Kamchatka - the Kronotsky Reserve: Kronotsky and Kikhpinych volcanoes.

Kronotsky volcano overlooking the reserve of the same name - photo Russian traveling

Lighthouse of the Kronotsky Reserve, the symmetrical stratovolcano Kronotsky is located between the Pacific Ocean and the largest lake in Kamchatka .

Above 3528 meters, it is cut by deep radial valleys of more than 200 meters. He wears a summit glacier , including lobes down to 900 meters. It is essentially of basaltic composition , except for a  basalto-andesitic neck, which forms a plug in the summit crater , and a flank lava flow .

Cinder cones dot the flanks.

Small phreatic eruptions have been reported by hunters in 1922 and 1923 , confirmed by the GVP , and followed by fumarolic activity.

The Kronotsky seen from the Krasheninnikov caldera - photo I.Shpilenok

To the center, bordering the Pacific, the symmetric Kronotsky volcano and the lake of the same name , and left the Krasheninnikov - photo Nasa / ISS Expedition 25 crew

The lake Kronotsky owes its formation , between the late Pleistocene and the early Holocene , to dams formed on the river Listvenichnaya by lava flows on the south side of the volcano Kronotsky .

This lake has an area of ​​242 km ² and a catchment area of ​​330 km ² , making it the largest lake in Kamchatka . It also has an impressive population of nerkas , with 30 million of these sockeye.

In the eastern part of the lake, there hare 11 islands,  thirty meters above the level, some of which are home to hundreds of nesting pairs of Pacific Herring . Osprey and Steller eagles nest in larch surrounding the lake.

The volcano Kikhpinych - in the foreground , the cone Savich and recent lava flows . - Photo I.Shpilenok

The volcano Kikhpinych is the collective name for several structures of different age.

Three structures are formed on an east-west oriented ridge :
- The Zapadnyi ( "West" ) was built between 2200 and 2100 BC ( radiocarbon ) .
- The cone Savich , 1552 m , began to form there 1450 years
- And the lava dome Crab and its lava flows , there a few hundred years on the eastern flank of Savich .

These structures Holocene accompanied the ruins of the Old Kikhpinich or Mt Peak, dating from the Middle Pleistocene , and to the south of Mt Zheltaya (" Yellow ") , dating from the late Pleistocene .

Sources :

- KSCNET - Kamchatka Holocene volcanoes - link

- Global Volcanism Program - Kronotsky

- Global Volcanism Program - Kikhpinych