Baransky

Kurile Islands

SUMMARY:

Type: composite
Activity: active
Last Eruption: 1951 AD
Rock Type: ?
Eruptive Volume: ? cu km
Location Map from Xerox PARC
Latitude: 45.10 N
Longitude: 148.03 E

GEOLOGIC HISTORY

Baransky lies just NE of Ivan Grozny and is an elliptical truncated cone with its long axis oriented NW. A pyroclastic cone occupies an older summit crater (0.7 x 1.2 km) open to the NW. A lava dome 400-500 m in diameter rises 40-50 m above the floor of the pyroclastic cone's summit crater, grading into a lava flow on the N flank. A NW-trending chain of explosion vents is found on the N part of the dome. The largest of these vents have been centers of solfataric activity for 40-60 years. Little fumarolic activity persists in the summit crater, alothough vapor sometimes emerges from on or two sites. A 500 x 700 m explosion crater on the volcano's SW flank includes 5 small but rather intense fumaroles. Radiocarbon dating yielded ages of 45,200 ± 800 and 46,400 ± 1000 years for the oldest rocks at the base of the volcano. The most recent C14 eruption dates are 490 ± 30 and 380 ± 30 B.P.

Historic Activity: Baransky's only historic eruption produced week explosions in the summer of 1951.

Recent Activity:

  • Many hot and boiling mineralized springs are active near Baransky.
  • An exploration well into a zone of hot water 4.5 km SW of the summit (in the Kipyaschaya River valley) was drilled in the summer of 1991. Drilling was temporarily halted in early August, but no casing was installed. Two weeks later, a hydrothermal explosion occurred about 50 m upslope forming a crater more than 10 m in diameter.

Data Sources

  • Smithsonian's SEAN Bulletin (V. 13, No. 1 and V. 13, No. 11)
  • Global Volcanism Network (V. 17, No. 12).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Last Update: 2/21/00