Russian volcano near earthquake epicenter erupts for first time in centuries
The eruption sent ash as high as 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) into the sky, according to a statement from the Kronotsky Nature Reserve, where the volcano is located.
Staff were evacuated from the area shortly after 6 a.m. local time, as ash billowed from the crater and steam and gas jets started appearing from cracks on the slopes of the volcano. There were no reports of injuries.
'This is the first historically confirmed eruption of Krasheninnikov volcano in 600 years,' Olga Girina, the head of the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team, told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. Other Russian officials said the volcano had been dormant at least 400 years.
Girina said the eruption could be linked to last week's earthquake. One of the most powerful quakes ever recorded, the quake sent tsunami waves across the Pacific basin, triggering tsunami warnings along the U.S. West Coast, Hawaii, Japan and islands in the Pacific.
The Krasheninnikov volcano is located near the epicenter of the quake. Klyuchevskoy, one of the most active volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula, also began erupting after the quake last week, according to a Russian geological monitoring service.
Abhijit Ghosh, an earthquake seismologist and geophysics professor at the University of California at Riverside, said that while it is too early to draw definitive conclusions, 'the close temporal and spatial association' of the earthquake and latest eruption 'are quite intriguing and warrant further investigation.'
'This situation underscores the complex and connected nature of Earth's geological systems,' he added.
The sparsely populated Kamchatka Peninsula is home to 29 active volcanoes, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Each year, the peninsula records several volcanic eruptions that 'produce ash clouds and threaten the safety of air travel across the North Pacific region' — including between the United States, Russia and Japan — the agency said.
The latest eruption sent a plume of ash spreading eastward from the volcano toward the Pacific Ocean, staff at the Kronotsky Nature Reserve said.
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