Volcanic eruptions in Kamchatka: consequences, photo

Why do volcanic eruptions in Kamchatka occur so often? What is the reason for such a violent seismic activity? And what threatens the neighborhood of a smoking cone to people nearby? In this article we will try to understand this issue. And we will also hold a contest of the most beautiful volcanoes in Kamchatka. After all, they are real business cards of the peninsula. When you hear the word "Kamchatka", usually the pictures of harsh nature usually pop up in your mind: the tundra, foamy mountain streams, the pillars of steam rising from under the earth like censers in the pagan temple ... And all this against the background of almost perfectly cone-shaped volcanoes, over which, As from a giant wigwam of giants, smoke rises to the sky. When you are here, you have a special feeling: as if a mighty and terrible beast is sleeping nearby. What will happen next minute, when he turns around, opens his eyes, wakes up?

The Fiery Ring of the Pacific

Let us first understand the reason for volcanic activity in Kamchatka. The peninsula, together with the Kuril Islands and the Aleutian Islands, Japan and Alaska, is part of the so-called Pacific Fiery Belt. The reason for the activity is subduction, that is, the movement of the Eurasian and ocean plates of the lithosphere towards each other. Their friction causes frequent earthquakes and magma outlets on the surface of the earth. "The Ring of Fire" surrounds all the coasts of the Pacific Ocean, starting from the northern polar circle through the equator to Antarctica. The most active in terms of seismic activity is Indonesia, and in our country - Kamchatka. Volcanic eruptions there are observed several times a year. And this circumstance is one of the motives for tourists to visit the harsh and beautiful land.

There are more than three hundred volcanoes in Kamchatka. At the same time, at least thirty-four of them do not sleep.

Klyuchevskaya Sopka

What kind of volcano should be attributed to the most-most in Kamchatka? If we proceed from the altitude parameter, then no doubt Klyuchevskaya Sopka leads. This is the most ambitious volcano of Eurasia. Its absolute height is 4750 meters above sea level. Kliuchevskaya is also known for its ideal circuits. The almost perfect cone, covered with ice, over which a stream of smoke constantly rises, was considered sacred among the local population.

Klyuchevskaya Sopka - beautiful and capricious girl unpredictable. Sometimes she goes into hibernation for five years, and sometimes rages every month. But we must pay tribute to Klyuchevskaya Sopka. She is absolutely not bloodthirsty. The nearby village of Klyuchi covers volcanic ash from time to time, but tragedies happen, according to experts, only through the fault of the people themselves, who want to take a closer look at the eruption of the volcano in Kamchatka. The photos made by such mountain-tourists turn out to be the last in their life.

Koryaksky

And yet you can understand people who, at the risk of their lives, are selected closer to the fiery flow of lava to capture the eruption of a volcano on Kamchatka. What colorful and striking are the photos! But, perhaps, an unprepared tourist should confine himself to a panorama photograph of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky? The city is surrounded by a magnificent ensemble of two volcanoes - Koryaksky and Avachinsky. The first, by the way, occupies a leading position in terms of relative heights. It is (from the soles to the top) 3300 meters.

Klyuchevskaya Sopka "grows" on the slope of an ancient extinct stratovolcano. This explains its almost five-kilometer height relative to the level of the World Ocean. And without the "pedestal" Kliuchevskoy ascended only three thousand meters. But scientists call the Koryak stratovolcano. His powerful circus at an altitude of 3456 m above sea level is bound by ice. And only from numerous cracks fumaroles rise upwards.

Kamchatka handsome man

If we talk about the perfection of forms, then on the peninsula nothing can compare with the Kronotsky volcano. Its absolute height is 3528 m, and the relative height is 3100. This volcano has a ribbed regular contour, which is crowned with a glacier cap. The handsome man admires his reflection in the waters of the largest Kamchatka lake. In this massif you should visit the Uzon caldera. The last eruption of the volcano in Kamchatka occurred eight and a half thousand years ago, why this giant ring-shaped funnel with a diameter of ten kilometers was formed. Here, cold rivers flow and hot springs beat, in which, despite the temperature close to the boiling point, bacteria and algae live. As in a bath, bears wander around in warm clay, wrapped in steam. In principle, tourism on the Kronotsky volcano is quite safe. But this territory is reserved.

Karymsky

Volcanic eruptions in Kamchatka happen often. But the record for activity is Karymsky. It is low (about one and a half thousand meters above sea level). Karymsky was formed only six thousand years ago. This youth explains his "explosive nature." Over the past century, the volcano "buzil" twenty-three times. Especially memorable were the last volcanic eruptions in Kamchatka. The consequences of this two-year activity (1996-1998) can not be overemphasized. In addition to explosions, stone bombs and ash, there was an eruption under the bottom of the Karymsky Lake. As a result, hundreds of tremors formed a tsunami. The waves reached fifteen meters.

But not the tsunami caused the greatest harm. The temperature in the lake increased sharply, the water was saturated with acids and salts from magma. Because of this, all life in a natural reservoir was lost. Previously, the lake was famous as ultra-fresh. Now it is known as the largest in the world with acidic water.

Other consequences of volcanic eruptions in Kamchatka

Everyone remembers how in 2010 the Icelandic Eyyafyatlayokudl paralyzed for a few weeks an air service in Europe. Kamchatka volcanoes can also throw a jet of steam and ash for miles upward. However, strong air currents in this area and the proximity of the ocean make such an obstacle for the flight of airliners short-term. But quite often the activities of Klyuchevskaya Sopka, Kizimena and other volcanoes cause concern for ground controllers. They assign them yellow, orange and red aviation codes - depending on the degree of threat to the aircraft passing over them. After all, it also happens that the inhabitants of the Keys do not see their own hand because of the ashes thrown out by Klyuchevskaya Sopka.

Volcanic eruptions in Kamchatka may have a longer-term effect. Sulfur gases escape from numerous slits . If you stand on the edge of the crater Maly Semyachik, admiring the smoking green lake, then in the windless weather you will begin to suffer from coughing. It will be necessary to urgently take your feet off this deadly beauty.