An earthquake of 7.0 magnitude struck near the eastern coast of Russia on Sunday (August 18) morning. Due to the earthquake, a volcano named Shiveluch present in the area erupted. According to the report of Russian news agency TASS, the smoke that rose after the volcanic eruption was visible up to a height of 8 km from the coast.
This volcano is about 450 km away from the Russian coastal city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The population of this city is 1 lakh 80 thousand. However, there is no news of any damage or loss of life or property in the explosion.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) said that the epicenter of the earthquake was in the sea about 88 km from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The depth of the epicenter of the earthquake was 48 km. The tsunami warning system in the US has issued a tsunami warning within a radius of 300 km from the epicenter of the earthquake.
Shiveluch had an explosion last year too, it has been spewing lava continuously since 1999
Shiveluch is Russia’s most active volcano. Last year, on 11 April, it had an explosion too. After this, a cloud of ash and smoke rose 20 kilometers high. This smoke spread over 1 lakh 8 thousand square kilometers.
Shiveluch erupted in 1854 and 1964, causing a large mass of lava to collapse. After this, Young Shiveluch erupted on 15 August 1999. Since then it has been continuously active and spewing lava.
On 27 February 2015, a terrible explosion took place in Shiveluch. The explosion was so strong that the ash fell about 9,100 meters away in Alaska. According to reports, there are a total of 61 active volcanoes in Russia.
What is a volcano?
Volcanoes are natural cracks present on the surface of the earth. Through these, molten material such as magma, lava, ash etc. come out from the inner part of the earth with an explosion. Volcanoes are formed due to the collision of 7 tectonic plates and 28 sub-tectonic plates present on the earth. The world’s most active volcano Mount Etna is in Italy.