After 600 Years of Sleep, Russian Volcano Awakens— Triggered By Earthquake?

The Krasheninnikov Volcano in Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula erupted in a single day for the primary time in roughly 600 years, an occasion that could be linked to the highly effective earthquake that struck the Russian Far East final week, based on Russia’s state information company RIA and scientific sources on Sunday.

“This marks the primary traditionally confirmed eruption of Krasheninnikov in six centuries,” mentioned Olga Girina, head of the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Crew, as quoted by RIA.

Girina famous that the eruption is likely to be associated to Wednesday’s magnitude 7.5 earthquake, which triggered tsunami alerts throughout distant areas, together with French Polynesia and Chile. The earthquake was additionally adopted by an eruption of Klyuchevskoy, essentially the most lively volcano within the area.

Posting on the Telegram channel of the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, Girina added that Krasheninnikov’s final recognized lava circulation occurred across the 12 months 1463, with a margin of error of 40 years, and that no eruption had been documented since.

Following the current eruption, Russia’s Ministry for Emergency Conditions in Kamchatka reported an ash plume rising as much as 6,000 meters (3.7 miles). The volcano itself stands at 1,856 meters in elevation.

“The ash cloud is drifting eastward towards the Pacific Ocean and presently poses no risk to populated areas,” the ministry mentioned on its Telegram channel.

The eruption has been assigned an orange aviation alert, signaling a big hazard to air site visitors within the neighborhood, based on the ministry.