Late Pleistocene-Holocene volcanism in Kamchatka results from the subduction of the
Pacific Plate under the peninsula and forms three volcanic belts arranged in en echelon manner
from southeast to northwest. The cross-arc extent of recent volcanism exceeds 250 km and
is one of the widest worldwide. All the belts are dominated by mafic rocks. Eruptives with
SiO2>57% constitute ~25% of the most productive Central Kamchatka Depression belt and
~30% of the Eastern volcanic front, but <10% of the least productive Sredinny Range belt.
All the Kamchatka volcanic rocks exhibit typical arc-type signatures and are represented
by basalt-rhyolite series differing in alkalis. Typical Kamchatka arc basalts display a strong
increase in LILE, LREE and HFSE from the front to the back-arc. La/Yb and Nb/Zr increase
from the arc front to the back arc while B/Li and As, Sb, B, Cl and S concentrations decrease.
The initial mantle source below Kamchatka ranges from N-MORB-like in the volcanic front
and Central Kamchatka Depression to more enriched in the back arc. Rocks from the Central
Kamchatka Depression range in 87Sr/86Sr ratios from 0.70334 to 0.70366, but have almost
constant Nd isotopic ratios (143Nd/144Nd 0.51307–0.51312). This correlates with the highest
U/Th ratios in these rocks and suggest the highest fluid-flux in the source region.
Holocene large eruptions and eruptive histories of individual Holocene volcanoes have been
studied with the help of tephrochronology and 14C dating that permits analysis of time-space
patterns of volcanic activity, evolution of the erupted products, and volcanic hazards.

Volcanic eruptions from Kamchatka have deposited many unique tephra layers over a large region within the North Pacific, providing important isochrons between key sites such as marine ODP core 883 (Pacific Ocean, Detroit Seamount) and Elgygytgyn Lake (Chukotka, eastern Siberia). Here we present a compilation of C14 dates on major Holocene tephras from the volcanically highly active region, based on decades of detailed stratigraphical fieldwork on Shiveluch, Kliuchevskoy, and other volcanoes.The 12-m thick tephra sequence at the Kliuchevskoy slope has been continuously accumulating during the last ∼11 ka. It contains over 200 visible individual tephra layers and no datable organic material. The section is dominated by dark-gray mafic cinders related to Kliuchevskoy activity. In addition, it contains 30 light-colored thin layers of silicic tephra from distant volcanoes including 11 layers from Shiveluch volcano located only 65 km to the north. We have used EMPA glass analysis to correlate most of the marker tephra layers to their source eruptions dated earlier by C14 (Braitseva et al., 1997; Ponomareva et al., 2007), and in this way linked Kliuchevskoy tephra sequence to sequences at other volcanoes including Shiveluch. The C14 dates and tephras from the northern Kamchatka are then combined into a single Bayesian framework taking into account stratigraphical ordering within and between the sites. This approach has allowed us to enhance the reliability and precision of the estimated ages for the eruptions. Age-depth models are constructed to analyse changes in deposition rates and volcanic activity throughout the Holocene. This detailed chronology of the eruptions serves as a basis for understanding temporal patterns in the eruption sequence and geochemical variations of magmas. This research could prove important for the long-term forecast of eruptions and volcanic hazards.

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.

We report tephrochronological and geochemical data on early Holocene activity from Plosky volcanic massif in the Kliuchevskoi volcanic group, Kamchatka Peninsula. Explosive activity of this volcano lasted for ~1.5 kyr, produced a series of widely dispersed tephra layers, and was followed by profuse low-viscosity lava flows. This eruptive episode started a major reorganization of the volcanic structures in the western part of the Kliuchevskoi volcanic group. An explosive eruption from Plosky (M~6), previously unstudied, produced tephra (coded PL2) of a volume of 10–12 km3 (11–13 Gt), being one of the largest Holocene explosive eruptions in Kamchatka. Characteristic diagnostic features of the PL2 tephra are predominantly vitric sponge-shaped fragments with rare phenocrysts and microlites of plagioclase, olivine and pyroxenes, medium- to high-K basaltic andesitic bulk composition, high-K, high-Al and high-P trachyandesitic glass composition with SiO2 = 57.5–59.5 wt%, K2O = 2.3–2.7 wt%, Al2O3 = 15.8–16.5 wt%, and P2O5 = 0.5–0.7 wt%. Other diagnostic features include a typical subduction-related pattern of incompatible elements, high concentrations of all REE (>10× mantle values), moderate enrichment in LREE (La/Yb ~ 5.3), and non-fractionated mantle-like pattern of LILE. Geochemical fingerprinting of the PL2 tephra with the help of EMP and LA-ICP-MS analyses allowed us to map its occurrence in terrestrial sections across Kamchatka and to identify this layer in Bering Sea sediment cores at a distance of >600 km from the source. New high-precision 14C dates suggest that the PL2 eruption occurred ~10,200 cal BP, which makes it a valuable isochrone for early Holocene climate fluctuations and permits direct links between terrestrial and marine paleoenvironmental records. The terrestrial and marine 14C dates related to the PL2 tephra have allowed us to estimate an early Holocene reservoir age for the western Bering Sea at 1,410 ± 64 14C years. Another important tephra from the early Holocene eruptive episode of Plosky volcano, coded PL1, was dated at 11,650 cal BP. This marker is the oldest geochemically characterized and dated tephra marker layer in Kamchatka to date and is an important local marker for the Younger Dryas—early Holocene transition. One more tephra from Plosky, coded PL3, can be used as a marker northeast of the source at a distance of ~110 km.

Since its launch in December 1999, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument has been observing over 1300 of the world's volcanoes during the day and night and at different times of the year. At the onset of an eruption, the temporal frequency of these regularly scheduled observations can be increased to as little as 1–3 days at higher latitudes. However, even this repeat time is not sufficient for near real-time monitoring, which is on the order of minutes to hours using poorer spatial resolution (>1 km/pixel) instruments. The eruption of Bezymianny Volcano (Kamchatkan Peninsula, Russia) in March 2000 was detected by the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) and also initiated an increased observation frequency for ASTER. A complete framework of the eruptive cycle from April 2000 to January 2001 was established, with the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data used to monitor the large eruptions and produce the average yearly background state for the volcano. Twenty, nearly cloud-free ASTER scenes (2 days and 18 nights) show large thermal anomalies covering tens to hundreds of pixels and reveal both the actively erupting and restive (background) state of the volcano. ASTER short-wave infrared (SWIR) and thermal infrared (TIR) data were also used to validate the recovered kinetic temperatures from the larger AVHRR pixels, as well as map the volcanic products and monitor the thermal features on the summit dome and surrounding small pyroclastic flows. These anomalies increase to greater than 90 °C prior to a larger eruption sequence in October 2000. In addition, ASTER has the first multispectral spaceborne TIR capability, which allowed for the modeling of micrometer-scale surface roughness (vesicularity) on the active lava dome. Where coupled with ongoing operational monitoring programs like those at AVO, ASTER data become extremely useful in discrimination of small surface targets in addition to providing enhanced volcanic mapping capabilities.

This impressive scientific resource presents up-to-date information on ten thousand years of volcanic activity on Earth. In the decade and a half since the previous edition was published new studies have refined assessments of the ages of many volcanoes, and several thousand new eruptions have been documented. This edition updates the book's key components: a directory of volcanoes active during the Holocene; a chronology of eruptions over the past ten thousand years; a gazetteer of volcano names, synonyms, and subsidiary features; an extensive list of references; and an introduction placing these data in context. This edition also includes new photographs, data on the most common rock types forming each volcano, information on population densities near volcanoes, and other features, making it the most comprehensive source available on Earth's dynamic volcanism.