The Holocene eruptive history of Shiveluch volcano, Kamchatka Peninsula, has been reconstructed using geologic mapping, tephrochronology, radiocarbon dating, XRF and microprobe analyses. Eruptions of Shiveluch during the Holocene have occurred with irregular repose times alternating between periods of explosive activity and dome growth. The most intense volcanism, with frequent large and moderate eruptions occurred around 6500–6400 BC, 2250–2000 BC, and 50–650 AD, coincides with the all-Kamchatka peaks of volcanic activity. The current active period started around 900 BC; since then the large and moderate eruptions has been following each other in 50–400 yrs-long intervals. This persistent strong activity can be matched only by the early Holocene one.
Most Shiveluch eruptions during the Holocene produced medium-K, hornblendebearing andesitic material characterized by high MgO (2.3–6.8 wt %), Cr (47–520 ppm), Ni (18–106 ppm) and Sr (471–615 ppm), and low Y (> 18 ppm). Only two mafic tephras erupted about 6500 and 2000 BC, each within the period of most intense activity.
Many past eruptions from Shiveluch were larger and far more hazardous then the historical ones. The largest Holocene eruption occurred ∼1050 AD and yielded >2.5 km3 of tephra. More than 10 debris avalanches took place only in the second half of the Holocene. Extent of Shiveluch tephra falls exceeded 350 km; travel distance of pyroclastic density currents was > 22 km, and that of the debris avalanches ≤20 km.

On Kamchatka, detailed geologic and geomorphologic mapping of young volcanic terrains and observations on historical eruptions reveal that landslides of various scales, from small (0.001 km3) to catastrophic (up to 20–30 km3), are widespread. Moreover, these processes are among the most effective and most rapid geomorphic agents. Of 30 recently active Kamchatka volcanoes, at least 18 have experienced sector collapses, some of them repetitively. The largest sector collapses identified so far on Kamchatka volcanoes, with volumes of 20–30 km3 of resulting debris-avalanche deposits, occurred at Shiveluch and Avachinsky volcanoes in the Late Pleistocene. During the last 10,000 yr the most voluminous sector collapses have occurred on extinct Kamen' (4–6 km3) and active Kambalny (5–10 km3) volcanoes. The largest number of repetitive debris avalanches (> 10 during just the Holocene) has occurred at Shiveluch volcano. Landslides from the volcanoes cut by ring-faults of the large collapse calderas were ubiquitous. Large failures have happened on both mafic and silicic volcanoes, mostly related to volcanic activity. Orientation of collapse craters is controlled by local tectonic stress fields rather than regional fault systems.

Specific features of some debris avalanche deposits are toreva blocks — huge almost intact fragments of volcanic edifices involved in the failure; some have been erroneously mapped as individual volcanoes. One of the largest toreva blocks is Mt. Monastyr' — a ∼ 2 km3 piece of Avachinsky Somma involved in a major sector collapse 30–40 ka BP.

Long-term forecast of sector collapses on Kliuchevskoi, Koriaksky, Young Cone of Avachinsky and some other volcanoes highlights the importance of closer studies of their structure and stability.

Detailed tephrochronological studies in Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, permitted documentation of 24 Holocene key-marker tephra layers related to the largest explosive eruptions from 11 volcanic centers. Each layer was traced for tens to hundreds of kilometers away from the source volcano; its stratigraphic position, area of dispersal, age, characteristic features of grain-size distribution, and chemical and mineral composition confirmed its identification. The most important marker tephra horizons covering a large part of the peninsula are (from north to south; ages given in 14C yr B.P.) SH2(≈1000 yr B.P.) and SH3(≈1400 yr B.P.) from Shiveluch volcano; KZ (≈7500 yr B.P.) from Kizimen volcano; KRM (≈7900 yr B.P.) from Karymsky caldera; KHG (≈7000 yr B.P.) from Khangar volcano; AV1(≈3500 yr B.P.), AV2(≈4000 yr B.P.), AV4(≈5500 yr B.P.), and AV5(≈5600 yr B.P.) from Avachinsky volcano; OP (≈1500 yr B.P.) from the Baraniy Amfiteatr crater at Opala volcano; KHD (≈2800 yr B.P.) from the “maar” at Khodutka volcano; KS1(≈1800 yr B.P.) and KS2(≈6000 yr B.P.) from the Ksudach calderas; KSht3(A.D. 1907) from Shtyubel cone in Ksudach volcanic massif; and KO (≈7700 yr B.P.) from the Kuril Lake-Iliinsky caldera. Tephra layers SH5(≈2600 yr B.P.) from Shiveluch volcano, AV3(≈4500 yr B.P.) from Avachinsky volcano, OPtr(≈4600 yr B.P.) from Opala volcano, KS3(≈6100 yr B.P.) and KS4(≈8800 yr B.P.) from Ksudach calderas, KSht1(≈1100 yr B.P.) from Shtyubel cone, and ZLT (≈4600 yr B.P.) from Iliinsky volcano cover smaller areas and have local stratigraphic value, as do the ash layers from the historically recorded eruptions of Shiveluch (SH1964) and Bezymianny (B1956) volcanoes. The dated tephra layers provide a record of the most voluminous explosive events in Kamchatka during the Holocene and form a tephrochronological timescale for dating and correlating various deposits.

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.

В книге приводится систематическое описание вулканов Ключевской группы (на Камчатке): их геологическое строение, петрология и эволюция, а также геолого-петрографические схемы района в целом и отдельных вулканов. На тектонической основе проведено расчленение пород на две формации: базальт-андезито-базальтовую и базальт-андезито-дацитовую, которые отличаются по вещественному составу пород, набору включений, тектоническим условиям проявления и связи с различными зонами генерации магмы. С использованием сейсмологических данных и ГСЗ показано, что источники магмы пород первой формации располагаются в верхней мантии, а второй формации — в земной коре. Предложена единая схема тектоно-магматического процесса, в котором извержения базальтов связываются с растяжениями и оживлением глубинного разлома, а чередующиеся с ними извержения пород среднего состава — с эпохами сжатия, вертикальными движениями и палингенезом в земной коре.