The name of the highest volcano on the Kuril Islands. Sights of the Kuril Islands: list and description. An excerpt characterizing the Volcanoes of the Kuril Islands

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The Kuril island arc was formed at the boundary of the Paleogene and Neogene, when a system of linear troughs was formed along deep faults; in the process of evolution, the structure of these troughs became more complex, and geoanticlinal uplifts of the island arc were formed.

The Great Arc represents the peaks and crests of a large underwater ridge, 100 to 200 km wide, and rises more than 5,000 m above the bottom of the South Kuril Deep Sea Trench.

The Kuril Islands are composed almost exclusively of volcanic rocks.

There are no young volcanoes on the Lesser Kuril Ridge. The islands of the ridge are flat areas of land leveled by the sea, rising above sea level by only 20-40 m. The exception is the most big island ridges - Shikotan, which is characterized by low-mountain (up to 214 m) relief, formed as a result of the destruction of ancient volcanoes.
In the north, shallow lakes predominate, with low, swampy shores. Along the north east coast lakes of marine origin stretch in a chain, fenced off by sand dunes.

The Lesser Kuril Ridge is represented by the islands of Shikotan, Polonsky, Zeleny, Yuri, Tanfilyev, Anuchina and continues with the underwater Vityaz ridge along the western side of the Kuril deep-sea trench, and in the direction to the southeast it passes into the structures of the Nemuro Peninsula (Hokkaido Island).

The thickness of the earth's crust under the Kuril arc is 30-40 km, and in the flank zones up to 10 km. Two layers are distinguished - the crystalline crust and the “sedimentary” cover. The latter has a more distinct layering, but its thickness is approximately 2 times less compared to the crystalline layer. In the "sedimentary" cover, seismic wave velocities do not exceed 5.5 km/s, and in the crystalline layer - 6.0 - 7.2 km/s. The crystalline layer is characterized by the presence of a transition zone at the crust-mantle boundary, which has a reduced speed of propagation of seismic waves (7.6 - 7.9 km/s), which does not make it possible to establish the Mohorovicic boundary.

The thickness and structure of the arc's crust is heterogeneous. The continental crust of the Northern Kuril Islands gives way to suboceanic crust in the center of the Kuril Islands; here, in the area of ​​Simushir Island, the oceanic crust comes almost close to the island arc. Further to the south, a subcontinental type of crust appears.

A significant role in the formation of the relief of the islands is played by sea terraces of different altitude levels: 25-30 m, 80-120 m and 200-250 m.

The main type of volcanic structures are stratovolcanoes - layered cones, consisting of interbedded lava flows and pyroclastic material and tuffs. Calderas and lava domes are common.

The most common rock of the Kuril Islands is basalts, among them the calc-alkaline potassium-sodium type predominates, which makes up 89.2% of the total number of basalts. Tholeiitic and subalkaline basalts are sharply subordinate to them. In second place in terms of frequency of occurrence are dacites, and then andesites.

The magmatic process of the Kuril Islands is characterized by a distinct cyclicity.

Volcanoes eject three types of products onto the earth's surface: gaseous, solid and liquid. Gaseous products consist mainly of water vapor; in smaller quantities they contain carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, chlorine, ammonia, hydrochloric acid etc.

Solid products are pieces of rock, from fine dust to blocks and fragments of old lava. Liquid products of volcanism are viscous fiery liquid lava.

Volcanism of island arcs.

Island arc volcanic belts are global planetary structures superimposed unconformably on older formations. Their characteristic features are blockiness, heterogeneity of structure associated with the heterogeneity of their basement and determining a significant diversity of volcanic manifestations against the background of regular lateral zoning associated with the Benioff zone. Under the island arcs, an anomalous structure of the subsoil is observed, which is expressed, firstly, in the absence of a sharp boundary between the crust and the mantle; secondly, in the complex structure and uplift of the asthenospheric layer; thirdly, in disturbances of the equilibrium state of the earth's crust and lithosphere, which must be compensated by decompression of the mantle to depths of at least 400 km; fourthly, in increased heat flow, which directly correlates with zones of magmatic and tectonic activity.

The large scale of anomalies and their stability indicate that the disturbances that cause them originate in the deep layers of the Earth.

Island arcs differ in the nature of their foundation.

There are arcs that are developed on continental-type crust (ensialic) and those developed on crust close to oceanic type (ensimatic). A typical example of ensialic island arcs is the western part of the Aleutian, Kuril and Kamchatka island arcs.

The manifestation of volcanism in island arcs is intermittent, pulsating, alternating with long stages of sedimentation; its intense outbreaks are preceded by uplifts, which, as volcanogenic complexes form, are replaced by subsidence.

Everywhere, island-arc volcanism acts as a “through-crustal” process, and the sources of volcanic feeding lie outside the earth’s crust - in the upper mantle.

The composition of volcanic lavas is almost independent of the composition of the earth's crust. The source of lava diversity is the magma itself and its processes.

There are two classes of volcanic rocks, one of which develops from melts of the oceanic crust, and the other - in the region of island arcs and on continents.

Among the lavas of terrestrial volcanoes, calc-alkaline rocks predominate; As you move from the island arc towards the continent, the alkalinity of the lavas increases (on continental platforms, basalts are replaced by trachybasalts and alkaline basalts, and acidic dacites and rhyolites are replaced by trachytes and phagolites.

The Kuril island arc formed on the oceanic crust. Within its boundaries, the Mohorovichić surface forms an asymmetric trough with maximum subsidence between the Lesser Kuril Islands and the deep-sea trench; the thickness of the earth’s crust reaches 30 km.

The Great Kuril Islands are divided into three groups - Northern, Central and Southern, each of which consists of more or less large island blocks with autonomous tectonic development.

The volcanic belt of the Greater Kuril Islands lies on the western, gentle slope of the Mohorovicic surface trough. The thickness of the earth's crust under the Southern and Northern Great Kuril Islands is 20 -25 km. In the middle part of these islands it decreases to 10 - 15 km. Under all the Great Kuril Islands there is a weakly expressed zone of decompression of the upper mantle, which is more clearly visible under Kamchatka and Japan. Under the Northern Great Kuril Islands the earth's crust is subcontinental and in places continental, with a “granite” layer up to 7 km thick. Beneath the Central Great Kuril Islands there is oceanic-type crust. Under the Southern Great Kuril Islands it becomes subcontinental.
The thickness of the sedimentary-volcanogenic layer within the Kuril Islands ranges from 1 to 9 km, which is typical for island arcs.

The modern folded-block structure of the arc was formed at the end of the Pliocene - beginning of the Pleistocene. It is a horst-anticlinorium composed of echelon blocks of island blocks displaced along transverse and diagonal shears. Within the arc, tholeiitic and aluminous lavas of andesitic and andesite-basaltic composition predominate. Acid Pleistocene volcanics are developed only on the northern and southern Kuril Islands, under which there is a “granite” layer, and in some calderas. Geochemical data on the composition of lavas indicate the mantle origin of all series of rocks. There is a consistent increase in alkalinity of lavas across the strike of the arc from normal tholeiitic rocks to alkaline basalts in submarine volcanoes in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk.

The Kuril arc consists of an outer horst-anticline belt, an intermontane graben-syncline and an inner horst-anticlinal belt.

The outer belt is formed by the underwater ridge. Vityaz, the Lesser Kuril Islands and the Nemuro Peninsula in Hokkaido. Within its boundaries, recent volcanism ceased in the Pliocene.

Internal belt-chain of the Greater Kuril Islands. Here, recent volcanism developed inherited during the Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene and Holocene.

A large number of volcanoes are still active. There are 104 volcanoes on the Kuril Islands, not counting underwater ones. 39 island volcanoes are active.
On the Great Kuril Islands, from north to south, the following block structures can be distinguished: Paramushir and Onekotan-Shiashkotan on the Northern Great Kuril Islands; Matua-Simushirskaya and Chirpoysko-Urupskaya in the Central; Iturupskaya and Kunashirskaya on the Southern Great Kuril Islands.

For the Quaternary volcanism of the islands, one can accept a single magmatic cycle with the evolution of volcanoes from shield volcanoes to stratovolcanoes with the subsequent formation of calderas on the latter. The structure of volcanoes within the Greater Kuril Islands is greatly influenced by their location relative to the island blocks. So, in central parts The blocks contain destroyed shield volcanoes, and on the periphery there are ancient stratovolcanoes and calderas. In the sea, near the island blocks, there are young stratovolcanoes of the pre-caldera stage
The Kuril arc is young, but more mature than the Aleutian arc. It was formed on the oceanic crust at the end of the Cretaceous (70 MA). The “granite” layer in the section of the earth’s crust forms small lenses in island blocks on the northern and southern flanks of the arc and is absent in its middle part. Volcanism in the Kuril Islands has undergone multi-cyclic development. The Middle Pleistocene-modern stage of its development is characterized by andesite-basaltic and andesite magma and its relatively small differentiation. The latter occurred predominantly on the flanks of the arc, where lenses of the “granite” layer formed in the earth’s crust.

Paramushir island block and its surroundings
Within the region, young volcanoes are located on the island. Paramushir. West of the island, in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, there are large stratovolcanoes. Atlasova (Alaid), Antsiferova (Shirinki).

Onekotan-Shiashkotan island block
This island block is limited by the Fourth Kuril Strait. in the north and strait. Kruzenshtern in the south. Dl. its 190 km. The block is lowered, and only its highest parts rise above sea level. They form the islands of Onekotan, Kharimkotan, Shiashkotan, and the Trap rocks. In the late Pleistocene (25-17 thousand years ago), these islands were united into a single narrow island- volcanic ridge. on the axis of the Onekotan-Shiashkotan block. Around it the sea has developed a wide terrace, which is now flooded and is located at Ch. 130 m.

To the west, in the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, relatively young volcano-islands rise: Makanrushi, Ekarma, Chirinkotan. These are the peaks of underwater volcanoes of Pleistocene age. Onekotan Island is formed by a number of volcanoes that merged with each other

The Matua-Simushir island block stretches for 250 km from the Krusenstern Strait to the Bussol Strait. In the chain of the Greater Kuril Islands it is lower than the others. The Pacific slope of the block borders directly on the deep-sea Kuril-Kamchatka Trench, and the Okhotsk slope does not have volcanoes.

The Urup block represents a transitional part from the central submerged part of the island arc of the Great Kuril Islands to its elevated southern flank. The Urup block is uplifted relative to the Matua-Simushir block.

The Iturup island block extends from the strait. Frieza in the northeast to Catherine Strait in the southwest. The width of the surface part is 40 km. The width of the underwater is 80 - 90 km, the area of ​​Iturup Island is 6725 sq. km. The Iturup block is characterized by large recent uplifts. From northeast to southwest the following blocks stand out: Bear Ridge, Grozny, Chirip Peninsula, Bogatyr Ridge and Roka Massif. There are 40 large volcanoes in varying degrees of preservation on Iturup and more than 160 small volcanic devices.

The Kunashir island block forms a transitional step from the Kuril arc to the Sakhalin-Japanese arc. Its length is 123 km. The area of ​​Kunashir Island is 1550 sq. Km. Southern part Kunashir Island is formed by two blocks composed of Upper Pliocene and Lower Pleistocene deposits. Dacite pyroclasts and Pliocene pumice predominate. These blocks are topped by the Mendeleev and Golovnin volcanoes.

The newest and modern tectonic movements in the area of ​​the islands are of a differentiated nature. The coasts of some islands are sinking; on the island of Iturup, for example, the sea invaded the crater of a destroyed volcano, forming a bay. Many other islands are experiencing uplifts, as evidenced by young terraces with piles of driftwood.

Active tectonic movements are combined with modern volcanism, manifested in the form of terrestrial and underwater eruptions, confined to faults and ruptures in the earth's crust. Of more than a hundred volcanoes in the Kuril chain, 38 are active; among them are such large volcanoes as Alaid on Atlasov Island, Tyatya on Kunashir Island, Sarycheva Volcano on Matua island. During the eruption of Sarychev Volcano in 1946, lava flows reached the sea. The glow was visible 150 km away, and the ash fell 800 km from the eruption site, in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

The islands have deposits of sulfur, copper ore and other metals

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The Kuril Islands got their name from the people who inhabited them before the arrival of the Russians and Japanese. They called themselves Ainu. “Kuru” in the language of these people meant “man” and in meaning differed little from “Ainu”. Cossacks from the first Russian expeditions began to call them “Kurils” or “Kurilians”, and from here the name of the entire archipelago came from.

The word “kuru” turned out to be consonant with the Russian “to smoke” - after all, there is always smoke above the volcanoes, of which there are many in the Kuril Islands. However, we must remember that the word that gave the Kuril Islands their current name is not of Russian, but of Ainu origin.

The Kuril Islands are a chain of 56 islands, from Kamchatka to the island of Hokkaido, which includes two parallel ridges - the Greater and Lesser Kuril Islands. They separate the Sea of ​​Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean.

Waterfall Ilya Muromets

The waterfall, which has long been considered the highest in Russia, is located on the island of Iturup. The height of the “hero” is 141 meters - approximately the same as a 40-story building. The name of the epic hero was given to the waterfall in 1946 by members of the Sakhalin research expedition.

Alaid is the highest and northernmost volcano of the Kuril Islands. Its height is 2339 m. There is a legend that Alaid was previously located in the south of Kamchatka, but other mountains drove it out: due to the fact that it was the largest, the volcano obscured the light. Since then, Alaid has stood alone - on Atlasov Island in the Sea of ​​​​Okhotsk. And on the Kuril Lake in Kamchatka there remains the island of the Heart of Alaid.

Most active volcano from the Kuril group is located on the Matua island of the Great Kuril ridge. It received its name in honor of the Russian navigator and hydrographer Gabriel Sarychev. The height of the volcano is 1446 meters above sea level.

In the last century alone, the Sarychev volcano erupted seven times. One of the most powerful eruptions was recorded in 1946: then a flow of a mixture of volcanic gases, ash and stones reached the sea. The last time the volcano erupted was in 2009: this led to an increase in the area of ​​the island by 1.5 square kilometers.

Tyatya Volcano, located on the Kunashir Island of the Great Kuril Ridge, is considered one of the most beautiful on the planet. This is a “volcano within a volcano”, having an absolutely regular shape. A younger central cone protrudes above the ridge-shaped part of the ancient volcano. The height of Tyati, by the way, recognized as one of the seven wonders of Sakhalin, is 1819 meters. He's like Eiffel Tower in Paris: in clear weather the volcano can be seen from anywhere in Kunashir.

In 1973, a powerful volcanic eruption occurred, as a result of which ash settled within a radius of 80 kilometers. Because of this, the nearby large village of Tyatino was abandoned by people. The volcano is considered dangerous for aircraft: it is known that several helicopters have crashed near its summit over the years. It is possible that the cause of the disasters was poisonous gases that unexpectedly periodically emit from the side crater.

Historical eruptions of Tyati occurred in 1812 and 1973. The volcano is still restless: there is little activity in the central crater.

Alaid is the highest of the Kuril volcanoes, the peak of which rises above the ground at 2339 m. It is located on Atlasov Island, which stands alone in the north of the ridge and erupts every 30 - 40 years. The peak of Alaid in cloudless, clear weather can be seen from the shores of Kamchatka; it is believed that it was the discoverer of the peninsula, Vladimir Atlasov, who described it in his report in the 17th century.

Volcano Krenitsyn

One of the most wonderful places in the world is the North Kuril island of Onekotan in Sakhalin region with its Krenitsina volcano (1325 m) in the Tao-Rusyr caldera. This is the most big volcano in a volcano on the globe. See this unique pearl Few succeed in smoking, especially after border guards left the island in 2005. And the volcano itself, standing in the middle of a water-filled caldera, has been visited by even fewer people.

Volcano Curly

Kudryavy Volcano (986 m), which has gained worldwide fame, is located in the north-eastern part of the Kuril Island Iturup, in the very center of the beautiful Medvezhiy ridge. The volcano has several craters. In calm weather, the height of the vertical columns of gas and steam above them reaches 1000 m. This place is also known for the fact that a deposit of a terribly expensive and little-studied metal with amazing properties was discovered here. We are talking about rhenium, the last non-radioactive chemical element to be discovered.

Volcano Tyatya

Tyatya is the highest volcano on the island. Kunashir is its unofficial symbol. It is located in the northeastern outback, which was depopulated after a volcanic eruption in 1973. The eruption was so strong that volcanic ash reached the coast of the island. Shikotan, located 80 km. from the scene of the giant mountain.

However, let's return to active volcanoes. In the Soviet Union, the edge of active volcanoes lies in the east, at the very borders of our country. This region, illuminated by the fires of eruptions, is Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands. There are 129 volcanoes in Kamchatka. They form an almost continuous volcanic belt stretching along the eastern coast of the peninsula.

29 volcanoes are active or have fallen asleep for a while, the rest are considered extinct.

In the north of the Kamchatka volcanic belt, the Sheveluch volcano rises. South of Sheveluch, in the right bank of the Kamchatka River basin, is the famous Klyuchevskaya group of volcanoes. It also contains the highest volcano in Eurasia - Klyuchevskaya Sopka. Further to the south, a strip of active and extinct volcanoes stretches for several hundred kilometers. In the vicinity of the city of Petropavlovsk, this strip is concluded by the Avachinskaya Sopka. Finally, in the very south of the peninsula, in the family of dormant and extinct volcanoes, there is another interesting volcano- Ksudach, dormant for more than 50 years. In the past, it apparently was one of the largest volcanoes in the south of Kamchatka.

In 1935, at the foot of Klyuchevskaya Sopka in the village of Klyuchi, the Volcanological Station of the USSR Academy of Sciences was built. Since that time, for more than a quarter of a century, volcanologists have been continuously monitoring Kamchatka volcanoes. Researchers have collected a wealth of material about the nature of eruptions, changes in the activity of volcanoes, and the temperature and composition of their lavas.

It turned out that the volcanoes of Kamchatka are very diverse. Almost everyone has their own characteristics, their own “character”. According to the nature of the eruptions, Sheveluch is a brother of the Martinique volcano Mont Pele and the Indonesian Merapi. The closest “relatives” of Klyuchevsky volcano, similar in behavior to it, are found in Italy. This is Etna and the volcanoes of the area around Naples.

The lavas of Sheveluch, the northernmost of the Kamchatka volcanoes, are very viscous and contain huge amounts of vapors and gases. During eruptions, they do not form streams flowing down the slope of the volcano, but are slowly squeezed out of the crater and piled above it in the form of a dome. During the 1945 eruption, the squeezing out of lava was accompanied by powerful explosions that shook the surrounding area for tens of kilometers around. During the explosions, clouds of hot gases burst out from under the lava dome. These clouds contained enormous amounts of small lava particles. With colossal speed they rolled down the slopes of the volcano and burned everything in their path. The eruptions of Sheveluch make themselves felt at a great distance. On a fine September day in 1964, we were at the foot of the Klyuchevsky volcano. The path passed through flat terrain, cut here and there by valleys of “dry” rivers. Here and there there were glacial boulders, and even huge blocks, covered with black-gray volcanic ash, born from the eruptions of Klyuchevsky volcano. It was a kind of stone-ash desert. The ash easily rose into the air and clouds of volcanic dust remained behind the traveler. But in the cliff of the valley of the Apakhonchich stream, among the ash, sand and gravel deposited by water, something else was visible. Against the background of this dark gray mass, two layers of yellowish-gray volcanic ash (Fig. 23), completely different from the ash of Klyuchevsky volcano, stood out clearly. This is the ashes of Sheveluch. The upper layer appeared during an eruption in the middle of the last century. The distance the ash was transported from the volcano to its burial site is about 60-70 km in a straight line.

Volcanoes of the Klyuchevskaya group behave differently during eruptions. This group consists of twelve volcanic cones. All of them are located on one lava pedestal, apparently representing the remains of a huge, more ancient volcano. The largest and most active volcano of this group is Klyuchevskoy. He is rightfully considered a handsome volcano. Its high, regular cone is crowned with a white top that is constantly smoking or illuminated by the reflections of fire (Fig. 24). Like a gigantic lighthouse encased in ice, it is visible from the sea at a distance of several hundred kilometers.

At the top of Klyuchevsky volcano there is a huge bowl-shaped depression - a crater with a diameter of about 0.5 km. In the depths of the crater there are dark channels that go into the depths of the volcano. Every minute, clouds of dark and white vapors, clouds of ash and hot stones burst out of these channels with a roar. When the volcano is calm, ash and stones fly only to a height of 200-300 m and fall back into the crater.

Employees of the Volcanological Station descended into the crater of Klyuchevsky volcano and discovered that the entire bottom of the crater was covered with loose volcanic ash. Plunging knee-deep into it, volcanologists tried to get to the central channel - the vent. But they failed. The explosions followed one after another, and hot stones continuously flew from the crater. I had to stop a few tens of meters from the boundary of the falling stones. Then the explosions intensified, “jet” of hot stones rapidly shot out from the depths of the volcano, and the entire bowl of the crater began to quickly become covered with clouds of dark smoke. The researchers had to retreat.

It was possible to climb to the top of Klyuchevskaya Sopka and descend into the crater during a period when the volcano was relatively calm. And Klyuchevskaya Sopka is famous for the strength and duration of its eruptions. One of the major recent eruptions lasted from the end of 1944 until the summer of 1945. When it began, the walls of houses at a distance of 50 km from the volcano trembled from the roar of explosions. Volcanic ash fell throughout the peninsula. By the end of the eruption, several large explosion craters formed along a crack stretching from the top of the hill to its foot, and a small cinder body grew at the lower end of the crack. Lava started pouring out of it.

Volcanoes like Klyuchevsky, composed of lava flows and layers of volcanic ash and bombs, are called layered, or stratovolcanoes. Eruptions gradually increase the height of Klyuchevskaya Sopka. They recur on average every six to eight years, and each eruption increases the volume of the volcanic cone by about 0.5 km 3 . Having determined the volume of the cone of Klyuchevsky volcano, scientists calculated that it was formed over seven hundred eruptions. Thus, it was established that Klyuchevskaya Sopka is a relatively young volcano. Its formation began about 5000 years ago.

In the center of the Klyuchevskaya group is the Bezymyanny volcano, which was considered extinct for a long time. However, in October 1955, he unexpectedly awakened. The awakening was unusual and scary. It began with earthquakes in the vicinity of the volcano. Explosions followed, and the volcano began throwing out ash. The amount of erupted ash gradually increased and was carried over a distance of 100 km. In some places the ash fell so thickly that the sun's rays did not penetrate through its veil. During the day it became dark as at night.

Then the eruption began to subside, but suddenly on March 30, 1956, an explosion of monstrous force occurred. A cloud of ash soared to a height of 40 km above the volcano. A stream of hot gases burst out of the crater, which burned and felled trees even at a distance of 25 km from Bezymyanny. The top of the mountain and everything eastern part the cones were blown up. A hot mass of loose material, consisting of volcanic ash and blocks of various shapes and sizes, poured into the resulting gap from the revived volcano. The release of a loose stream of hot debris was so rapid that it quickly filled the river valley to a depth of 80-100 m. The stream cooled for several months, and thousands of jets of hot vapors and gases rose from its surface.

As a result of the explosion of Bezymyanny, volcanic ash was spread over a distance of 400 km in radius, and the volcano itself dropped by almost a third of a kilometer. At its top a giant crater appeared in the form of a semicircle, open to the east. Such large depressions formed during volcanic explosions are called calderas. After the explosion, viscous lava gradually began to be squeezed out from the bottom of the caldera of the Bezymyanny volcano, which by the end of the eruption formed a dome about 300 m high.

The eruption of Bezymyanny lasted almost a year and ended only in the fall of 1956. It was calculated that the explosion on March 30, 1956 released a colossal amount of energy equal to approximately 4 10 23 ergs. This amount of energy is generated by the Kuibyshev hydroelectric station throughout the year. The force of the air wave was monstrously enormous, and its initial speed was almost twice the speed of sound. Apparently, the eruption of Nameless was one of the strongest volcanic explosions ever observed by people.

In subsequent years, Bezymyanny’s activities manifested themselves only in summer time, mainly in the growth of the dome and the formation of stone obelisks on it. In the early autumn of 1964, we were able to see for ourselves the increased activity of the volcano. On the southeastern slope of the crater, two pointed gray obelisks were squeezed out. At night, a fiery glow could be seen above the obelisks. Landslide and hot pyroclastic avalanches rolled down the slope, which, like a chisel, cut a deep and narrow depression-gap on the slope of the volcano. Lava showed through cracks here and there. Judging by the color, its temperature was about 900°C. On September 9, 1964, the activity of Bezymyanny began to decrease, but in the subsequent September days, dark smoky clouds up to 3-4 km high rose above the volcano.

Avachinsky volcano, like Klyuchevsky, is also layered. Its eruptions are very similar in nature to the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, located in the vicinity of Naples. The last major eruption of the Avachinskaya Sopka occurred in the winter of 1945. It lasted less than a day. After several strong explosions, a black, mushroom-shaped ash cloud several kilometers high rose above the volcano’s cone. It swirled, lit up with crimson reflections, volcanic bombs flew from it, and ash fell. Bombs and hot ash melted the snow on the top of the volcano, and rapid streams rushed from the slopes of the mountain hot water and dirt. Then the ash cloud began to dissipate, and the volcano calmed down.

Ksudach, located in the south of Kamchatka, is a volcano-caldera. It was once a large volcano with a diameter of about 20 km, but during one of the eruptions its cone was destroyed by a strong explosion. A funnel-shaped caldera basin with a diameter of 8 km was formed, surrounded on all sides by a low ring-shaped ridge. Inside the ring there is now a lake, along the banks of which rise pairs of numerous fumaroles.

The last eruption of the Ksudach volcano occurred in 1907. It began with a strong explosion and the release of a huge amount of ash. Fine volcanic dust rose into the stratosphere and was carried tens of thousands of kilometers from the volcano. As a result of the explosion, a new crater appeared inside the caldera itself, with a diameter of about 1.5 km, with almost vertical walls. Soon a lake formed in this smaller, inner caldera.

In addition to volcanoes, Kamchatka has many geysers - boiling springs that periodically emit fountains of hot water. In the valley of the Geysernaya River there are about twenty large and at least a hundred small geysers. The water temperature in them reaches 94-98°C. The largest geyser - "Giant" - throws out gigantic jets of water to a height of 40-50 m every 3-4 hours.

The abundance of vapors released during volcanic eruptions, a huge number of geysers and hot springs indicate that in the depths of the Kamchatka Peninsula lie huge reserves of superheated steam and hot water, which can easily be used for human needs. In the volcano country of Iceland and around Naples in Italy, people are already using the volcanic heat from the depths. Hot steam coming from hundreds of boreholes rotates the turbines of power plants, heats houses, and drives machines in factories. And in Kamchatka we have started drilling test wells to produce hot water and steam. They will be used for heating and technical purposes in fish canning factories.

A continuation of the belt of Kamchatka volcanoes are the volcanoes of the Kuril Islands. The Kuril Arc stretches for 1200 km between the southern tip of Kamchatka and Japanese island Hokkaido. The underwater ridge, the peaks of which are the islands of the Kuril Arc, serves as the border separating the Sea of ​​Okhotsk from the vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean. There are 61 extinct and 39 active volcanoes on the islands of the Kuril Arc. The most active of them are Alaid, Ebeko, Krenitsin, Mendeleev volcanoes, etc.

The largest of the Kuril volcanoes is Alaid. Its peak, crowned by a small glacier, rises 2300 m above sea level. People have observed eruptions of this volcano more than once. The last eruption of Alaid was in 1932. It did not occur through the main crater, but through a crack in the underwater part of the volcano. As a result of this eruption, a smoking island appeared in the sea, which turned out to be a side cone of Alaid. The cone had its own crater. A few years after the end of the eruption, the island was connected by sand spits to the mother island and turned into the Alaid Peninsula.

In the fall of 1952, the Krenitsina volcano, located on the island of Onekotan, one of the northern Kuril Islands, awakened after a long sleep. The volcano is located in the southern part of the island in an ancient caldera. The cone of the Krenitsina volcano rises from the blue waters of the lake that fills the wide funnel-shaped bowl of the caldera. The eruption began with a roar that was heard at a distance of 100 km from the volcano. From the waters blue lake Clouds of vapor rose, then a cloud of ash soared over the island and hid the volcano with an impenetrable curtain. Ash fell throughout the day, thickly covering the island. At night, a fiery glow appeared over the crater. Clouds of ash, illuminated by the reflections of the eruption and bright flashes of lightning, were carried by the wind into the ocean. From a distance, from passing steamships, it seemed as if a fiery whirlwind was bursting out of the depths of the ocean. A few days later, the eruption gradually began to weaken, and a week after awakening, the volcano calmed down again and has been dormant for more than ten years.

The volcanoes of Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands are associated with huge faults in the earth's crust. A whole belt of such faults borders Pacific Ocean. Along the cracks of faults, molten masses of subcrustal matter - magma - rise from the depths of the Earth. Volcanoes arise at the places where they reach the surface. Sheveluch, Klyuchevskaya Sopka, Bezymianny, Ksudach, Alaid, Krenitsina Volcano and the remaining 233 extinct, dormant and active volcanoes of the Kuril-Kamchatka arc represent only a small part of the Great Pacific Ring of Fire, numbering hundreds of underwater and surface volcanoes. The amazing cluster of volcanoes around the Pacific Ocean and on its floor is one of the many mysteries of geology. To solve this mystery, geologists of future generations will have to penetrate to the bottom of the Earth's greatest ocean. And when the ocean floor is studied in at least the same detail with which geologists have currently studied the Earth's continents, the mystery of the Pacific Ring of Fire, which contains more than two-thirds of the Earth's volcanoes, will likely be close to being resolved.

The Kuril Islands are the place where the End of the World is located, at least that’s what it’s called Cape on Shikotan. The mysterious archipelago contains many unusual things - this is the Udachny stream with quartz gold outcrops, the largest waterfall in Russia (140m) Ilya Muromets, and fire-breathing islands with volcanoes and geysers. The Kuril Islands are compared to a large arboretum, where you can visit various natural areas, and where stone birches, lianas, dwarf cedar and bamboo thickets that exceed the height of a person coexist. Large colonies of birds, bears, sables and foxes, whales and dolphins, underwater inhabitants - seals, squids, crabs and starfish - all this can be seen while traveling around these pristine islands.

Thermal springs are attractive for travelers, volcanoes Alaid, Chikurachki, Fussa, Ebeko and others; A military history will reveal to you the secrets of his past from the time of the Kuril landing of 1945.

Great Kuril Ridge- one of two parallel groups of islands of the Kuril archipelago. The Krusenstern and Bussol straits divide it into three parts:

The northern group includes the islands of Paramushir, Onekotan, Shumshu, Lovushki, Atlasova, Shiashkotan and others;
-medium – Simushir, Ketoi, Rasshua, Matua, Ushishir and others;
-The southern group includes the islands Iturup, Kunashir, Urup.

The territory of the islands is unevenly populated and is uninhabited south of Paramushir Island and up to Iturup Island. Due to this tourist routes mainly run along the islands of the Northern and Southern Kuril Islands. The most popular are Iturup, Paramushir, Shikatan, Shumshu, Kunashir, Matua.

Northern Kuriles

Severo-Kurilsk – main city this group of islands. Until 1946, it was called Kashiwa-bora. The city is located on the shore of the 2nd Kuril Strait in the northeast of Paramushir Island. Its population numbers 2,400 inhabitants (data for 2007). The seining fleet is based here, there is a heliport, and the total length of roads is about 10 km.

The islands can only be reached by helicopter from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky or on the PTR vessel. The main types of tourism include historical, educational and environmental. The remoteness of the islands is still an obstacle to mass tourism. However, thermal springs, military routes, volcanoes and the unusual flora and fauna of the Kuril Islands are attractions that are attracting an increasing number of tourists.

The volcanoes of the Kuril Islands are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

Ebeko Volcano (1156m). This active volcano is located on Paramushir Island, 7 km from Severo-Kurilsk. Being one of the most active on the Kuril Islands, it is interesting for the presence of several craters. On the southern part of the cone there is an active crater that appeared after the eruption in 1965. In the northern part, in the crater there is a small lake with greenish water. The Northern Crater, known from literature, was filled with slag and volcanic bombs during last eruption. And another one - the central one - is filled with a lake, which is replenished with water from the snowfield. The lake was once hot, but later lost contact with underground heat sources. Climbing the Eubeko volcano, you can see a Japanese sulfur plant and many fumaroles. These are holes through which gases rise. Each fumarole is surrounded by intricate figures made of native sulfur. Among the large fumarole fields, the northeastern field stands out, known as the “Roaring Fumaroles” or “White Key”.

Alaid Volcano (2339m). This is the highest active volcano on the Kuril Islands. It is located on Atlasov Island, 70 km from Kamchatka and 30 km from Paramushir Island. According to legend, Alaid was previously located in the south of Kamchatka. But the other mountains drove him out, since he was the highest among them and blocked the light. Since then, the volcano-island has stood alone. The shape of the Alaid cone is more regular than Mount Fuji. Its peculiarity is the presence of 33 side cinder cones on the slopes and at the base. Intense fumarole activity takes place inside a young 250-meter cinder cone. Alaid is a double stratovolcano with a summit explosion crater with a diameter of 900-1300m and a depth of 200m.

Volcano Chikurachki (1816m) – highest point Paramurshira, located in the southwestern part of the island, 60 km from Severo-Kurilsk. It is the northernmost in the chain of volcanoes of the Karpinsky Range. Chikurachki is a stratovolcano standing on an ancient lava base, with a regular cone, the upper half of which is red. It is predominantly composed of pyroclastic deposits.

Fussa Volcano (1772m). This complex stratovolcano forms a peninsula in the southwestern part of Paramushir Island, 75 km from Severo-Kurilsk. It is a strongly truncated regular cone with a crater with a diameter of 700 m and a depth of up to 300 m. The crater has steep walls, vertical in places, and the bottom, divided into two unequal parts, is strewn with snowfields. The volcano offers a breathtaking view of the rocky outcrops of Mount Arkhangelsky and Belousov, the gentle slopes of the Karpinsky caldera and the saddle between the Lomonosov and Tatarinov volcanoes.

Shumshu and Matua Islands. These islands are especially interesting to visit from a historical and educational point of view. They are famous for the catacombs of the war years and the preserved fortifications, including numerous trenches, bunkers and rock holes where the personnel of the islands garrison were sheltered and guns were installed.

Southern Kuriles

The most easily accessible and interesting to visit in this part of the Kuril Islands are the islands of Kunashir and Iturup. You can get to them by air from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk or by boat from Korsakov. Due to constant fog and weather changes, the An-24 aircraft, flying three times a week, can wait quite a long time for suitable weather. Therefore, a motor ship is a more reliable way to travel, although due to weather conditions may also change the arrival schedule to the islands. To visit the Southern Kuril Islands, it is mandatory to obtain a pass in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, since the islands are located in the border zone.

Kunashir Island. This is one of the largest and southernmost islands of the Great Kuril ridge with administrative center in Yuzhno-Kurilsk. In fact, it is a chain of volcanoes - Tyatya, Mendeleev, Golovnin Volcano, which are connected by washed-up sandstone. The Kunashirsky and Izmena straits separate the island from Japan. The many thermal springs and waterfalls are also popular with travelers. Another place worth visiting is the caldera of the Golovnin volcano, where two lakes lie - Goryachee and Boiling. The latter, formed in the explosive funnel, is considered business card Southern Kuriles. The lake is famous for the fact that a boiling steam-water jet can suddenly erupt from its bottom.

Cape Stolbchaty- This is one of the main attractions of Kunashir. Situated on the shore Sea of ​​Okhotsk, it was formed during the process of lava pouring into the water column. Tall basalt pillars create ribbed walls, reminiscent of a giant organ. Another highlight of the Cape is the salmon spawn, which you can spend hours watching as the fish overcome waterfalls, rapids and streams on their way to the spawning grounds.

Iturup Island. This is the most large island archipelago. From the east it is washed by the Pacific Ocean, from the west by the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. Of the 20 volcanoes on the island, 9 are active, and the highest is Stokap, 1634 meters in height. On Iturup, it is recommended to visit the Lion's Mouth Bay and three volcanoes - Berutarube, Atsonopuri and Kudryavy. There are also more than 30 lakes, many waterfalls, hot and mineral springs.

Berutarube Volcano (1222m). In both craters of the volcano, active fumarole activity occurs. At the top there is a destroyed caldera with a diameter of more than 2 km.

Atsonopuri Volcano (1205m). Due to the high porosity of the slag, a distinctive feature of the island was the complete absence of water. Atsonopuri is the so-called “volcano within a volcano”, extended far into the open sea. The correctness of the cone allowed it to take 3rd place in the world after Fuji and Vesuvius.

Volcano Kudryaviy (991m). This is an active volcano, with a dome in the shape of an isosceles triangle. The height of vertical columns of gas and steam above the crater in calm weather reaches 1 kilometer. In addition, here is the only place in the world where rhenium, a rare earth metal, is mined.

Lion's Mouth Bay. Located in the southwestern part of Iturup, the bay (caldera) resembles a broken ring. The dimensions of the caldera are 7 x 9 km, and its rocky shores rise up to 400 meters. In the strait, at the entrance to the bay, there is a rocky island - the Lion Stone, reminiscent of a sleeping lion. The two capes jutting out into the sea are called Fang and Jaw.