A volcano in Russia's Far East erupts for the first time in centuries
A volcano on Russia's far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula erupted overnight into Sunday for what scientists said is the first time in hundreds of years, days after a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake.
The Krasheninnikov volcano sent ash 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) into the sky, according to staff at the Kronotsky Reserve, where the volcano is located. Images released by state media showed dense clouds of ash rising above the volcano.
'The plume is spreading eastward from the volcano toward the Pacific Ocean. There are no populated areas along its path, and no ashfall has been recorded in inhabited localities,' Kamchatka's emergencies ministry wrote on Telegram during the eruption.
The eruption was accompanied by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake and prompted a tsunami warning for three areas of Kamchatka. The tsunami warning was later lifted by Russia's Ministry for Emergency Services.
'This is the first historically confirmed eruption of the Krasheninnikov volcano in 600 years,' Olga Girina, head of the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team, told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, based in the U.S., however, lists Krasheninnikov's last eruption as occurring 475 years ago in 1550.
The reason for the discrepancy was not clear.
The Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team said late Sunday that the volcano's activity was decreasing but that 'moderate explosive activity" could continue.
The eruption occurred after a huge earthquake struck Russia's Far East early Wednesday, an 8.8-magnitude temblor that caused small tsunami waves in Japan and Alaska and prompted warnings for Hawaii, North and Central America and Pacific islands south toward New Zealand.
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Russian volcano explodes in 'powerful' eruption, likely intensified by 8.8 magnitude earthquake
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Klyuchevskoy volcano in eastern Russia began erupting shortly after a powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake and several aftershocks shook the same area. "A descent of hot lava is observed on the western slope," the Geophysical Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences said in a translated post on the messaging app Telegram Wednesday (July 30). The Kamchatka branch of the academy captured the eruption on cameras observing the volcano. In the Telegram post, they reported seeing "explosions" as a "powerful glow above the volcano." The ash plume from the eruption extended at least 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) above and 36 miles (58 km) east of the volcano, the Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team said on Telegram. The group warned that explosions of ash up to 5 miles (8 km) high could occur at any time. Details about the full extent of the eruption and damages are unknown at this time. In the weeks leading up to the earthquake, "the volcano was showing signs of unrest," a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) representative told Live Science in an email. On July 21, a team of Russian scientists found a lava lake at the summit of the volcano, signaling that the volcano was primed for eruption. Related: Russian volcano grows 'devil horns' and spits out 1,000-mile-long river of smoke — Earth from space "While yesterday's large earthquake did not cause the eruption to begin, it did likely increase in the vigor of the eruption including some ash emission," the USGS representative said. Klyuchevskoy, which rises 15,597 feet (4,754 meters) above sea level, is the tallest active volcano in Asia and Europe, according to NASA's Earth Observatory. The volcano sits on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, a hotspot for geologic activity due to its position on the Pacific Ring of Fire. The eruption came hours after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake — tied for the sixth-most-powerful earthquake ever recorded — struck on the same peninsula Wednesday at 11:24 a.m. local time. The earthquake could generate tsunami waves higher than 10 feet (3 m) above the tide on the coasts of Hawaii, Ecuador and Russia, the U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center warned after the earthquake struck. RELATED STORIES —The closer a volcano is to erupting, the greener the trees around it look from space —Melting glaciers could trigger volcanic eruptions around the globe, study finds —Lava erupts from gigantic fissure in Iceland following earthquake swarm — and the photos are epic The volcano is about 280 miles (450 km) north of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the regional capital city. It last erupted in late 2023, when it spewed a 1,000-mile-long (1,600 km) river of dust and ash that reached up to 7.5 miles (12 km) above Earth's surface. This eruption is "typical activity at this very active volcano," the USGS representative said. "The volcano is in a remote area and this eruption is consistent with other recent past eruptions."
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The 21 largest recorded earthquakes in history
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. As the world's tectonic plates crash, grind and dive into one another, they release their pent-up energy in giant earthquakes that can rock the ground, trigger volcanic eruptions, move mountains and unleash tsunamis. And since scientists figured out how to measure earthquake magnitude in the early 1900s, some truly massive quakes have shaken our planet. These are the monstrous "megathrust" earthquakes, the most powerful quakes in the world. A huge fraction of these earthquakes occurred in a handful of subduction zones along the seismically restless "Ring of Fire" in the Pacific, where tectonic plates dive beneath one another. From the devastating Sumatran quake and tsunami of 2004 to a monstrous temblor in Siberia that, thankfully, killed no one, here are the 20 largest earthquakes ever recorded, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). 21. Sanriku-Oki, Japan; 1933; magnitude 8.4 A magnitude 8.4 quake struck near the Sanriku region of Japan on March 2, 1933, according to the USGS. The quake occurred about 180 miles (290 kilometers) offshore of Honshu, Japan. Most of the deaths resulted from the tsunami the quake generated, which swept away 3,000 homes and destroyed 2,000 others and generated nearly 100-foot (29 meters) waves in Honshu, Japan. Several decades later, a magnitude 9.0 temblor would rock the same general region, causing the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami of 2011. This area is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, a nearly 25,000-mile-long (40,000 km) horseshoe-shaped belt that is known for both earthquakes and volcanic activity. The ring fringes the boundaries of the Pacific Plate wherever it smashes into its neighboring plates; in the region around Tōhoku, the Pacific Plate is colliding with the North American Plate. 20. Arequipa, Peru; 2001; magnitude 8.4 A magnitude 8.4 earthquake struck 4 miles (6 km) from the coastal town of Atico, Peru, on June 23, 2001. At least 74 people were killed; more than a third of them were swept away by the resulting tsunami. More than 2,600 people were injured, and over 50,000 homes were damaged by the strong ground shaking. The quake occurred at the boundary of the Nazca and South American plates, where the Nazca Plate is moving northeast at about 3 inches (78 millimeters) per year, smashing into and diving beneath the South American Plate, according to the USGS. Ground shaking as a result of the seismic activity was felt as far away as La Paz, Bolivia. 19. South of Sumatra, 2007, magnitude 8.4 On April 12, 2007, a magnitude 8.4 earthquake struck approximately 76 miles (122 km) offshore of Bengkulu, Indonesia, on the island of Sumatra. The giant quake occurred due to thrust faulting on the boundary between the Sunda and Australian plates. Around 25 people died, and more than 161 were injured. More than 20,000 buildings were damaged in the cities of Bengkulu and Sumatera Barat, according to the USGS. The quake marked the fourth magnitude 7.9 or greater temblor to strike the general region that decade; the area was still actively remodeling itself after the monster quake that struck just after Christmas Day in 2004 (see #3). 18. Near Kamchatka Peninsula, 1923, magnitude 8.4 Relatively little is known about the magnitude 8.4 quake that struck off the east coast of Kamchatka, Russia, on Feb. 3, 1923. The sparsely populated area of the Russian Far East sits near the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench, where the Pacific Plate is diving beneath the Okhotsk Plate, a teensy plate that was once thought to be part of the North American Plate. No reported injuries or deaths occurred, but the quake triggered a modest tsunami, according to the USGS. 17. Kuril Islands, Russia; 1963; magnitude 8.5 Relatively little is known about the quakes that struck the remote Kuril Islands on Oct. 13, 1963. This volcanic archipelago stretches between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula and Hokkaido, Japan. No deaths, damage or injuries were reported as a result of this temblor, but it triggered a tsunami that reached the northern Pacific Ocean. 16. Atacama, Chile; 1922; magnitude 8.5 On Nov. 11, 1922, a massive magnitude 8.5 quake struck the Atacama Desert on the border of Argentina and Chile. Even though the epicenter of the earthquake was beneath land, the shaking was so strong that it triggered a tsunami that killed hundreds of people, according to news reports at the time. 15. Banda Sea, Indonesia; 1938; magnitude 8.5 On Feb. 1, 1938, a magnitude 8.5 quake rocked the seafloor about 88 miles (141 km) northwest of Tual, Indonesia. Despite the strength of this temblor, the damage was fairly minor. Residents of the Banda and Kai islands felt the tremors, while in the city of Tual, glassware broke and a pendulum stopped. 14. Unimak Island, Alaska; 1946; magnitude 8.6 A magnitude 8.6 quake struck Unimak Island on April 1, 1946. Despite its large size, the quake did not destroy any buildings. However, it triggered a 115-foot-high (35 m) tsunami that swept away a lighthouse, along with its five occupants, according to the USGS. When the tsunami reached Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawaii, it swept away 159 people and caused $26 million in property damage. Unimak Island is one of the Aleutian Islands, which sit on the restive Ring of Fire, just like many of the other regions struck by large quakes on this list. 13. Andreanof Islands, Alaska; 1957; magnitude 8.6 The quake that struck off of the Andreanof Islands, part of the Aleutian Islands, on March 9, 1957, registered a magnitude 8.6. The quake occurred about 53 miles (86 km) southeast of Adak, Alaska, a tiny village of a few hundred people and the state's southernmost town. No one was killed, but the quake destroyed two bridges, created a meters-long crack in one road in Adak and damaged houses. The quake also generated a 49-foot-high (15 m) tsunami that slammed into the nearby Scotch Cap lighthouse, as well as a 26-foot-high (8 m) tsunami that washed away oil lines in Sand Bay. The tsunami then traveled to Hawaii, where it destroyed two villages, and to San Diego, where it also damaged some property. 12. Northern Sumatra, Indonesia; 2005; magnitude 8.6 The area around Sumatra is a seismically active one, with the Indonesian island sitting astride the volcanically active Pacific Ring of Fire. That seismically unsettled region, where the Australian Plate and Sunda Plate meet, unleashed a massive amount of energy on March 28, 2005, when a magnitude 8.6 quake struck 48 miles (78 km) west of Singkil, at a depth of 18 miles (30 km). More than 1,300 people were killed, another 340 were injured and hundreds of buildings were destroyed, mostly on the island of Nias. The quake was felt as far away as India and Sri Lanka. The earthquake occurred because the Australian Plate is moving to the northeast at a rate of 2 inches (50 millimeters) per year and is diving into the mantle at the Sunda Trench. According to the USGS, the massive quake was unleashed in the aftermath of the massive Indian Ocean earthquake of 2004 as the faults in the region continued to adjust to that seismic shift. 11. Off the west coast of northern Sumatra, 2012, magnitude 8.6 On April 11, 2012, a magnitude 8.6 temblor struck off the coast of northern Sumatra. Because it struck a few hundred miles off the coast, it was felt as strong shaking in only a few population centers, such as Banda Aceh and Meulaboh, Indonesia. It caused only light structural damage in those metropolitan regions, according to the USGS. Light shaking could be felt as far away as Mumbai, India, and Broome, Australia. Two people were killed directly by the quake, eight died of heart attacks and 12 were injured. 10. Assam-Tibet, 1950, magnitude 8.6 At least 1,500 people died across eastern Tibet and Assam, India, when this temblor shook the region on Aug. 15, 1950. Ground cracks, large landslides and sand volcanoes struck the area. The quake was felt in China's Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, and as far away as Kolkata, India. The quake caused large landslides that blocked rivers. When the rivers finally burst through the walls of debris, waves inundated several villages and killed hundreds of people. This quake is commonly called the Assam-Tibet earthquake or the Assam earthquake, even though the epicenter was in Tibet. The quake struck at the intersection of the most vigorous collision of continental plates on the planet, where the Indian Plate smashes into the Eurasian Plate and dives beneath it. The slow-motion crash helped create the massive Himalayas. 9. Rat Islands, Alaska; 1965; magnitude 8.7 Alaska had been a state for only six years when this huge earthquake triggered a tsunami over 30 feet (10 m) high on Feb. 4, 1965. Despite its size, the quake caused little damage due to its remote location at the tip of the Aleutian Islands. The tsunami was reported in Hawaii and spread as far as Japan. The temblor was the result of the Pacific Plate diving beneath the North American Plate at the Alaska-Aleutian megathrust, which has been the location of many megathrust earthquakes. The quake cracked wood buildings and split an asphalt runway. Hairline cracks also formed in the runways at the U.S. Coast Guard's Loran Station. 8. Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia; 2025; magnitude 8.8 On July 29, 2025, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck approximately 40 miles (60 km) from Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, at a depth of 12.8 miles (20.7 km). The earthquake generated multiple tsunamis, with warnings issued in regions across the Pacific, including North America, South America, Japan, Russia and Pacific island nations. The earthquake occurred when the Pacific plate rubbed against the North American plate. According to the USGS, the likely cause was a slip over a large fault area. It was the largest earthquake since 2011's magnitude 9 Tohoku earthquake in Japan. 7. Off the coast of Ecuador, 1906, magnitude 8.8 On Jan. 31, 1906, a catastrophic magnitude 8.8 earthquake hit off the coast of Ecuador and Colombia and generated a strong tsunami that killed 500 to 1,500 people. The tsunami spread along the coast of Central America, and even lapped at the shorelines in San Francisco and Japan. The earthquake occurred along the boundary between the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate. Because it hit more than 100 years ago, reports are spotty. But according to the USGS, witnesses reported a huge rush of water in Honolulu Bay. All the steam and sailboats in the bay were turned around, and then a sudden flood tide roared inland. 6. Offshore Maule, Chile; 2010; magnitude 8.8 On Feb. 27, 2010, an earthquake and tsunami hit central Chile. At least 500 people were killed and 800,000 were displaced by the natural disaster. More than 1.8 million people were affected, and the total economic loss was estimated at $30 billion. Like many other quakes on this list, this temblor took place along the seismically active boundary between the Nazca and South American tectonic plates, which can release bone-shatteringly strong shaking. The quake hit just over a month after the disastrous magnitude 7.0 quake in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, which killed more than 200,000 people. 5. Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia; 1952; magnitude 9.0 The world's first recorded magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the east coast of Kamchatka on Nov. 4, 1952. The quake generated a 43-foot (13 m) tsunami locally. The tsunami rocked Crescent City, California. No one died, but in Hawaii, property damage was estimated at up to $1 million ($11.12 million in today's dollars). The waves tossed boats onto the beach, caused houses to collide, destroyed piers, scoured beaches and moved road pavement. 4. Tōhoku, Japan; 2011; magnitude 9.1 On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.1 quake triggered a tsunami that left more than 15,700 people dead, more than 4,600 missing, over 5,300 injured and more than 130,900 displaced, according to the USGS. More than 332,000 buildings, 2,100 roads, 56 bridges and 26 railways were damaged as a result of the quake. The quake also damaged nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, leading to one of the biggest nuclear disasters in history. This earthquake was the largest ever recorded in Japan, and cost an estimated $309 billion in damage. For weeks afterward, strong aftershocks above magnitude 6.0, and even 7.0, continued to rock the region, and the quake sent tsunami waves as far as Hawaii, California and the Galapagos Islands. Even in distant Antarctica, the quakes cracked large slabs of ice from the Sulzberger Ice Shelf, according to the USGS. The quake was caused by thrust faulting near the Japan Trench, the boundary between the Pacific and North American plates. 3. Sumatra-Andaman Islands, 2004, magnitude 9.1 This quake was the third-largest earthquake in history and the largest since the 1964 earthquake in Prince William Sound, Alaska (see #2). In total, nearly 300,000 people were killed or presumed dead, and about 1.2 million people were displaced by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in 10 countries in Southeast Asia and East Africa. Extremely strong shaking was felt in Banda Aceh, but the deadliest aspect of this quake was the resulting tsunami, which caused more deaths than any other in recorded history up to that point. The tsunami was recorded nearly worldwide on tide gauges in the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The massive quake struck one day after Christmas along the interface of the Indian and Burma tectonic plates and was caused by the release of stress that developed as the Indian Plate dived beneath the Burma microplate. The massive fault zone, which was offshore, was as long as California, according to the USGS. 2. Prince William Sound, Alaska; 1964; magnitude 9.2 This great earthquake and ensuing tsunami took 128 lives and caused about $311 million in property loss. The earthquake damage was heavy in many towns, including Anchorage, which was about 75 miles (120 km) northwest of the epicenter. The quake, which struck on March 27, 1964, ruptured along a seismically active fault between the North American and Pacific plates. The shaking lasted about 3 minutes. Landslides in Anchorage caused heavy damage. Huge slides occurred in the downtown business section, and water mains and gas, sewer, telephone and electrical systems were disrupted throughout the area. 1. Valdivia, Chile; 1960; magnitude 9.5 Approximately 1,655 people died in the largest earthquake ever recorded, which struck Valdivia, Chile, on May 22, 1960. Thousands more were injured, and millions were left homeless. Southern Chile suffered $550 million in damage. The quake triggered a tsunami that killed 61 people in Hawaii, 138 in Japan and 32 in the Philippines. The earthquake struck where the Nazca Plate dives underneath the South American Plate, on the Peru-Chile Trench. Editor's Note: This article was originally published on 2012. Solve the daily Crossword
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What is the Pacific Ring of Fire?
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The Ring of Fire is an enormous belt of active and dormant volcanoes that surrounds most of the Pacific Ocean. It runs from southern Chile, up the west coast of the Americas, through the islands off Alaska and down Japan to the Philippines. Some geologists also include an Indonesian chain of volcanoes in the ring. These volcanoes arise because of subduction — the movement of a tectonic plate under a neighboring plate — which lowers the melting point of rock in the mantle. The rock turns to magma, rises to the surface and erupts as a volcano. But the Ring of Fire does this subduction on a massive scale. "What's special about the Ring of Fire is that multiple oceanic plates in the Pacific have subduction boundaries there," Loÿc Vanderkluysen, a volcanologist at Drexel University in Philadelphia, told Live Science. About 90% of the 34,000 miles (55,000 kilometers) of subduction plate boundaries on Earth are found in the Pacific, Vanderkluysen explained. This tectonic movement also causes earthquakes. When one plate is forced underneath another, "there's lots of kicking and screaming as the plates grind against one another," Jeffrey Karson, a professor emeritus of tectonics at Syracuse University in New York, told Live Science. "And so that's where the biggest earthquakes on our planet take place." The Ring of Fire contains about 75% of Earth's active volcanoes and is where 90% of measured earthquakes occur. What's in a name? The name Ring of Fire is hotly contested among researchers. "Many scientists hate the term," Vanderkluysen said. For one, it's not actually a complete ring. The volcanoes follow the edges of tectonic plates, which only subduct on the north, east and west of the Pacific. Also, some areas of the ring have no volcanism at all, such as Peru and central Chile. In addition, the Ring of Fire includes more than 450 volcanoes in distinct regions. And they all differ in their magma production, storage and the positioning of their subducting plate, Vanderkluysen said. "Each [volcano] has its own individual history and flavor that, from a research perspective, is more effective to study individually rather than trying to link all the Ring of Fire volcanoes together that are otherwise not geologically linked," he said. Related: Sleeping subduction zone could awaken and form a new 'Ring of Fire' that swallows the Atlantic Ocean Some experts believe that the term has taken on a false meaning in popular culture, with the implication that it's one big structure, Erik Klemetti, a volcanologist at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, told Live Science. "It works nicely as a way to describe the fact that there are an awful lot of volcanoes along the edge of the Pacific," he said, but the ring is just "a geographic coincidence of our current moment on Earth." One big misconception is "the catastrophist notion that all volcanoes in the Ring of Fire are interconnected and that an eruption or earthquake in one location can trigger the whole region with dramatic consequences," Vanderkluysen said. While it's clear to scientists that an eruption in Japan will not trigger an eruption in Chile, for example, the term is sometimes used to suggest that it's possible, he said. "An immense natural laboratory for volcanism" Research into the Ring of Fire spreads across many fields. About two-thirds of the volcanoes that have erupted on Earth since 1960 were in the ring, so "just due to sheer numbers, the Pacific region is an immense natural laboratory for volcanism, and explosive volcanism in particular," Vanderkluysen said. Volcanologists can use data from the ring to learn about the various eruptions that happen there. "Some are steady and erupt without massive build-ups, and others erupt sporadically but catastrophically," Robert Butler, who studies plate tectonics at the University of Aberdeen, told Live Science in an email. The different kinds of plate interactions in the Pacific serve as "test beds" for learning what leads to different types of eruptions, Klemetti explained. Klemetti hopes Ring of Fire research will eventually reveal the inner workings of volcanoes that take place miles below sea level. In the next 10 or 20 years, he thinks scientists can learn about where and how magma is stored between eruptions, how long it takes for magma to heat up and understand more about the transition from dormancy to eruption. Seismologists also study the Ring of Fire, as more than 80% of earthquakes with a magnitude of 8.0 or higher have occurred there. Researchers can investigate quakes in the Ring of Fire to learn more about how the stress builds up in subduction zones before powerful earthquakes, Butler said. The vast amount of data helps scientists differentiate between types of extreme events and their causes. "It's a general problem we need to sort in geology, the differences between frequent, not too serious events, and those that occur infrequently but are super-devastating," Butler said. RELATED STORIES —The lost continent of Zealandia hides clues to the Ring of Fire's birth —Japan's Explosive Geology Explained —Russia's tallest volcano spews out 1,000-mile-long river of smoke after giant eruption, satellite images reveal Analyzing volcanoes and earthquakes in the Ring of Fire can help scientists to improve extreme hazard prediction for volcanic eruptions. Scientists estimate that 800 million people — about 10% of the world's population — live within 62 miles (100 kilometers) of an active volcano. "In the future, there will be large volcanic eruptions that might happen close to population centers and might have impacts at the global scale," Marc-Antoine Longpré, a volcanologist at CUNY Graduate Center, told Live Science. Earthquakes in the ring, and resulting tsunamis, are also of great concern. Researchers could use earthquake data from the Ring of Fire to develop early warning systems or forecasting tools, Vanderkluysen said. US volcano quiz: How many can you name in 10 minutes? Solve the daily Crossword
