Среди разнообразных явлений природы вулканическая деятельность во все времена особо привлекала внимание человека. Мощные, величественные, порой мрачные, иногда грозные, но всегда прекрасные, а в древности мало или совсем непонятные картины вулканических извержений производили на людей всегда сильное впечатление. И неудивительно поэтому, что деятельность вулканов вызывала в человеке, с одной стороны, безотчетную тревогу, а с другой — поэтическое восхищение.
Люди различно воспринимают деятельность вулканов. Одни видят в них величественные и грозные явления природы, другие интересуются ими с точки зрения внешней красоты проявления внутренних сил земли, третьих поражает мощь вулканических сил, а четвертые стремятся разобраться во всех вулканических явлениях и выявить причины их— познать их.

"Каталог действующих вулканов Камчатки" является сводкой наших знаний на 1 января 1957 г. по действующим вулканам Камчатки.

The monograph presents various data about the volcanoes of Kamchatka and describes the possibilities of studying them based on the integrated use of remote sensing, ground-based observation and numerical simulation methods and technologies. Considerable attention is paid to the construction and application of the information systems that today provide operational monitoring and studies of volcanic activity, which have been jointly developed in the recent years by the experts from the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IVS FEB RAS) (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky), Space Research Institute RAS (Moscow), Computing Center FEB RAS (Khabarovsk) and the Far East Branch of the Research Center “Planetа” (Khabarovsk). The results of complex studies of explosive volcanic eruptions and the potential hazards of the Kamchatkan active volcanoes to the population and aviation are presented which are obtained by the scientists of IVS FEB RAS, particularly exploring the new methods, technologies and systems described in the monograph.

The Eastern and Southern zones of Kamchatka arc presented in the second volume. They are characterized by a weaker activity, and their volcanoes arc not as large and powerful as those of the Northern Group. But volcanic manifestations here are more diverse. Half of the volcanoes are connected with collapse calderas. Huge hydrothermal systems are here too. Among them, the famous Valley of Geisers is one of the most picturesque places on Earth.
The book is abounded with colour photographs, maps, schemes, and sketches. They enable the reader to catch uniqueness of these colourful sights and will be of interest not only for specialists in volcanology and geology, but also to a great number of nature lovers.

This book is the first work that provides the ultimate data about chemical composition of the Kamchatka Quaternary andesites. Besides the book provides data about a phase analysis of andesites, geochemical composition, REE composition and isotopic analysis of strontium, neodymium and oxygen. The analyses are prominent for their stratification and accurate geological positioning. This allows understanding how the geological events alternated. The paper is focused on the petrogenetic peculiarities of tholeiitic (the 1st type of mantle genesis) and calc-alkali (the 2nd type of mantle-crust genesis) andesites. The book stresses that petrochemical, petrological and isotopic-geochemical correlators play a great role in distinguishing of those two types of andesites. On the basis of petrochemical database we distinguished three trends of the volcanites differentiation: stable, unstable and intermediate. These trends are supposed to be used for the determination of the volcanic activity character and types of the volcanic eruptions.
This book will be helpful as a reference guide to volcanologists, petrographers, geochemists and geologists, to those who study the genesis of volcanic rocks.

Isotope-geochemical material for Pliocene-Quaternary volcanoes of the Kamchatka region is generalized on a cartographic basis. The Sr-isotope anomalies of moderate and elevated radiogenicity, geochemically confirmed, are spatially conjugated. This made it possible to interpret these anomalies not only as a reflection of mantle plume material in the composition of volcanic rocks, but also of its hybrid environment, as a consequence of plum-lithosphere remobilization. The presence of multi-directional geochemical trends made it possible to propose the concept of moving boundary values for the composition of indicator rocks of the intraplate type and adakites, which significantly expanded the possibilities of their diagnostics. The isotope-geochemical heterogeneity of basaltoids of the region is generally determined by the peculiarities of concentration of rocks with intraplate and adakite geochemical characteristics, which allows considering the asthenospheric diapirism as the main factor of petrogenesis of Pliocene-Quaternary volcanism in Kamchatka.

Three stages of study of active and potentially active volcanoes on Kamchatka and the Kurile Islands were distinguished: the anterior stage (1700-1935), the new stage (1935-1962) and the recent stage (from 1962 till present time).
This paper provides a new, for the first time scientifically based term of «active volcano». Updated catalogues display active and potentially active volcanoes of Kamchatka and the Kurile Islands. Here we propose a long-term forecast of behavior and parameters of impending eruptions and related volcanic hazards for the typical volcanoes of the 1st and the 2nd stages of evolution.