Dramatic umbrella cloud rising to an estimated 33,000 ft above sea level over Shiveluch volcano on the Kamchatka peninsula during the explosive dome collapse on March 29, 2007. Photo was taken from the nearby community of Klyuchi.
Far East Russia’s Shiveluch volcano spewed ash high above the Kamchatka peninsula in the latest of a series of ongoing eruptions.
It is part of the Kiyuchevskaya volcano group and estimated to be about 65,000 years old. Catastrophic eruptions in 1854 and 1956 caused a large part of its lava dome to collapse.
Lava layers on the sides of the volcano reveal at least 60 major eruptions in the last 10,000 years, making it the most active volcano on the Kamchatka peninsula and in the adjacent Kuril island chain.
Shiveluch rises from almost sea level to about 9,200 feet (2,800 metres) and is often capped with snow.
The nearest settlement is 30 miles away and its residents are prepared to evacuate quickly should their rumbling neighbor become too violent.
Photo: Yuri Demyanchuk
Kamchatkan Branch of Geophysical Surveys