The explosive activity of Karymskii Volcano, Kamchatka: Acoustic and seismic observations

Abstract

Karymskii Volcano typically shows explosive activity with great variations in the frequency and energy of explosions. This is demonstrated here for three time segments of the volcano’s activity (1970–1973, 1976–1980, and 1996–2000). We examine various types of seismic and acoustic emission as controlled by crater morphology and the character of activity. The explosion funnels migrated over the crater area, and the 1976 effusive-explosive eruption occurred at two centers of lava flow effusion; this is here explained by the fact that magma as it was moving along the conduit was stratified to form a set of vertical filaments. The shape of shock waves in air recorded in August 2011 favors the hypothesis that the leading explosive mechanism during that period was a fragmentation wave that was produced in a gas-charged, viscous, porous magma during decompression. One notices that the shape of some shock waves in air recorded in 2011 indicates the occurrence of air blasts above the crater. The air blasts may have been caused by combustible volcanic gases such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen (CO and H2), which entered the atmosphere in sufficient amounts.