesday.
According to seismologists, volcanic tremors are registered on the volcano. The giant mount with a height of about 2.5 km vibrates with the amplitude of 0.22 micrometres per second. There is a glow over the crater observed during darkness hours indicating the presence of hot lava there. Avalanches are periodically coming down the slopes.
The Plosky Tolbachik volcano that awakened on November 27 is also active. Steam columns with the height of 4 kilometres above sea level are registered above the active zone of the fissure eruption. There is a glow in the north-western part of the Tolbachik dale at the foot of the volcano above the lava flow. Plosky Tolbachik’s tremors have the amplitudes up to 6.11 micrometres per second and the volcano maintains seismic activity exceeding the background levels.
Plosky Tolbachik awakened on November 27, 2012 after being dormant for 36 years from the moment of its great fissure eruption that was observed in 1975-1976. In Tolbachik dale, south of Plosky Tolbachik at an altitude of about 1.7 kilometres above sea level, a fissure zone with two active centres formed. The lava has been pouring from there. The lava flows have destroyed a station of the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology in the area of the Vodopadny creek, the Leningradskaya research base and a base of the Volcanoes of Kamchatka natural park. Trees burnt near the lava fields. The erupting volcano in Russia's Far East has become a sightseeing hotspot for crowds of thrill-seeking tourists eager to see flows of lava and clouds of ash.
The volcano eruption is under continuous monitoring of experts. The height of Plosky Tolbachik is 3,085 metres above sea level. It is located in the south-western sector of the Klyuchevskaya group of volcanoes in the east of Kamchatka 63 kilometres from the Klyuchi settlement and 343 kilometres from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
According to the classification of the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT), the “orange” aviation colour code has been given to both volcanoes, warning about the danger posed by gas and ash emissions to aircraft engines. The volcanoes pose no threat to the nearby populated localities.