In 2024, explosive eruptions of the Sheveluch, Klyuchevskoy, Bezymianny, and Karymsky volcanoes occurred at Kamchatka, and the Ebeko volcano at the Northern Kurile Islands. On April 26, 2024, a new lava dome, named after the 300 years of the Russian Academy of Sciences began to grow in the area of the Karan old dome on the Stary Sheveluch volcano western slope. Powerful explosive eruptions that destroyed the new dome were observed on August 17–18, September 1–2, and November 7–10, 2024: eruptive columns rose up to 11 km above sea level, ash plumes extended for 2400 km mainly to the northeast and east of the volcano. The summit explosive eruption of the Klyuchevskoy volcano lasted from December 27, 2023 to January 2, 2024: explosions send ash up to 7 km above sea level and ash plumes extended for 230 km to the northwest of the volcano. The paroxysmal explosive eruption of Bezymianny volcano occurred on July 24, 2024: the eruptive cloud rose up to 12 km above sea level, the eruptive and coignimbrite clouds moved, respectively, to the northeast and northwest up to 2500 km from the volcano. The Bezymianny eruption forecast, which was published on the KVERT website, was realized 39 h 40 min later. Explosive activity of the Karymsky volcano was observed from June 20 to November 12, 2024: explosions raised ash up to 6 km above sea level and ash clouds moved for 665 km, mainly to the east and northeast of the volcano. In 2024, 287 explosive events occurred on the Ebeko volcano with ash removal up to 4.5 km above sea level. During the explosive eruptions, the Sheveluch and Bezymianny volcanoes were dangerous for international and local air travel and the Klyuchevskoy, Karymsky, and Ebeko volcanoes were dangerous for local air travel.

The Volcanoes of the World database is a catalog of Holocene and Pleistocene volcanoes, and eruptions from the past 12,000 years.

The present volume seems to me to be a particularly im­ portant one for several reasons. Not least among these is the fact that it summarizes the work of two decades by G. S. Gorshkov, one of the world's leading volcanologists. In addition, it is the first general work of this length on the volcanism of what might be called a "narrow" island arc, a relatively simple megastructure as com­ pared with the "wide" arcs such as Japan and Indonesia. Finally, in this volume Gorshkov has summarized and cited extensive evi­ dence for his general ideas on the relation between volcanism and the earth's crust and mantle. A few potentially troublesome items should be noted here. In the translation the Russian terms "suite" and "series" have been retained, though for American readers these might better have been translated as "formation" and "group. " In almost all cases Russian place names have simply been transliterated rather than translated (e. g. , "Yuzhnyi Isthmus" rather than "South Isthmus"); in a few cases the English equivalent has been given in brackets where this is essential to the understanding of the author's com­ ments. The adjectives have retained their Russian case endings in the process (masculine -yi or -ii, feminine -aya or -'ya, neuter -oe) and this may occasionally lead to some slight confusion, for example, when the author calls a given feature Severnyi Volcano at one point and Severnaya Mountain at another.

This paper describes the chemical composition of the thermal waters discharging on the northwestern slope of the active Ebeko Volcano in the Yuriev River valley. We are using continuous multiyear observations of the evolution of chemical and isotope compositions to estimate the response of volcanic events to the state of the hydrothermal system. It is shown that phreatomagmatic eruptions of the volcano were preceded by a change in the chemical and isotope compositions of thermal waters caused by increased inflow of magmatic volatiles into the system. The springs are observed to show increased concentrations of anion-generating components (chloride, sulfate, and fluorine ions) with concurrent increases in heavier isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen (deuterium) toward “andesitic” water. Recalling that the changes were detected a few months before the eruption, we infer that such geochemical effects can serve as predictive markers when monitoring the state of the volcano.

Ebeko volcano at the northern part of Paramushir Island in the Kuril island arc produces frequent phreatic eruptions and relatively strong fumarolic activity at the summit area ~ 1000 m above sea level (asl). The fumaroles are characterized by low-temperature, HCl- and S-rich gas and numerous hyper-acid pools (pH < 1) without drains. At ~ 550 m asl, in the Yurieva stream canyon, many hot (up to 87 °C) springs discharge ultra-acidic (pH 1–2) SO4–Cl water into the stream and finally into the Sea of Okhotsk. During quiescent stages of degassing, these fumaroles emit 1000–2000 t/d of water vapor, < 20 t/d of SO2 and < 5 t/d of HCl. The measurement of acidic hot Yurieva springs shows that the flux of Cl and S, 60–80 t/d each, is independent on the volcanic activity in the last two decades. Such high flux of Cl is among the highest ever measured in a volcano–hydrothermal system. Oxygen and hydrogen isotopic composition of water and Cl concentration for Yurieva springs show an excellent positive correlation, indicating a mixing between meteoric water and magmatic vapor. In contrast, volcanic gas condensates of Ebeko fumaroles do not show a simple mixing trend but rather a complicated data suggesting evaporation of the acidic brine. Temperatures calculated from gas compositions and isotope data are similar, ranging from 150 to 250 °C, which is consistent with the presence of a liquid aquifer below the Ebeko fumarolic fields. Saturation indices of non-silicate minerals suggest temperatures ranging from 150 to 200 °C for Yurieva springs. Trace elements (including REE) and Sr isotope composition suggest congruent dissolution of the Ebeko volcanic rocks by acidic waters. Waters of Yurieva springs and waters of the summit thermal fields (including volcanic gas condensates) are different in Cl/SO4 ratios and isotopic compositions, suggesting complicated boiling–condensation–mixing processes.