Mendeleyeva (; , ''Rausu-san'') is a
stratovolcano
A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...
located in the southern part of
Kunashir Island
Kunashir Island (; ; ), possibly meaning ''Black Island'' or ''Grass Island'' in Ainu, is the southernmost island of the Kuril Islands. The island has been under Russian administration since the end of World War II, when Soviet forces took po ...
,
Kuril Islands
The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands are a volcanic archipelago administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the Russian Far East. The islands stretch approximately northeast from Hokkaido in Japan to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, separating the ...
,
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
.
The dominantly
andesitic
Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...
-
dacitic
Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite. ...
volcano is cut by two nested
caldera
A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...
s, the larger 6–7 km in diameter and the smaller 3-3.5 km. A central cone that formed inside the younger caldera was breached to the west by a large
debris avalanche
Debris flows are geological phenomena in which water-laden masses of soil and fragmented rock flow down mountainsides, funnel into stream channels, entrain objects in their paths, and form thick, muddy deposits on valley floors. They generally ...
about 4200 years ago. A
lava dome
In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular, mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6% of eruptions ...
that grew inside the avalanche
scarp forms the 888 m high point of the volcano. Additional lava domes in the northern part of the older caldera are considered to represent flank activity of the younger caldera.
The only unambiguous historical eruption was a small
phreatic eruption
A phreatic eruption, also called a phreatic explosion, ultravulcanian eruption or steam-blast eruption, occurs when magma heats ground water or surface water. The extreme temperature of the magma (anywhere from ) causes near-instantaneous evap ...
in 1880. Four
solfatara fields lie at the eastern and northern flanks of the central cone. Goriachy Pliazh geothermal field is located outside the caldera, along the eastern coast.
See also
*
List of volcanoes in Russia
This is a list of active and extinct volcanoes in Russia.
European Russia
Kamchatka
Volcanoes of the Kamchatka Peninsula of the northwestern Pacific Ocean and the Russian Far East.
Kuril Islands
Volcanoes of the Kuril Islands, in the ...
References
External links
Raususan- Japan Meteorological Agency
* - Japan Meteorological Agency
- Geological Survey of Japan
{{Authority control
Kunashir Island
Stratovolcanoes of Russia
Active volcanoes
Natural monuments of Russia
Volcanoes of the Kuril Islands
Holocene stratovolcanoes