Location Kamchatka, Russia Elevation 3,682 m Prominence 2,190 m | Easiest route basic rock/snow climb Last eruption 1976 Listing Ultra-prominent peak | |
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Mountain type Shield volcano and stratovolcano Similar Klyuchevskaya Sopka, Bezymianny, Mutnovsky, Avachinsky, Gorely | ||
Tolbachik 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 (3,682 m), which as the names suggest are respectively a flat-topped shield volcano and a peaked stratovolcano. 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.
Contents
Map of Tolbachik, Kamchatka Krai, Russia, 684406
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. Lava flowed up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the line of fissures on the volcano’s southern flank. This satellite image was collected on December 22, 2012. According to the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT), the eruption is ongoing.
Mineralogy
The fumarole deposits of Tolbachik are rich in exotic minerals and 54 were first described from here including alarsite and tolbachite.