Одной из главных петрологических проблем вулканизма островных дуг является проблема его источника, так как ни один из наиболее распространенных типов высоко-глиноземистых базальтов, развитых в пределах этих структур не может быть получен непосредственным плавлением предполагаемого вещества мантии. Для Ключевской группы вулканов эта проблема стоит наиболее остро, так как здесь на ограниченной площади представлены продукты двух основных типов магм: известково-щелочной и субщелочной. По-видимому, решение проблемы лежит в возможности разноглубинного и частичного плавления вещества мантии и дальнейшего фракционирования и смешения магм в промежуточных магматических камерах. Изучение магматических очагов под Ключевской группой вулканов является одной из актуальных задач вулканологии, тесно связанной с проблемами геодинамики и прогнозом вулканических извержений.

The 1800 14C yr BP Ksudach KS1 rhyodacite deposits present an opportunity to study the effects of caldera collapse on eruption dynamics and behavior. Stratigraphic relations indicate four Phases of eruption, Initial, Main, Lithic, and Gray. Well-sorted, reverse-graded pumice fall deposits overlying a silty ash compose the Initial Phase layers. The Main, Lithic, and Gray Phases are represented by pumice fall layers interbedded with pyroclastic flow and surge deposits (proximally) and co-ignimbrite ashes (distally). Although most of the deposit is <30 wt.% lithics, the Lithic Phase layers are >50 wt.% lithics. White and gray pumice are compositionally indistinguishable, however vesicle textures and microlite populations indicate faster ascent by the white pumice prior to eruption of the Gray Phase. The eruption volume is estimated as ∼8.5 km3 magma (dense rock equivalent) and ∼3.6 km3 lithics. Isopleth maps indicate mass flux ranged from 5–10×10^7 kg/s during the Initial Phase to >10^8 kg/s during the Main, Lithic, and Gray Phases. Caldera Collapse during the Lithic Phase is reflected by a large increase in lithic particles and the abrupt textural change from white to gray pumice; collapse began following eruption of ∼66% of the magma, and finished when ∼72% of the magma was erupted. Stratigraphic, granulometric, and component analyses indicate simultaneous eruption of buoyant plumes and non-buoyant flows during the Main, Lithic, and Gray Phases. Although mass flux did not change significantly following caldera collapse, the Gray Phase of eruption was dominated by non-buoyant flows in contrast to the earlier Phases that erupted mostly buoyant plumes.

Volatile element, major and trace element compositions were measured in glass inclusions in olivine from samples across the Kamchatka arc. Glasses were analyzed in reheated melt inclusions by electron microprobe for major elements, S and Cl, trace elements and F were determined by SIMS. Volatile element–trace element ratios correlated with fluid-mobile elements (B, Li) suggesting successive changes and three distinct fluid compositions with increasing slab depth. The Eastern Volcanic arc Front (EVF) was dominated by fluid highly enriched in B, Cl and chalcophile elements and also LILE (U, Th, Ba, Pb), F, S and LREE (La, Ce). This arc-front fluid contributed less to magmas from the central volcanic zone and was not involved in back arc magmatism. The Central Kamchatka Depression (CKD) was dominated by a second fluid enriched in S and U, showing the highest S/K2O and U/Th ratios. Additionally this fluid was unusually enriched in 87Sr and 18O. In the back arc Sredinny Ridge (SR) a third fluid was observed, highly enriched in F, Li, and Be as well as LILE and LREE. We argue from the decoupling of B and Li that dehydration of different water-rich minerals at different depths explains the presence of different fluids across the Kamchatka arc. In the arc front, fluids were derived from amphibole and serpentine dehydration and probably were water-rich, low in silica and high in B, LILE, sulfur and chlorine. Large amounts of water produced high degrees of melting below the EVF and CKD. Fluids below the CKD were released at a depth between 100 and 200 km due to dehydration of lawsonite and phengite and probably were poorer in water and richer in silica. Fluids released at high pressure conditions below the back arc (SR) probably were much denser and dissolved significant amounts of silicate minerals, and potentially carried high amounts of LILE and HFSE.

The results of geological and geophysical studies, including recent ones, which make it possible to verify the existence of a liquid magma chamber below the Avachinsky volcano on Kamchatka, and to estimate the chamber depth and approximate dimensions, are analyzed. The heat stored in the host rock heated by the volcanic magma chamber from the time of chamber origination to the present is estimated, taking variable chamber dimensions during the process of evolution into account. The geological-geophysical prerequisites for using the thermal energy of the heated rock which surrounds the magma chamber to supply heat and power to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskii are analyzed. The creation of an underground geothermal circulation system (fracture heat exchanger) using deep boreholes is proposed.

In 2005, six major eruptions of four Kamchatka volcanoes (Bezymyannyi, Klyuchevskoy, Shiveluch, and Karymskii) occurred and the Avachinskii, Mutnovskii, and Gorelyi Kamchatka volcanoes and the Ebeko and Chikurachki volcanoes in northern Kurils were in a state of increased activity. Owing to a close collaboration between the KVERT project, Elizovo airport meteorological center, and volcanic ash advisory centers in Tokyo, Anchorage, and Washington (Tokyo, Anchorage, and Washington VAACs), all necessary measures for safe airplane flights near Kamchatka were taken and fatal accidents related to volcanic activity did not occur.