In the present National Report, major results are given of research conducted by Russian scientists in 2011–2014 on the topics of the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior (IAVCEI) of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics. Kamchatka Peninsula with its famous Klyuchevskaya Group of volcanoes is the most volcanically active area in Russia and one of the most active in the world. Majority of researches and scientific results on Volcanology and Geochemistry of the Earth’s Interior during 2011–2014 were achieved in this region including recent data on new Tolbachik fissure eruption in 2012–2013. Besides it, the scientific results on the magmatism outside Russia, which were achieved by Russian scientists, are also included in this review. Major achievements in the chemistry of the Earth, geothermy, geodynamics, geochronology and deep mantle structure are featured. The studies as for the single volcanoes as well the regional observations are outlined. The theoretical and applied efforts connected to the volcanological processes are considered. The main conclusions are illustrated by summarized figures. All the required references are given.

Abstract Aggregates and euhedral crystals of native gold were found in sublimates formed during New Tolbachik Fissure Eruption in 2012–2013 (NTFE). Gold-bearing sublimate samples were taken from a red-hot (690 °C) degassing fracture in the roof of an active lava tunnel 1.5 km from active Naboko cinder cone in May 2013. The gas condensate collected at 690 °C in this site contains 16 ppb Au, 190 ppb Ag and 1180 ppm Cu compared to 3 ppb Au, 39 ppb Ag and 9.7 ppm Cu in the condensate of pristine magmatic gas sampled at 1030 °C. The 690 °C volcanic gas is most likely a mix of magmatic gas and local snow buried under the lava flows as indicated by oxygen and hydrogen isotope compositions of the condensate. The lower-temperature gas enrichment in gold, copper and chlorine is resulted from evaporation of the 690 °C condensate during forced gas pumping at sampling. Native gold was also found in fumarolic encrustations collected from caverns in basalt lava flows with temperature up to 600 °C in June 2014, in a year after eruption finished. The native gold precipitation in newly formed Cu-rich sublimates together with the well known gold occurrences in cinder cones of 1975–1976 Large Tolbachik Fissure Eruption manifest a transport capability of oxidized volcanic gas.

This paper reconstructs, for the first time, the motion dynamics of an eruptive cloud formed during the catastrophic eruption of the Sheveluch volcano in November 1964 (Volcanic Explosivity Index 4+). This became possible due to the public availability of atmospheric reanalysis data from the ERA-40 archive of the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and the development of numerical modeling of volcanic ash cloud propagation. The simulation of the eruptive cloud motion process, which was carried out using the FALL3D and PUFF models, made it possible to clarify the sequence of events of this eruption (destruction of extrusive domes in the crater and the formation of an eruptive column and pyroclastic flows), which lasted only 1 h 12 min. During the eruption, the ash cloud consisted of two parts: the main eruptive cloud that rose up to 15,000 m above sea level (a.s.l.), and the co-ignimbrite cloud that formed above the moving pyroclastic flows. The ashfall in Ust-Kamchatsk (Kamchatka) first occurred out of the eruptive cloud moving at a higher speed, then out of the co-ignimbrite cloud. In Nikolskoye (Bering Island, Commander Islands), ash fell only out of the co-ignimbrite cloud. Under the turbulent diffusion, the forefront of the main eruptive cloud rose slowly in the atmosphere and reached 16,500 m a.s.l. by 04:07 UTC on November 12. Three days after the eruption began, the eruptive cloud stretched for 3000 km over the territories of the countries of Russia, Canada, the USA, Mexico, and over both the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean. It is assumed that the well-known long-term decrease in the solar radiation intensity in the northern latitudes from 1963–1966, which was established according to the world remote sensing data, was associated with the spread of aerosol clouds formed not only by the Agung volcano, but those formed during the 1964 Sheveluch volcano catastrophic eruption

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.