Tolbachik

Template:Short description Template:Expand Russian Template:Infobox mountain Tolbachik (Template:Langx) is a volcanic complex on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the far east of Russia. It consists of two volcanoes, Plosky (flat) Tolbachik (3,085 m) and Ostry (sharp) Tolbachik (3,672 m), which as the names suggest are respectively a flat-topped shield volcano and a peaked stratovolcano.<ref>"Tolbachik" summitpost.org. Retrieved 2011-11-26.</ref> As Ostry is the mountain's highest point, the entire mountain is often referred to as "Ostry Tolbachik", not to be confused with Ostry, a separate volcano to the north also on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Activity

Its eruptive history stretches back thousands of years, but the most notable eruption occurred in 1975, commonly known as "The Great Tolbachik Fissure Eruption". It was preceded by an earthquake swarm, which led to a successful prediction of the eruption by scientists from the Russian Institute of Volcanology. The eruption created several new cinder cones, and in terms of volume of lava emitted, was Kamchatka's largest basaltic eruption in historic times.

On November 27, 2012 a strombolian type eruption started from two fissures. Basaltic lava flows move relatively fast, and quickly flooded buildings 4 km away. The eruption continued for more than a month, as lava continued to flow from the fissures.<ref>Edwards Ben, Belousov Alexander, Belousova Marina, Volynets Anna, Melnikov Dmitry, Chirkov Sergey, Senyukov Sergey, Gordeev Evgenii, Muraviev Yaroslav, Izbekov Pavel, Demianchuk Yury (2013) Another "Great Tolbachik" Eruption? // Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union. V. 94, № 21. P. 189-191. - ISSN Print: 00963941. - doi: 10.1002/2013EO210002.</ref><ref>Volynets Anna, Melnikov Dmitry, Yakushev Anton, Tolstykh Maria (2013) Petrology and geochemistry of the New Tolbachik Fissure Eruption volcanic rocks and their evolution during the first two weeks of eruption // IAVCEI 2013 Scientific Assembly, July 20–24, Kagoshima, Japan. P. 743.</ref><ref>Volynets A. O., Melnikov D. V., Yakushev A. I. (2013) First data on composition of the volcanic rocks of the IVS 50th anniversary Fissure Tolbachik eruption (Kamchatka) // Doklady Earth Sciences. V. 452, № 1. P. 953-957. doi: 10.1134/S1028334X13090201.</ref> Lava flowed up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the line of fissures on the volcano's southern flank. According to the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team, the eruption ended September 15, 2013. Several lava caves were formed as a result of the 2012–2013 eruption.

Mineralogy

The fumarole deposits of Tolbachik are rich in exotic minerals and, Template:As of, 100 new minerals have been first described here including alarsite and tolbachite.<ref name="Mindat Tolbachik volcano">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Views

File:Tolbachik Kamchatka from SSW on 2015-07-26.png

Ostry Tolbachik (left) and Plosky Tolbachik (right) from the south-southwest, taken on July 26, 2015

File:Tolbachik volcano 1975 cone pano Kamchatka on 2015-07-28.png

360° panorama on top of a cinder cone from the 1975 eruption. The peak of Ostry Tolbachik can be found in the clouds on the right.

File:ISS-38 Kliuchevskoi Volcano on Kamchatka.jpg

Tolbachik (third from right) with Klyuchevskoi erupting in the background. Adjacent volcanoes are Ushkovsky, Bezymianny, Zimina, and Udina. Oblique view taken on November 16, 2013 from ISS.<ref>NASA - Activity at Kliuchevskoi</ref>

See also

• List of volcanoes in Russia
• List of ultras of Northeast Asia
• Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team

Other references

• Template:Cite gvp
• Plosky Tolbachik volcano and Tolbachik lava field
• Fedotov S.A. and Markhinin Ye.K. (Eds) (1983). The Great Tolbachik Fissure Eruption: Geological and Geophysical Data, 1975-1976. Cambridge University Press, 341 p. Template:ISBN
• "Fireworks" on Tolbachik - may 2013 on author's project website: "Russia Begins Here"

External links

• Satellite photo of 2012 eruption taken by Earth Observing-1 at NASA Earth Observatory