Ivan V. Melekestsev

Ages of calderas, large explosive craters and active volcanoes in the Kuril-Kamchatka region, Russia

The ages of most of calderas, large explosive craters and active volcanoes in the Kuril-Kamchatka region have been determined by extensive geological, geomorphological, tephrochronological and isotopic geochronological studies, including more than 600 14C dates. Eight ‘Krakatoa-type’ and three ‘Hawaiian-type’ calderas and no less than three large explosive craters formed here during the Holocene. Most of the Late Pleistocene Krakatoa-type calderas were established around 30 000–40 000 years ago. The active volcanoes are geologically very young, with maximum ages of about 40 000–50 000 years. The overwhelming majority of recently active volcanic cones originated at the very end of the Late Pleistocene or in the Holocene. These studies show that all Holocene stratovolcanoes in Kamchatka were emplaced in the Holocene only in the Eastern volcanic belt. Periods of synchronous, intensified Holocene volcanic activity occurred within the time intervals of 7500–7800 and 1300–1800 14C years BP.

A millennial-scale record of Holocene tsunamis on the Kronotskiy Bay coast, Kamchatka, Russia

Abstract Deposits from as many as 50 large tsunamis during the last 7000 years are preserved on the Pacific coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula near the mouth of the Zhupanova River, southern Kronotskiy Bay. These deposits are dated and correlated using Holocene marker tephra layers. The combined, preserved record of tsunami deposits and of numerous marker tephras on Kamchatka offers an unprecedented opportunity to study tsunami frequency. For example, from the stratigraphy along southern Kronotskiy Bay, we estimate frequency of large tsunamis (>5 m runup). In the last 3000 years, the minimum frequency is about one large tsunami per 100 years, and the maximum about one large tsunami per 30 years; the latter frequency occurred from about 0 to 1000 A.D. This time interval corresponds to a period of increased seismicity and volcanic activity that appears to be recorded in many places on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Late Pleistocene‐Holocene Volcanism on the Kamchatka Peninsula, Northwest Pacific Region

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 SiO 2 >57% constitute ∼25% of the most productive Central Kamchatka Depression belt and ∼30b% 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 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios from 0.70334 to 0.70366, but have almost constant Nd isotopic ratios ( 143 Nd/ 144 Nd 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 14 C dating that permits analysis of time-space patterns of volcanic activity, evolution of the erupted products, and volcanic hazards.

Kizimen Volcano, Kamchatka - A future Mount St. Helens?

Abstract We studied the tectonic setting, morphology, geologic structure, history of eruptive activity and evolution of the composition of the erupted material of Kizimen volcano, Kamchatka, from the moment of its origination 11–12 thousand years ago to the present time. Four cycles, each 2–3.5 thousand years long, were distinguished that characterize the activity of the volcano. All of the largest eruptions were dated, and their parameters determined. We also estimated the volume and the mass of the erupted products, the volcanic intensity of eruption of material during periods of high activity, and the amount of material the volcano ejected at different stages of its formation. It has been shown that the evolution of the composition of the rocks erupted (from dacite to basaltic andesite) takes place as a result of mixing of dacitic and basaltic magma. It is suggested that future eruptions that may take place at Kizimen may be similar to those at Bandai (1888) and Mount St. Helens (1980) volcanoes.

Late Pleistocene and Holocene volcanic catastrophes in Kamchatka and in the Kuril Islands. Part 1. Types and classes of catastrophic eruptions as the leading components of volcanic catastrophism

We advance our own definitions of the following terms: catastrophic volcanic eruption (CE), catastrophic supereruption (CSE), different-rank and different-type episodes and phases of volcanic catastrophism (VC). All eruptions are subdivided into three classes according to the volume and weight of the erupted and transported (juvenile and resurgent) material, whatever its chemical composition: class I (>0.5 km3), class II (≥5 km3), and class III, or supereruptions (>50 km3). We characterize the types and varieties of CEs and CSEs, with most of these being the main components of identified VC episodes and phases. The primary phenomena to be considered include catastrophic events of the 19th to 21st centuries, not only in the Kuril–Kamchatka region, but also in other volcanic areas. These events have been studied in detail by modern methods and can serve as approximate models to reconstruct similar past events, especially regarding their dynamics, productivity, and catastrophic impact.

Magma superflows in the Bering Sea. Part 1. The model and the geological and geomorphologic features

A hypothesis is proposed that assumes magma superflows (MSF) propagating along interfaces between crustal layers from sources like major mantle plumes. The MSF projections onto the Earth’s surface have clear relief expression both in oceanic and continental crust areas. At present, all such linear and arcuate positive relief forms are explained by appealing to “plate tectonics,” which is not always a logical procedure. In many cases the MSF hypothesis removes these drawbacks and gives a more consistent and objective explanation of the observations. Recent data obtained by geological, geophysical, and remote sensing techniques provide description of MSFs 1000–1200 km long in the Komandorsky and Aleutian deep-sea basins of the Bering Sea. They originated and moved during Cenozoic time, the oldest probably in the early Oligocene and the youngest in the Pleistocene.

Magma superflows in the Bering Sea. 2. The mechanism of origin and movement and its evolution in time and space

It is shown that the source for numerous magma superflows (MSFs) with complex structures, whose traces have been identified in the Bering Sea (Melekestsev and Slezin, 2017), was regional mantle plume-like formations (or plumes). The magmatic material propagated from these for some hundreds of kilometers or farther along interfaces at different depths between crustal layers during n × 105 to n × 106 years. The long-continued generation and multi-portion structure of the MSFs is explained by slow pulsations in the rising jet of primary melt in the form of a beaded (“peristalsis-like”) structure of successive bulges (which we shall refer to as “magmons”), which float up as “asthenoliths” as the through flow in the channel becomes lower. The most extensive and longest MSFs were formed at the end of the Eocene through Oligocene, while the youngest and shortest flow was generated in the Pleistocene.