Raikoke (Russia)

Status Normal Eruption 1924 551m
Stratovolcano (Subduction zone / Intermediate crust (15-25 km))

Raikoke

A low truncated volcano forms the small barren Raikoke Island, which lies 16 km across the Golovnin Strait from Matua Island in the central Kuriles. The oval-shaped basaltic island is only 2 x 2.5 km wide and rises above a submarine terrace. The steep-walled crater, highest on the SE side, is 700 m wide and 200 m deep. Lava flows mantle the eastern side of the island. A catastrophic eruption in 1778, during which the upper third of the island was said to have been destroyed, prompted the first volcanological investigation in the Kuril Islands two years later. Reports of eruptions in 1777 and 1780 are erroneous (Gorshkov, 1970). Another powerful eruption in 1924 greatly deepened the crater and changed the outline of the island.

Raikoke Island, seen here from the SE, lies 50 km SW of Shiashkotan Island and 16 km across the Golovnin Strait to the NE of its closest neighboring volcano on Matua Island. The summit of the low, 551-m-high Raikoke contains a steep-walled crater, 700 m wide and 200 m deep, that is highest on the SE side. The island is only 2 x 2.5 km wide and rises above a submarine terrace at a depth of 130 m. A catastrophic eruption in 1778 prompted the first volcanological investigation in the Kurile Islands two years later.

Photo by Yoshihiro Ishizuka, 2000 (Hokkaido University).

Last updated 2019-08-04 00:28:03

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