Geoscience

Exploration on Debris Flow of Volcanoes in Kamchatka Peninsula Completed

There are over 160 volcanoes in the Kamchatka Peninsula, among which 29 are active volcanoes, e.g. the Klyuchevskaya, Kamen (altitude 4656 m), Avachinsky, Bezymianny (3085 m), Shiveluch (3283 m)，etc. The natural disasters normally go with the active volcanoes are lava flow, pyroclastic flow and lahar. Recently, Hu Kaiheng, a research fellow of the Chengdu Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment (CAS) and his colleagues of four made a field survey at the Kamchatka Peninsula at the invitation of Prof. Sergey Chernomorents of the Moscow National University, Russia. The volcanoes include Shiveluch, Klyuchevskaya and Tolbachik were on the list, and the survey also covered the relevant secondary disasters adjacent to these volcanoes. During their survey, the causes, types of disasters, accumulation forms and ways of damage were studied and samples of lahar were collected. Profs. Andrey Lukashov, Sergey Chenomorents, etc. introduced the genesis of volcano eruption, history of volcano activities and the secondary disasters caused by the eruption of the volcanoes. The two sides had in-depth discussion and exchanges on the formation, transportation and accumulation of the volcano lava and lahar. This field survey has laid a solid base for the completion of the cooperative project “Determination of key parameters for the danger assessment caused by large-scale lahar after volcano earthquakes”, which also provides the first handed data for the study of volcano lahar in China.