Holocene Kamchatka volcanoes
Institute of Volcanology and Seismology
Kamchatka, Russia
 
Global Volcanism Program number
1000-12
Zhupanovsky

53°35' N, 159°08' E, elevation 2927.2 m (the easternmost summit)



Fig.1



Fig.2



Fig.3

If one flies north of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky or just gets at the saddle between Koriaksky and Avachinsky volcanoes, he will see a gloomy  NW-SE- oriented range composed of volcanic cones of various ages and morphology (Fig.1). This is Zhupanovsky volcano, one of the least studied despite its proximity to the city. The volcanic range is covered by glaciers which descend down its northern slopes (Fig.2).

Topography of the volcanic range indicates that most of it was built in Late Pleistocene, however, tephra sequence at the foot of the volcano provides an evidence of its recent activity, especially intense in the first part of the Holocene. Southern slopes of the volcano host Holocene lava and pyroclastic flow deposits. Holocene activity was associated with western cones of the range (cones II, III, and IV, see the  map). Eruptions varied from dominantly explosive events, which produced ashfalls and pyroclastic density currents, to lava eruptions.

Historical eruptions were rather weak explosions from cones II and III. They took place in 1776, 1882, 1925, 1929, 1940, and 1956-57.  Present day activity is associated with fumaroles located near the summit and in the ice-filled crater of cone II.

Zhupanovsky Holocene products range from basaltic andesites to andesites and dacites.

The most prominent features of the northern slopes of the range are voluminous blocky lava flows (Fig. 3), which originated from monogenetic vents at the saddle between Zhupanovsky and Dzenzur volcanoes (map). They were erupted in several pulses and are composed of medium-K andesites.

Literature

Masurenkov Yu.P. and Florensky IV (1991) Zhupanovsky volcano. In: Fedotov SA and Masurenkov YuP (Eds) Active volcanoes of Kamchatka. V. 2. "Nauka Publishers", Moscow, pp 218-227 [in Russian and English] 

Litvinov AF, Burmakov Yu.A. (1993) Geologic structure and Quaternary volcanism in the Zhupanov Ridge, Eastern Kamchatka. Volcanol Seismol 15 (2): 129-134