Data are presented from studies of volcanoes in the Karymsky long-living volcanic center, Kamchatka in 1996. We examine the dynamics and rock composition for eruptions that started simultaneously on Karymsky Volcano and in the Akademia Nauk caldera. The effusive-explosive eruption of Karymsky Volcano was resumed after a 14-year repose period, producing about 30 million tons of andesite-dacite discharges through the summit vent. Long-continued eruptive activity of that volcano is supposed to go on during the near future. Simultaneously with this activity, typical of Karymsky Volcano, a subaquaceous explosive eruption was observed in the lake that occupies the Akademia Nauk caldera 6 km south of the volcano for the first time in Kamchatka during the historical period. An edifice arose in the northern part of Lake Karymsky during 18 hours of this eruption consisting of basaltic and basaltic andesite pyroclastic material surrounding a crater of diameter 650 m. The amount of erupted pyroclastic material is estimated as 0.04 km3, the total weight being over 70 million tons. A discussion is provided of the impact of these eruptions on the environment; we describe renewed hydrothermal activity and the formation of a new group of hot springs in the Akademia Nauk caldera, and estimate the possibility of breakthrough floods from Lake Karymsky etc.

Tephrochronological and radiocarbon investigations of soil-pyroclastic depositsalong the line Shiveluch Volcano - Chernyi Yar - Bering I. have detected and identified the ashes oflargest (for the past 6500 years) eruptions on Shiveluch Volcano in the southeastern sector of the ashabundance area, as well as the ashes of Bezymyannyi, Ksudach, Klyuchevskoi, Avacha and Khangarvolcanoes. A detailed radiocarbon dating of peat deposits in Chernyi Yar has not only improved the agedeterminations of the eruptions themselves but also helped in the determination of ash fall rate for thelower Kamchatka R. valley, namely, once in 191 years. Apart from the 1964 tephra, we suggest for useas regional geochronological markers the ash horizons of Shiveluch Volcano having the followingrounded radiocarbon dates: 265 (SH1), 965 (SH2), 1450, 2800, 3600 (SP), 4105 (SHDV), 4800, as well asthe ashes from Ksudach 1806 (KS1) and Avacha 5489 (AV2) volcanoes.

This paper is concerned with the eruptions that began simultaneously in the Karymsky volcanic center, Kamchatka, in 1996 and associated phenomena. A significant earthquake swarm started occurring there on January 1, 1996 with magnitudes as high as 6.9. A monoton. summit eruption of Karymsky Volcano followed on January 2, which has continued discharging andesite-dacite lava at a rate of 0.8 t/s until March 1997 and later. Basalts were emplaced along a fissure after 28 000 years of repose producing a phreatomagmatic eruption in the Akademia Nauk caldera at pyroclastic discharge rates of over 800 t/s. The distance between the erupting vents is 6 km. Basic tnunamt. waves resulting from underwater explosions and a high tsunami were observed, a new peninsula developed in the caldera lake, the ground surface experienced an extension of more than 2,3 m, and the fresh-water caldera lake of volume 0.47 km3 was transformed into an acid one (pH 3,2). Brief information is provided on the state of the volcanic center by the late 1995, a successful prediction, and the eruptions themselves. We estimate the depth to the pressure center in the primary magma chamber (18,3 ± 0,8 km), the volume of the crustal magma chambers (400 km3), possible dimensions of the emplaced dike in the stronger crustal layers (thickness 0,7 m, length 4700 m). We discuss a likely mechanism for and relations between the observed processes and the eruptions.

A numerical model is proposed for the mechanism of a rockslide avalanche on the slope of Koryakskiy volcano caused by the emplacement of sheeted intrusive bodies. The model of non-stationary geomechanical processes with abnormally low internal friction is used to calculate an avalanchelike movement during a potential collapse of the cone.

The largest Plinian eruption of our era and the latest caldera-forming eruption in the Kuril-Kamchatka region occurred about cal. A.D. 240 from the Ksudach volcano. This catastrophic explosive eruption was similar in type and characteristics to the 1883 Krakatau event. The volume of material ejected was 18–19 km3 (8 km3 DRE), including 15 km3 of tephra fall and 3–4 km3 of pyroclastic flows. The estimated height of eruptive column is 22–30 km. A collapse caldera resulting from this eruption was 4 × 6.5 km in size with a cavity volume of 6.5–7 km3. Tephra fall was deposited to the north of the volcano and reached more than 1000 km. Pyroclastic flows accompanied by ash-cloud pyroclastic surges extended out to 20 km. The eruption was initially phreatomagmatic and then became rhythmic, with each pulse evolving from pumice falls to pyroclastic flows. Erupted products were dominantly rhyodacite throughout the eruption. During the post-caldera stage, when the Shtyubel cone started to form within the caldera, basaltic-andesite and andesite magma began to effuse. The trigger for the eruption may have been an intrusion of mafic magma into the rhyodacite reservoir. The eruption had substantial environmental impact and may have produced a large acidity peak in the Greenland ice sheet.