This paper is concerned with the geological history and petrology of a major polygenic volcanic edifice dating back to Upper Pleistocene to Holocene time. This long-lived volcanic center is remarkable in that it combines basaltic and trachybasaltic magmas which are found in basaltic andesite and trachybasaltic– trachyandesite series. The inference is that the coexisting parent magmas are genetically independent and are generated at different sources at depth in an upper mantle volume. The associated volcanic rocks have diverse compositions, stemming from a multi-stage spatio–temporal crystallization differentiation of the magmas and mixing of these in intermediate chas.

Shiveluch volcano located in northern Kamchatka erupted mainly high-Mg andesites during Holocene times. However, tephrochronologists found two Holocene tephra layers that are unusual for this volcano: a high-Mg middle-K basalts with an age of 7600 yr BP and high-Mg high-K basalt with an age of 3600 yr BP [Volynets et al, 1997]. The proximal outcrops for these two tephra deposits were discovered just recently [Churikova et al., 2010; Gorbach & Portnyagin, 2011]. Our study of olivines from the high-Mg basalts documents unusual Mg-Fe zonation [Gordeychik et al., 2016]: Inner cores of olivines from both eruptions show Fo87-92, falling to the rim to Fo75-85. In the outer cores of both basalt tephra, forsterite decreases linearly abruptly changing to a steeper gradient towards the rim. Electron microprobe element maps reveal the complex and highly unusual zoning features of these olivines.
The inner cores of the olivines of 7600 yr BP tephra have bell-shaped distributions for forsterite and nickel. The maximum forsterite in their core can be up to Fo92, decreasing outward to the outer core to Fo86. At the same time, the trace elements in the inner core remain constant. Such element distribution is consistent with diffusion of Fe, Mg, and Ni in the initially uniform high Mg cores after the phenocrysts were changed to non-equilibrium in a less mafic melt. The shape of the inner cores suggests partial dissolution after magma mixing. The interfaces between the inner and outer cores are marked by abundant melt/fluid inclusions. The inner cores were overgrown by olivine with Fo90 when the crystals moved to the high-Mg melt. As result some olivine grains have the maximum forsterite values in the outer core. The specific feature of the olivine outer cores from basalt of the 7600 yr BP tephra eruption are concentric zones with higher values of Ca, Cr, Al, P. One of the crystals has five distinct growth zones with high Cr concentrations. The width of these zones can be only a few microns and thus such zones are often missed in typical quantitative point measurements in microprobe profiles.
Inner cores of olivines from the 3600 yr BP tephra are uniform in forsterite and nickel. However, Al and Ca element distribution maps show in inner cores higher concentrations with rather smooth contours. This suggests that initially the olivines were formed from high-Al and high-Ca melt, then were dissolved and the overgrowth zonation has been smoothed out due to faster Mg-Fe diffusion. Only Ca and Al with low diffusivity were conserved. The concentric zones with higher element concentrations are not so well expressed in olivines from the 3600 yr BP tephra, but some distinct growth zones are also shown in Ca, Cr, and P.
Information extraction and decoding of the elemental maps allow seeing highly complex growth-dissolutiondiffusion history of magma mixing processes prior to eruption. This research was supported by RFBR-DFG grant # 16-55-12040.

An analysis of local seismicity within the Avacha–Koryakskii Volcanic Cluster during the 2000–2016 period revealed a sequence of plane-oriented earthquake clusters that we interpret as a process of dike and sill emplacement. The highest magmatic activity occurred in timing with the 2008–2009 steam–gas eruption of Koryakskii Volcano, with magma injection moving afterwards into the cone of Avacha Volcano (2010–2016). The geometry of the magma bodies reflects the NF geomechanical conditions (tension and normal faults, Sv >SHmax >Shmin ) at the basement of Koryakskii Volcano dominated by vertical stresses Sv, with the maximum horizontal stress SHmax pointing north. A CFRAC simulation of magma injection into a fissure under conditions that are typical of those in the basement of Koryakskii Volcano (the angle of dip is 60о, the size is 2 × 2 km2, and the depth is –4 km abs.) showed that when the magma discharge is maintained at the level of 20000 kg/s during 24 hours the fissure separation increases to reach 0.3 m and the magma injection is accompanied by shear movements that occur at a rate as high as 2 × 10–3 m/s, thus corresponding to the conditions of local seismic events with Mw below 4.5. We are thus able to conclude that the use of planeoriented clusters of earthquakes for identification of magma emplacement events is a physically sound procedure. The August 2, 2011 seismicity increase in the area of the Izotovskii hot spring (7 km from the summit of Koryakskii Volcano), which is interpreted as the emplacement of a dike, has been confirmed by an increase in the spring temperature by 10–12°С during the period from October 2011 to July 2012.

We used a new sedimentary record from a small kettle wetland to reconstruct the Late Glacial and Holocene vegetation and fire history of the Krutoberegovo-Ust Kamchatsk region in eastern Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia). Pollen and charcoal data suggest that the Late Glacial landscape was dominated by a relatively fire-prone Larix forest-tundra during the Greenland Interstadial complex (GI 1) and a subarctic steppe during the Younger Dryas (GS1). The onset of the Holocene is marked by the reappearance of trees (mainly Alnus incana) within a fern and shrub dominated landscape. The Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM) features shifting vegetational communities dominated by Alnus shrubs, diverse forb species, and locally abundant aquatic plants. The HTM is further defined by the first appearance of stone birch forests (Betula ermanii) – Kamchatka's most abundant modern tree species. The Late Holocene is marked by shifts in forest dynamics and forest-graminoid ratio and the appearance of new non-arboreal taxa such as bayberry (Myrica) and meadow rue (Filipendula). Kamchatka is one of Earth's most active volcanic regions. During the Late Glacial and Holocene, Kamchatka's volcanoes spread large quantities of tephra over the study region. Thirty-four tephra falls have been identified at the site. The events represented by most of these tephra falls have not left evidence of major impacts on the vegetation although some of the thicker tephras caused expansion of grasses (Poaceae) and, at least in one case, forest die-out and increased fire activity.

Developing chronologies for sediments in the Arctic Ocean and its continental margins is an important but challenging task. Tephrochronology is a promising tool for independent age control for Arctic marine sediments and here we present the results of a cryptotephra study of a Holocene sedimentary record from the Chukchi Sea. Volcanic glass shards were identified and quantified in sediment core HLY0501-01 and geochemically characterized with single-shard electron microprobe and laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). This enabled us to reveal a continuous presence of glass shards with identifiable chemical compositions throughout the core. The major input of glasses into the sediments is geochemically fingerprinted to the ∼3.6 ka Aniakchak caldera II eruption (Alaska), which provides an important chronostratigraphic constraint for Holocene marine deposits in the Chukchi-Alaskan region and, potentially, farther away in the western Arctic Ocean. New findings of the Aniakchak II tephra permit a reevaluation of the eruption size and highlight the importance of this tephra as a hemispheric late Holocene marker. Other identified glasses likely originate from the late Pleistocene Dawson and Old Crow tephras while some cannot be correlated to certain eruptions. These are present in most of the analyzed samples, and form a continuous low-concentration background throughout the investigated record. A large proportion of these glasses are likely to have been reworked and brought to the depositional site by currents or other transportation agents, such as sea ice. Overall, our results demonstrate the potential for tephrochronology for improving and developing chronologies for Arctic Ocean marine records, however, at some sites reworking and redistribution of tephra may have a strong impact on the record of primary tephra deposition.

Geochemically fingerprinted widespread tephra layers serve as excellent marker horizons which can directly link and synchronize disparate sedimentary archives and be used for dating various deposits related to climate shifts, faulting events, tsunami, and human occupation. In addition, tephras represent records of explosive volcanic activity and permit assessment of regional ashfall hazard. In this paper we report a detailed Holocene tephrochronological model developed for the Kamchatsky Peninsula region of eastern Kamchatka (NW Pacific) based on ∼2800 new electron microprobe analyses of single glass shards from tephra samples collected in the area as well as on previously published data. Tephra ages are modeled based on a compilation of 223 14C dates, including published dates for Shiveluch proximal tephra sequence and regional marker tephras; new AMS 14C dates; and modeled calibrated ages from the Krutoberegovo key site. The main source volcanoes for tephra in the region are Shiveluch and Kliuchevskoi located 60–100 km to the west. In addition, local tephra sequences contain two tephras from the Plosky volcanic massif and three regional marker tephras from Ksudach and Avachinsky volcanoes located in the Eastern volcanic front of Kamchatka. This tephrochronological framework contributes to the combined history of environmental change, tectonic events, and volcanic impact in the study area and farther afield. This study is another step in the construction of the Kamchatka-wide Holocene tephrochronological framework under the same methodological umbrella. Our dataset provides a research reference for tephra and cryptotephra studies in the northwest Pacific, the Bering Sea, and North America.

Ash clouds resulting from explosive volcanic eruptions pose a real threat to human (for aircraft flights, airports operations, etc.); therefore, the detection, monitoring, and forecast of their movement is an urgent and important issue. The features and examples of application of the new tool developed on the basis of "Monitoring of active volcanoes of Kamchatka and the Kurile Islands" information system (VolSatView) are described. It allows the integrated monitoring and forecasting of ash cloud transport using the data of remote sensing and mathematical modeling as well as the assessment of the parameters of explosive events.