7 volcanoes erupt in rare phenomenon after massive Russia earthquake
The simultaneous eruption of seven volcanoes is a rare event and the first in nearly 300 years in the region. Among them, Krasheninnikov erupted for the first time in almost 600 years, with experts believing the earthquake was the main trigger.
A powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on July 29 triggered the eruption of seven volcanoes in the country, according to the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).
Following a major earthquake, multiple aftershocks struck the Pacific Ocean near Kamchatka, one of which, measuring magnitude 6 , triggered the eruption of Klyuchevskaya volcano on July 30.
Experts believe the earthquake likely intensified the eruption but was not the main cause, as signs of unrest had already been detected beforehand.
Shortly afterwards, nearby volcanoes including Shiveluch, Bezymianny, Karymsky, Avachinsky, Klyuchevskoy, and Krasheninnikov also erupted, with activity continuing to this day.
According to the RAS, this is the first time in nearly 300 years that seven volcanoes have erupted simultaneously in the region. Alexey Ozerov, Director of the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, described the rare phenomenon as a “parade of erupting volcanoes.”
The eruptions also caused the Earth’s surface to shift southeast, with the largest displacement, nearly two metres, recorded in the southern part of the peninsula.
This movement is comparable in scale to the horizontal displacement caused by the 2011 Japan earthquake, the Joint Geophysical Service of the RAS reported.
Krasheninnikov volcano’s major eruption began at 6am local time on August 3, prompting the evacuation of nearby staff. Fortunately, no residents or tourists were living in the ashfall path, according to the Kronotsky Nature Reserve website and the regional Ministry of Emergency Situations.
This marks Krasheninnikov’s first recorded eruption in nearly 600 years, with the last event documented in 1463. The volcano is located less than 240 kilometres from the epicentre of the offshore quake on Russia’s eastern coast.
“We believe this eruption was triggered by the earthquake, which activated the magma chamber and increased its energy,” Ozerov told Russia’s state-run TASS news agency.
The earthquake on July 29 was among the most powerful ever recorded and the largest globally since 2011, prompting tsunami warnings from Japan to Hawaii and the US West Coast.
According to the US Geological Survey, the Kamchatka Peninsula is home to 29 active volcanoes, three of which had already erupted before the quake.
While multiple volcanoes have erupted in the wake of the earthquake, experts say this is not unusual. “At any given time, about 40–50 volcanoes are erupting worldwide. This is no different, and Kamchatka is a region with many erupting volcanoes,” said Harold Tobin, a seismologist at the University of Washington.
So far, there is no definitive evidence that the earthquake directly caused the eruptions, but the two events can occur together in subduction zones, where one tectonic plate slides beneath another.
“It’s not new for large earthquakes in subduction zones to trigger volcanic eruptions,” said Paul Segall, a geophysicist at Stanford University, in an interview with Live Science.
The largest earthquake ever recorded, a magnitude 9.5 event in Valdivia, Chile, in 1960, was followed by several volcanic eruptions.
“This earthquake altered the stress in the Earth’s crust, which could have made it easier for magma to rise to the surface,” Segall explained. The ground shaking may have contributed to the eruptions by changing magma movement beneath the surface.
Both mechanisms may have played a role in Chile, Segall said, but it is too early to draw firm conclusions about the recent events in Russia.
One of the most notable outcomes of the Kamchatka quake was the first eruption of Krasheninnikov volcano in nearly 600 years. Tobin noted that the timing could be an extraordinary coincidence or that the volcano’s magma system was disturbed by intense seismic waves, but determining the exact cause for a single eruption is extremely difficult.
Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations in Kamchatka reported increased thermal activity at Mutnovsky, the seventh nearby volcano. Satellite imagery shows thermal anomalies, but scientists say they cannot predict whether or when the volcano will erupt.
