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A number of tephrochronologically correlated and dated sedimentary sections provide evidence for the existence of a giant lake filled the Central Kamchatka depression 30-11 thousand years ago. The lake extent bounded by CKD borders is estimated to be ~10 000 km2. This estimate makes this lake comparable in size to the famous Late Pleistocene glacial Lake Missoula.

Radiocarbon dating is widely used when studying recent volcanic activity in the Kamchatka Peninsula due to the abundance of organic matter that is associated with the volcanic deposits. Here, we present the results of 14C dating of major volcanic events within the active South Kamchatka volcanic zone. South Kamchatka includes 8 recently active volcanic centers (stratovolcanoes, calderas, and large craters) that have been erupting during the Holocene. Their tephras represent useful markers for both the southern part of the peninsula and the Northern Kurile Islands. Since these marker tephra layers facilitate stratigraphic and tephrochronological studies in this area, it was important to determine their ages. We have obtained 73 new individual 14C dates on paleosol, peat, charcoal, and wood associated with the marker tephra layers, then complemented these data with 37 earlier published dates and analyzed the resulting data set. We selected the reliable dates and then obtained average 14C ages of marker tephra layers. The details of these procedures, as well as brief descriptions of South Kamchatka Holocene eruptions and their tephra beds, are presented in the paper.

The UNESCO/IUGS/IGCP project 455 (2001-2005) is intended to contribute to the comprehension of volcano behaviour in different geodynamic settings from a poorly known perspective: the reciprocal influence exerted by volcanoes on their substrate and by the basement on the volcanoes. The main task is to assess the role of this influence in determining natural geological hazards such as eruptions, landslides and earthquakes. The geologic-tectonic control of the substrate on the volcanoes has been usually considered questionable or less important than the conditions of the deep magma source, whereas the control of volcanoes on their basement has even received very little attention. This project improves the comprehension of these phenomena by a strong interdisciplinary approach that ties data on the various geological conditions and heritages of the basement with the deformation processes and geological evolution of different volcanic edifices. We compiled stratigraphic, structural, geomorphological, geophysical, geotechnical, petrographic, geochemical and geochronological data. These data have been transferred to the laboratory-working groups, thus providing realistic numerical and physical simulation even of complex geological structures. Here we present a selection of the main results obtained for some of the studied key volcanoes: Alicudi (Italy) located in a low-tectonic rate setting, Stromboli (Italy) in extensional tectonic setting, Reventador (Ecuador) in compressional setting, and the Northern Volcanic Group of Kamchatka (Russia), Galeras (Colombia) and Mayon (Philippines) in a transtensional setting.

This paper presents the results of studying the spatial distribution and structural setting of magnesian basalts and andesites in the Northern group of Kamchatkan volcanoes and in the junction zone of the Kuril-Kamchatka and Aleutian island arcs. The morphology and geologic structure of unique Kamchatkan magnesian basalt stratovolcanoes are described: Kharchinsky, Zarechnyi, and the Kharchinsky regional zone of cinder cones. The reported evidence includes the ages and eruptive histories, and productivities of the volcanoes and the volumes and weights of their edifices. The magnesian basalts were erupted 40-50 thousand years ago, for the first time during the Holocene.

Most of the Kharchinskii and Zarechnyi products, as well as those of the Kharchinskii cinder cones, are magnesian rocks. Mineralogical data suggest that both the basaltic and the andesitic magma were rich in water (≥3-4 and >6-7 wt., respectively) and crystallized at high oxygen fugacity (2.0-2.5 orders of magnitude higher than the NNO buffer). These features, coupled with the geochemical characteristics of these basalts and andesites, indicate that they are similar to the rocks of Shiveluch, a volcano also located on the northern flank of the Northern volcanic group, but differ from the rocks of the other volcanoes of this group which are located further south. The Kharchinskii, Zarechnyi, and Shiveluch magnesian basalts differ from the rocks of the Klyuchevskoi volcano and Tolbachik lava field by their higher K, Ba, Sr and lower Ca, Sc, Yb contents at higher La/Yb, Ni/Sc, and La/Ta ratios, while their initial magmas were more hydrous and more oxidized.

The eruptive history of the Shiveluch andesite volcano included two Holocene events, during which the volcano erupted unusual rocks: medium-potassium, amphibole-bearing magnesian basalts (7600 years ago) and high-potassium magnesian basalts with phlogopite and amphibole (3600 years ago). The volumes of tephra were approximately 0.1 and 0.3 km3, respectively. Some of the mineralogical and geochemical features of the Holocene basalts were inherited by the subsequent basaltic andesites and andesites. These are similar in Mg variation ranges of olivine, clinopyroxene, and amphibole phenocrysts, high Mg contents, and high Cr and Ni concentrations. This and the results of mass-balance calculations do not contradict the view that the Shiveluch volcanic rocks originated during the crystal fractionation of Holocene basalt melts. However, the other geochemical features of the Shiveluch rocks, e.g., their similar REE contents, cast doubt on the formation of the magnesian basaltic andesites through fractional crystallization of magnesian basalt magma and suggest that they originated as a result of interaction between magnesian basalt magma and a depleted mantle material at a shallow depth. At the same time, the different mineral compositions of the Holocene medium- and high-potassium basalts and the results of mass-balance calculations indicate that their parental magmas might be produced by the melting of different rocks.

The births (ages) of most of the active volcanoes, calderas, and large craters produced by caldera-resembling eruptions (subcaldera craters) were dated as a result of geological, geomorphological, tephrochronological, and isotopic studies. The dated active volcanoes were found to be fairly young formations, the age of the oldest being 40-50 thousand years. Most of the presently highly active volcanoes had been born at the very end of the late Pleistocene or during the Holocene. Carbon-14 ages were determined for the majority of the Holocene volcanoes. The periods of time when Holocene volcanoes had been synchronously active were 7500-7800 and 1300-1800 years ago. -from Journal summary

A catastrophic explosive eruption occurred 1700-1800 14C-years ago at Ksudach Volcano in Kamchatka. It was one of the AD greatest Plinian-type eruptions. It erupted 18-19 km3 of pyroclastic material and produced a collapse caldera 4 × 6.5 km in size and 6.5-7 km3 in volume. The eruptive column rose to a height of 23 km. It was the last caldera-forming eruption in the Kuril-Kamchatka region. It resembled an eruption that occurred at Krakatau in 1883 in type and size. The eruption was bound to have a climatic impact, impaired the Earth's ozone layer, and produced an acid peak in the Greenland ice sheet. -from Journal summary