Volcano Uzon is the origin of the name. What are calderas? How are they formed? How many of them exist
Calderas are real curiosities of our planet. They differ from the craters familiar to us in much larger sizes and can have a length of 10–20 kilometers or more. All calderas of volcanic origin are formed in two ways:
- as a result of explosive volcanic eruptions;
- by the collapse of the mountain surface into a cavity freed from magma.
There are calderas of non-volcanic origin, which are formed as a result of the deep movement of magma. A striking example of such a basin is Kozelskaya Sopka, located in the southeast of the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Collapse calderas
Collapse calderas occur when a large magma chamber is completely emptied during an eruption. The volcano, located above the reservoir and forming its lid, collapses and falls into the cavity that has appeared. As a result, a huge crater is formed, inside which new volcanic cones can grow.
One of the most famous collapse calderas on Earth is Crater in Oregon, formed 7,700 years ago by the eruption of Mount Mazama. Then all the magma poured out of the crater, and the volcano itself collapsed into the formed voids. Over many centuries, the caldera, about 8 km wide, was filled with rainwater and melted snow - this is how Crater Lake appeared. With a depth of 589 m, it is the deepest in the United States and the seventh deepest in the world.
explosive calderas
The principle of the formation of explosive calderas is as follows: a very large magma chamber filled with silica and hot gases begins to move upward from the depths. As it rises to the surface, the pressure in the reservoir decreases, the gases expand and a breakthrough occurs in the earth's crust, accompanied by a giant explosion. Cubic kilometers of magma and rock fragments break out of the resulting cavity, in the place of which a caldera appears.
Yellowstone National Park is world famous for its geysers and hot springs. These thermal phenomena are a sign of an active magma system underground, which is responsible for several apocalyptic eruptions in the history of the Earth. Two huge magma reservoirs, located one below the other in the park, lie under the giant Yellowstone caldera, about 70 km wide.
Its formation took place in several stages over millions of years, but it finally formed after the eruption 640,000 years ago. The emergence of the caldera is associated with the movement of the North American tectonic plate to the west over a stationary hot spot. When the plate moves, eruptions occur at that point. It was they who formed both the caldera itself and the chain of rhyolitic depressions (circuses) on the path of the hot spot.
Caldera Toba
Around 73,000 years ago, an eruption occurred on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, which is believed to be the largest explosion on Earth in at least the last 25 million years. According to research, during this eruption, about 800 cubic kilometers of ash were thrown into the atmosphere, and a caldera 100 km long and 35 km wide was formed at the site of the explosion. It currently houses Lake Toba, the world's largest reservoir of volcanic origin.
The natives of Kamchatka, the Itelmens, who made their way to Uzon for colorful clays for paints, sacredly kept the secret of this amazing place. They brought the first civilized person here in September 1854. It was Carl von Ditmar, an official for special assignments in the mining area. Since then, people have not left the Uzon volcano sleeping for eight thousand years with their attention.
Volcanologists call Uzon a "caldera". This term (from the Spanish caldero - "cauldron") indicates a special, "failed" origin of the giant crater-basin. About three hundred thousand years ago, on the site of Uzon, a conical stratovolcano towered, reaching a height of three kilometers. After a series of grandiose eruptions, which ended forty thousand years ago, the volcano collapsed, the earth beneath it sank - a caldera was formed.
The western edge of the caldera - Barany Peak - preserves a one and a half kilometer "shard" of the primordial volcano. Steep walls, accessible only to snow sheep, rise up like a springboard. Hollows filled with snow fall down like white lightning. The horizons of brick-red slag are reminiscent of ancient eruptions.
Eight and a half thousand years ago, Uzon experienced the last "shock". The colossal explosion left behind a funnel about a kilometer in diameter. And since then, Uzon has never erupted. According to modern concepts, if the period before the last eruption exceeded 3,500 years, the volcano can be considered inactive. But not extinguished at all. Uzon, of course, is old, but his old age is colored in an unusual way. Over the past millennia, fumaroles and solfataras - outlets of hot volcanic gases - have changed the surface of the earth, saturating it with a host of thermal springs. But wildlife did not retreat, forming a unique symbiosis with volcanism. Located on the territory of the Kronotsky Reserve, Uzon has been taken under special protection - since 1996 it has been included in the UNESCO World Natural Heritage List in the nomination "Volcanoes of Kamchatka".
The outer slopes of the caldera are indented with ravines. Thickets of cedar and alder elfin are easily overcome only for bears. Wind, fog and slanting freezing rain are constant companions in the Kamchatka mountains. But all this will be left behind, as soon as the descent into the caldera begins. The cold fog reigning above turns here into low clouds, from which the most ordinary gentle rain pours - everything changes, as if you are crossing the invisible border of another world. This is indeed so: Uzon exists according to some of its own laws.
He lives his own life, and he does not know what confusion the "scientists' heads" come to next to his hot springs, in which nature, like an obsessed alchemist, has mixed almost all known chemical elements, but moreover, it has placed some more unimaginable bacteria and algae, for which boiling water and toxic substances are the most favorable habitat.
The height of the walls of the caldera is on average 400 meters, its diameter is about 10 kilometers. Inside, it’s like “archived” Kamchatka: sulfur crater springs and a clear lake from which a fish river flows, groves of stone birch and bushes of elfin cedar, expanses of berry tundra and classic Kamchatka tall grass, and the whole set of Kamchatka living creatures: bear, reindeer, fox - fire eagle, whooper swan, Steller's sea eagle.
Water living and deadThe Bear Path leading to Uzon from the north descends to Dalnee Lake. This is the so-called maar - an explosive funnel filled with cold and clear water. Maar of Dalnee Lake is about a kilometer in diameter, its inner walls are completely overgrown with elfin cedar, and are so steep that the bear trail leading upstairs resembles a fire escape. In winter, the lake is ice-bound, the crater itself is almost completely covered with snow - the last ice floes sometimes disappear only by the beginning of August. The ring of steep walls leaves almost no space for the coast, only a narrow strip of slag, ash and volcanic bombs encircles the water with a black ribbon.
In the center of the caldera, heated by an underground magma chamber that has not yet cooled down, is the main thermal zone - there are more than a thousand hot springs (they could feed a small geothermal power plant). The springs feed numerous lakes, the largest of which is Chloride with a diameter of only 150 meters. Its water is whitish-gray and has a sodium chloride composition. Large gas bubbles with a high content of methane and hydrogen are continuously emitted from several deep and high-temperature funnels. The bottom of the lake is abundantly populated with diatoms, which, under the influence of the sun (the average depth of the reservoir is not more than 1.5 meters), actively participate in photosynthesis, releasing oxygen. In turn, oxygen oxidizes hydrogen sulfide coming from the depths to elemental sulfur, which precipitates in shallow water in the form of small yellowish grains and forms sulfur beaches on the shores of the lake. This sulfur serves as food for thionic bacteria that produce sulfuric acid. As a result, a stream of natural sulfuric acid flows out of the lake, albeit diluted.
The water of Chloride, of course, is not suitable for swimming, they bathe in another lake - Bannom - an explosive funnel filled with sulphurous, heated to 40 °, water. Bathing in Bannom has always been a kind of ritual for everyone who worked on the Uzon or got there as a tourist. In the evening, when it was getting dark, strings of people with towels stretched to the lake. They carefully walked along the bear paths, illuminating the path with a flashlight, skirting mud pots and fumaroles. They descended along the echoing mounds to the sulfur stream. You could already hear the bubbles gurgling at the source. And here is Bannoye: the beam of the lantern stopped on the silent swirling wall of steam... In the spring of 1987, the water temperature in the lake suddenly rose to 47°C. Fans of Uzon baths were disappointed. And by autumn, the temperature returned to its previous limits.
In 1989, a so-called phreatic explosion occurred in the reservoir with the release of the material contained in the funnel. It was observed only by the huntsmen of the reserve. In 1991, volcanologists discovered a dense horizon of molten sulfur at a depth of 25 meters. Having broken through this crust, the cargo with a thermometer reached the real bottom at a depth of 32 meters. Impressive facts! And yet it is worth plunging into the dirty slush for five minutes to relieve fatigue and feel, along with a slight smell of sulfur, a fleeting closeness to the "underworld".
Alchemy underfootMud pots and mud volcanoes are small wonders of Uzon. They are found where ash-pumice tuffs, under the influence of sulfur vapors and hot water, have turned into kaolinite clays. Dietmar first described them, and Vladimir Komarov, a famous geographer, later president of the USSR Academy of Sciences, left the first photographs. Now it seems that these unusually clear, as it was said then, "phototypes" were taken almost yesterday. The same hot springs, cauldrons, volcanoes - the same and not the same: it is difficult to explain what the difference is - in the location of the sources or in their shape. The fact is that Uzon is changing all the time: some sources die, others are born, making their way through the tundra or right on the bear trail. The clay crusts that cover many thermal sites sometimes hum under your foot - there are voids under them, and if you listen, you can make out the squelching of gurgling clay - this means that a mud cauldron is hidden right below, ready to enclose you in a hot embrace. Getting into boiling clay is much worse than just scalding: clay is not boiling water, it cools slowly, and you can’t wash it off right away. One can only envy and admire the bears, looking how smartly they cross the thermal sites.
The lazy gurgling of thick clay is mixed with the furious hiss of "singing" or "damn pans" - thermal sites where boiling water splashes, spits and bubbles from under unsteady crusts.
Mud volcanoes act almost like real ones: they smoke and “erupt” with their hot clay, only the activation of their “volcanic activity” comes after the rain, when the clay liquefies, and in dry hot weather, the volcanoes “fall asleep”.
Where low-mineralized solutions come to the surface, fine-grained sulfur is deposited around the steam-gas jets, covering the earth with a pale green coating. In zones of strong mineralization (up to 5 g/l), with the participation of hydrogen sulfide, the process of mineralization takes place. Right before the eyes of the researcher, various sulfides are formed: arsenic - golden yellow orpiment and orange-red realgar, antimony - antimonite, mercury - red cinnabar, iron - brass-yellow pyrite. The palette of the Uzon land is bizarre - this is what the names of the minerals say.
Every year the Uzon caldera attracts more and more attention of scientists from all over the world. Of particular interest are microbiologists who have discovered a unique biogeocenosis in the hot springs of Uzon. First of all, this is the world of archaea - the most ancient microorganisms that do not belong to either algae or bacteria. Archaea have chosen the most extreme environment for their life. On Uzon, they live in springs with a temperature of 96°C (the boiling point of water at the level of the caldera bottom is 96.5°C), they use sulfur rather than oxygen for breathing, and replenish their energy reserves with hydrogen sulfide.
Slightly less "extremals" should be recognized as thionic bacteria, discovered back in 1933. On the Uzon, they prefer springs heated from 80 to 90°C, and form picturesque cosmic white colonies there. These bacteria differ in type and specialization: some, for example, oxidize sulfur sulfides to elemental sulfur, others convert it into sulfuric acid. Streams inhabited by thionic bacteria are, as a rule, white in color and, next to red-ocher clay mounds, embody a paradoxical association with "milk rivers and jelly banks."
The lower temperature range (less than 65°C) is inhabited by well-known but little-studied thermophilic relatives of common blue-green algae. These are already aerobic organisms that release oxygen and, as it turned out, prevent gases such as methane and carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere from thermal sources.
bear paradiseBears come to Uzon in April-May, when there is still snow everywhere outside the caldera. With spring starvation, green grass is an absolute delicacy for them. Animals walk with obvious pleasure on the warm Uzon clay. It is said that bears heal and strengthen their feet, weakened after a long winter hibernation. She-bears take out very tiny cubs from their dens. On Uzon they feel safe. Love couples who do not tolerate any neighborhood can retire in thickets of elfin cedar. Young people frolic on the snowfields. And in summer and autumn, when blueberries and pine nuts ripen - the main "vegetarian" food of Kamchatka bears - the clubfoot population of Uzon grows noticeably in number. Bears graze on the blueberry tundra sometimes for hours, sometimes for days, becoming an integral part of the Uzon landscapes. People try not to disturb them, and the bears respond with condescending indifference, as befits the true owners of Uzon, who, fortunately, do not know that the ring of civilization has already closed ...
December 28th, 2013Fly over a volcano? Let's then find out what kind of word this is - "Caldera"!
Volcanologists call Uzon a "caldera". This term (from the Spanish caldero - "cauldron") indicates a special, "failed" origin of the giant crater-basin. About three hundred thousand years ago, on the site of Uzon, a conical stratovolcano towered, reaching a height of three kilometers. After a series of grandiose eruptions, which ended forty thousand years ago, the volcano collapsed, the earth beneath it sank - a caldera was formed.
Aborigines of Kamchatka - Itelmens, who made their way to Uzon for colorful clays for paints, sacredly kept the secret of this amazing place. They brought the first civilized person here in September 1854. It was Carl von Ditmar, an official for special assignments in the mining area. Since then, people have not left the Uzon volcano sleeping for eight thousand years with their attention.
2
What is a caldera anyway? This is a huge depression, and it is formed in two ways. The main thing is the failure of the overhanging roof due to the devastation of the magma chamber under the volcano. During a volcanic eruption, large volumes of volcanic products come to the earth's surface. This can go on for a long time. As a result of the eruption, the hearth under the volcano is depleted and a cavity is created. Huge volumes of rocks above this space seem to sag and eventually sag, which contributes to the formation of a depression, or caldera. Since subsidence, or a dip, occurs in the center of a volcanic edifice, an edge, or a rampart, often with sheer walls, appears around the depression.
The western edge of the caldera - Barany Peak - preserves a one and a half kilometer "shard" of the primordial volcano. Steep walls, accessible only to snow sheep, rise up like a springboard. Hollows filled with snow fall down like white lightning. The horizons of brick-red slag are reminiscent of ancient eruptions.
Eight and a half thousand years ago, Uzon experienced the last "shock". The colossal explosion left behind a funnel about a kilometer in diameter. And since then, Uzon has never erupted. According to modern concepts, if the period before the last eruption exceeded 3,500 years, the volcano can be considered inactive. But not extinguished at all. Uzon, of course, is old, but his old age is colored in an unusual way. Over the past millennia, fumaroles and solfataras - outlets of hot volcanic gases - have changed the surface of the earth, saturating it with a host of thermal springs. But wildlife did not retreat, forming a unique symbiosis with volcanism. Located on the territory of the Kronotsky Reserve, Uzon has been taken under special protection - since 1996 it has been included by UNESCO in the World Natural Heritage List in the nomination "Volcanoes of Kamchatka".
The outer slopes of the caldera are indented with ravines. Thickets of cedar and alder elfin are easily overcome only for bears. Wind, fog and slanting freezing rain are constant companions in the Kamchatka mountains. But all this will be left behind, as soon as the descent into the caldera begins. The cold fog reigning above turns here into low clouds, from which the most ordinary gentle rain pours - everything changes, as if you are crossing the invisible border of another world. This is indeed so: Uzon exists according to some of its own laws.
He lives his own life, and he does not know what confusion the "scientists' heads" come to next to his hot springs, in which nature, like an obsessed alchemist, has mixed almost all known chemical elements, but moreover, it has placed some more unimaginable bacteria and algae, for which boiling water and toxic substances are the most favorable habitat.
The height of the walls of the caldera is on average 400 meters, its diameter is about 10 kilometers. Inside - like "archived" Kamchatka: sulfur crater springs and a clear lake from which a fish river flows, groves of stone birch and cedar bushes, expanses of berry tundra and classic Kamchatka tall grass, and - the whole set of Kamchatka living creatures: bear, reindeer, fox - fire eagle, whooper swan, Steller's sea eagle.
The Bear Path leading to Uzon from the north descends to Dalnee Lake. This is the so-called maar - an explosive funnel filled with cold and clear water. Maar of Dalnee Lake is about a kilometer in diameter, its inner walls are completely overgrown with elfin cedar, and are so steep that the bear trail leading upstairs resembles a fire escape. In winter, the lake is ice-bound, the crater itself is almost completely covered with snow - the last ice floes sometimes disappear only by the beginning of August. The ring of steep walls leaves almost no space for the coast, only a narrow strip of slag, ash and volcanic bombs encircles the water with a black ribbon.
In the center of the caldera, heated by an underground magma chamber that has not yet cooled down, there is the main thermal zone - there are more than a thousand hot springs (they could feed a small geothermal power plant). The springs feed numerous lakes, the largest of which is Chloride with a diameter of only 150 meters. Its water is whitish-gray and has a sodium chloride composition. Large gas bubbles with a high content of methane and hydrogen are continuously emitted from several deep and high-temperature funnels. The bottom of the lake is abundantly populated with diatoms, which, under the influence of the sun (the average depth of the reservoir is not more than 1.5 meters), actively participate in photosynthesis, releasing oxygen. In turn, oxygen oxidizes hydrogen sulfide coming from the depths to elemental sulfur, which precipitates in shallow water in the form of small yellowish grains and forms sulfur beaches on the shores of the lake. This sulfur serves as food for thionic bacteria that produce sulfuric acid. As a result, a stream of natural sulfuric acid flows out of the lake, albeit diluted.
The water of Chloride, of course, is not suitable for swimming, they bathe in another lake - Bannom - an explosive funnel filled with sulfurous water heated to 40 °. Bathing in Bannom has always been a kind of ritual for everyone who worked on the Uzon or got there as a tourist. In the evening, when it was getting dark, strings of people with towels stretched to the lake. They carefully walked along the bear paths, illuminating the path with a flashlight, skirting mud pots and fumaroles. They descended along the echoing mounds to the sulfur stream. You could already hear the bubbles gurgling at the source. And here is Bannoye: the beam of the lantern stopped on the silent swirling wall of steam... In the spring of 1987, the water temperature in the lake suddenly rose to 47°C. Fans of Uzon baths were disappointed. And by autumn, the temperature returned to its previous limits.
In 1989, a so-called phreatic explosion occurred in the reservoir with the release of the material contained in the funnel. It was observed only by the huntsmen of the reserve. In 1991, volcanologists discovered a dense horizon of molten sulfur at a depth of 25 meters. Having broken through this crust, the cargo with a thermometer reached the real bottom at a depth of 32 meters. Impressive facts! And yet it is worth plunging into the dirty slush for five minutes to relieve fatigue and feel, along with a slight smell of sulfur, a fleeting closeness to the "underworld".
Mud pots and mud volcanoes are small wonders of Uzon. They are found where ash-pumice tuffs, under the influence of sulfur vapors and hot water, have turned into kaolinite clays. Dietmar first described them, and Vladimir Komarov, a famous geographer, later president of the USSR Academy of Sciences, left the first photographs. Now it seems that these unusually clear, as it was said then, "phototypes" were taken almost yesterday. The same hot springs, cauldrons, volcanoes - the same and not the same: it is difficult to explain what the difference is - in the location of the sources or in their shape. The fact is that Uzon is changing all the time: some sources die, others are born, making their way through the tundra or right on the bear trail. The clay crusts that cover many thermal sites sometimes hum under your foot - there are voids under them, and if you listen, you can make out the squelching of gurgling clay - this means that a mud cauldron is hidden right below, ready to enclose you in a hot embrace. Getting into boiling clay is much worse than just scalding: clay is not boiling water, it cools slowly, and you can’t wash it off right away. One can only envy and admire the bears, looking how smartly they cross the thermal grounds.
The lazy gurgling of thick clay mixes with the furious hiss of "singing" or "damn pans" - thermal sites where boiling water splashes, spits and bubbles from under unsteady crusts.
Mud volcanoes act almost like real ones: they smoke and “erupt” with their hot clay, only the activation of their “volcanic activity” comes after the rain, when the clay liquefies, and in dry hot weather, the volcanoes “fall asleep”.
Where low-mineralized solutions come to the surface, fine-grained sulfur is deposited around the steam-gas jets, covering the earth with a pale green coating. In zones of strong mineralization (up to 5 g/l), with the participation of hydrogen sulfide, the process of mineralization takes place. Right before the eyes of the researcher, various sulfides are formed: arsenic - golden yellow orpiment and orange-red realgar, antimony - antimonite, mercury - red cinnabar, iron - brass-yellow pyrite. The palette of the Uzon land is bizarre - this is what the names of the minerals say.
Every year the Uzon caldera attracts more and more attention of scientists from all over the world. Of particular interest are microbiologists who have discovered a unique biogeocenosis in the hot springs of Uzon. First of all, this is the world of archaea - the most ancient microorganisms that do not belong to either algae or bacteria. Archaea have chosen the most extreme environment for their life. On Uzon, they live in springs with a temperature of 96°C (the boiling point of water at the level of the caldera bottom is 96.5°C), they use sulfur rather than oxygen for breathing, and replenish their energy reserves with hydrogen sulfide.
Slightly less "extremals" should be recognized as thionic bacteria, discovered back in 1933. On the Uzon, they prefer springs heated from 80 to 90°C, and form picturesque cosmic white colonies there. These bacteria differ in type and specialization: some, for example, oxidize sulfur sulfides to elemental sulfur, others convert it into sulfuric acid. Streams inhabited by thionic bacteria are, as a rule, white in color and, next to red-ocher clay mounds, embody a paradoxical association with "milk rivers and jelly banks."
The lower temperature range (less than 65°C) is inhabited by well-known but little-studied thermophilic relatives of common blue-green algae. These are already aerobic organisms that release oxygen and, as it turned out, prevent gases such as methane and carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere from thermal sources.
Bears come to Uzon in April-May, when there is still snow everywhere outside the caldera. With spring starvation, green grass is an absolute delicacy for them. Animals walk with obvious pleasure on the warm Uzon clay. It is said that bears heal and strengthen their feet, weakened after a long winter hibernation. She-bears take out very tiny cubs from their dens. On Uzon they feel safe.
Love couples who do not tolerate any neighborhood can retire in thickets of elfin cedar. Young people frolic on the snowfields. And in summer and autumn, when blueberries and pine nuts ripen - the main "vegetarian" food of Kamchatka bears - the clubfoot population of Uzon grows noticeably in number. Bears graze on the blueberry tundra sometimes for hours, sometimes for days, becoming an integral part of the Uzon landscapes. People try not to disturb them, and the bears respond with condescending indifference, as befits the true owners of Uzon, who, fortunately, do not know that the ring of civilization has already closed ...
Uzon Caldera is under the tireless supervision of volcanologists. What caused it? Of course, the volcano deserves so much attention not for its shape. The bottom line is that hydrothermal activity is unusually pronounced here, the decoding of which provides a lot of scientific information. Uzon Caldera - a kind of natural laboratory. Many ore minerals (arsenic, mercury, copper, zinc, etc.) have been found in groundwater entering the surface. As the water solutions cool, these minerals fall out of them and are deposited around the springs. To some extent, it is possible to trace how ores are formed. The hydrothermal springs themselves are of considerable interest. Under the influence of the latter, rocks also change. It is very important to study this process, and this is one of the tasks of volcanologists.
Well, in conclusion, let's remember The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy is made -
Volcano Uzon (Uzon hill , Mutton Peak , Uzon-Geysernaja caldera , Goryashi Dol ) is an ancient volcano located south of Kronotsky lake.
AND Valley of Geysers located in the central part Eastern Volcanic Belt Kamchatka and are confined to Uzon-Geyser volcano-tectonic depression, elongated in a west-northwest direction.
Uzon Caldera is its western part. It measures 9 × 12 km and has a flat bottom. From the south, west and north it is framed by steep ledges from 200–300 to 800 m high. From the outside, they turn into a gently sloping plateau. The highest point of the caldera Lamb Peak. The bottom of the caldera is at a level of 700 m. Numerous lakes, streams and rivers are noted on its surface, which form the sources Shumnaya river.
Formation Uzon caldera happened about 40 thousand years ago. By the Upper Pleistocene glaciation (20 thousand years ago), manifestations of acid volcanism in the depression ceased, apparently due to the solidification of the crustal magma chamber. In historical time in the region Uzon-geyser depression there were only phreatic eruptions that formed all the thermal lakes and large griffins of hot springs in Uzon caldera . So, on September 4, 1986, two phreatic explosions were observed in the west of the eastern thermal field, as a result of which about 2000 m 3 of a vapor-gas mixture and 3 tons of stone material were thrown out. A funnel with a diameter of 1.5 m was formed, which during the day increased to 14 m at a depth of 1065 m. The temperature at its bottom reached 114 °C.
Currently in Uzon caldera And Valley of Geysers active gas-hydrothermal activity is manifested with a characteristic ore occurrence.
in size - 9 × 12 km - is one of the largest calderas in Kamchatka. Its eastern part is somewhat elevated above the western one and has a hilly relief. It contains one of the largest explosion craters in Kamchatka - 1.65 km in diameter, occupied lake Dalniy. The western part of the caldera has a swampy bottom. There are several lakes in it, of which the largest is Central where all the runoff from the caldera is collected. On the western and northern sides, the caldera is surrounded by a ring ridge - the remains of an old volcano.
Hydrothermal activity is concentrated in the western part. It is manifested by many boiling and bubbling funnels, numerous mud pots, mud volcanoes, steaming or heated areas with steam and hot water outlets. There are about 100 springs in the caldera, and more than 500 individual hydrothermal manifestations. One of their main features is crater-shaped funnels up to 25–40 m deep and 25–150 m in diameter, occupied by hot lakes. In the early morning, when it is still cool and the rising steam is denser, an amazing panorama opens up from a height: yellow fumarole fields, hundreds of columns of steam above them, green groves, brownish tundras, bluish lakes.
For some cataloged volcanoes, in the absence of known historical eruptions, the presence of solfataric activity serves as the basis for classifying them as active. However, in our opinion, it is necessary to distinguish the actual fumarole activity of the volcano from the solfataric activity associated with hydrothermal activity, which manifests itself on the volcano and in its vicinity. Thus, the noted hydrothermal and solfataric activity of the Late Pleistocene Uzon caldera , district Central Semyachik(late Pleistocene volcano bubbling), Middle Pleistocene volcano Dzendzur is not directly related to the activity of these long-extinct volcanoes. Hydrothermal manifestations here, as in Valley of Geysers and on Pauzhetka, are confined to large-volume cooling chambers of acidic magma from caldera-forming eruptions of the Middle-Late Pleistocene stages.
As for the volcano Uzon (Mutton Peak) on the northwest side Uzon caldera , then it is even older than the caldera of the same name and ceased its activity at least in the Middle Pleistocene. The youngest volcanic formation in Uzon caldera is maar lake far, which arose ~7600 years ago.
Sources
1. Kamchatka: tourist guide / col. authors. - Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky: RIO KOT, 1994. - 228 p. : ill.
2. - Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky: Dalizdat. Kamch. department, 1988. - 143 p.
3. Rudich K. N. Pluto flees from the night. - M. : Nedra, 1980. - 111 p. : 41 ill.
4. Melekestsev I. V., Braitseva O. A., Ponomareva V. V. A new approach to the definition of the term "active volcano" // Geodynamics and volcanism of the Kuril-Kamchatka island-arc system. - Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky: IVGIG FEB RAN, 2001. - 428 p.
Prepared for publication on the website by V. A. Semenov
based on the indicated sources
with added illustrations.
2008
Volcanoes have attracted people since ancient times. They considered them gods, worshiped them and made sacrifices, including human ones. And such an attitude is quite understandable, since even now the incredible power of these natural objects simply amazes the imagination of even trained researchers.
But among them there are those that stand out even against such a noticeable background. This is, for example, the Yellowstone Caldera in Wyoming, USA. The power that lies dormant in this supervolcano is such that it may well contribute to the complete destruction of our civilization in the event of its awakening. And this is not an exaggeration. Thus, the Pinatubo volcano, which is several times weaker than its American "colleague", during the eruption in 1991, contributed to the fact that the average temperature on the planet dropped by 0.5 degrees, and this continued for several years in a row.
What characterizes this natural object?
Scientists have long given this object the status of a supervolcano. Known throughout the world due to its megalithic size. During his last large-scale awakening, the entire upper part of the volcano simply collapsed down, forming an impressive failure.
It is located right in the middle of the North American plate, and not on the border, like its "colleagues" in the world, which are concentrated along the edges of the plates (the same "Ring of Fire" in the Pacific Ocean). Since the 1980s, the Geological Survey of America has reported that the number of tremors, the strength of which so far does not exceed three on the Richter scale, has been steadily increasing every year.
What does the state think?
All this is far from fantasy. The seriousness of the statements of scientists is confirmed by the fact that in 2007 an emergency meeting was created, which was attended by the President of the United States and the heads of the CIA, NSA, FBI.
History of study
When do you think the caldera itself was discovered? At the beginning of the development of America by the colonists? Yes, no matter how! They found it only in 1960, exploring aerospace photographs ...
Of course, the current Yellowstone Park was explored long before the advent of satellites and aircraft. The first naturalist who described these places was John Colter. He was part of the Lewis and Clark expedition. In 1807 he described what is now Wyoming. The state amazed him with incredible geysers and many hot springs, but upon his return, the "progressive public" did not believe him, mockingly calling the scientist's work "Coulter's hell."
In 1850, hunter and naturalist Jim Bridger also visited Wyoming. The state met him in the same way as his predecessor: clouds of steam and fountains of boiling water that burst right out of the ground. However, no one believed his stories.
Finally, after the Civil War, the new US Government did fund full-scale exploration of the region. In 1871, the area was explored by a scientific expedition led by Ferdinand Heiden. Just a year later, a huge colorful report was prepared with many illustrations and observations. Only then did everyone finally believe that Colter and Bridger were not lying at all. At the same time, Yellowstone Park was created.
Development and study
Nathaniel Langford was appointed as the first head of the facility. The situation around the park at first was not too optimistic: the leader and a handful of enthusiasts were not even paid a salary, not to mention some kind of scientific research on this territory. Everything changed after a few years. When the Northern Pacific Railway was put into operation, a stream of tourists and people who were sincerely interested in this natural phenomenon poured into the valley.
The merit of the leadership of the park and the government of the country is that, having contributed to the influx of curious people, they still did not turn this unique area into a cluttered tourist attraction, and also constantly invited eminent scientists from all over the world to these parts.
Pundits were especially attracted by small volcanic cones, which continue to form in this area from time to time to this day. Of course, the most famous national park was brought not by the Yellowstone supervolcano (then they didn’t even know such words), but by huge, incredibly beautiful geysers. However, the beauty of nature and the richness of the animal world also did not leave people indifferent.
What is a supervolcano in the modern sense?
If we talk about a typical volcano, then most often it is a rather ordinary mountain in the shape of a truncated cone, on its top there is a vent through which hot gases pass and molten magma flows out. Actually, a young volcano is just a crack in the ground. When molten lava flows out of it and solidifies, it quickly forms a characteristic cone.
That's just the supervolcanoes are such that they don't even look like their "little brothers". These are a kind of "abscesses" on the surface of the earth, under the thin "skin" of which molten magma seethes. On the territory of such a formation, several ordinary volcanoes can often form, through the vents of which from time to time the accumulated products are ejected. However, most often there is not even a visible hole there: there is a volcanic caldera, which many people take for an ordinary sinkhole in the ground.
How many of them exist?
To date, at least 20-30 such formations are known. Their relatively small eruptions, which most often occur by "using" conventional volcanic offshoots, can be compared to the release of steam from a pressure cooker valve. Problems begin at the very moment when the steam pressure is too high and the “boiler” itself takes off into the air. It should be noted that the volcano in the United States (like Etna, by the way) belongs to the “explosive” category because of the extremely thick magma.
That is why they are so dangerous. The power of such natural formations is such that they may well have enough energy to pulverize an entire continent. Pessimists believe that if a volcano in the United States does explode, 97-99% of humanity may die. In principle, even the most optimistic forecasts do not differ too much from such a gloomy scenario.
He is waking up?
Increased activity has been recorded over the past decade. Many residents of America do not even realize that from one to three underground rumors are recorded annually. So far, many of them are fixed only with special equipment. Of course, it is too early to talk about the explosion, but the number and strength of such tremors are gradually growing. The facts are disappointing - the underground reservoir is probably filled with lava.
In general, for the first time, scientists paid attention to the national park in 2012, when dozens of new geysers began to appear on its territory. Just two hours after the scientists' visit, the government banned access to most of the national park for tourists. But seismologists, geologists, biologists and other researchers have become dozens of times more.
There are other dangerous volcanoes in the USA. In Oregon, there is also the caldera of the giant Crater Lake, which was also formed as a result of volcanic activity, and it can be no less dangerous than its “colleague” from Wyoming. However, literally fifteen or twenty years ago, scientists believed that supervolcanoes needed centuries to wake up, and therefore it was always possible to predict a catastrophe ahead of time. Unfortunately, they were clearly wrong.
Research by Margaret Mangan
Margaret Mangan, one of the prominent scientists of the Geological Survey of America, has long been closely monitoring the manifestations of volcanic activity around the world. Not so long ago, she said that seismologists have completely revised their views on the timing of the awakening of most of the planet.
And this is very bad news. Our knowledge has expanded considerably in recent years, but there is no relief from this. Thus, a large volcano in the United States constantly demonstrates increasing activity: there were moments when the earth near the caldera heated up to 550 degrees Celsius, a lava dome began to form in the form of a hemisphere of rock protruding upward, and the lake gradually began to boil.
Just two years ago, some seismologists vied with each other to assure everyone that volcanic activity did not threaten humanity over the next couple of centuries. Really? Already after the grandiose tsunami, which literally washed away Fukushima, they stopped issuing their forecasts. Now they prefer to get rid of annoying journalists with meaningless terms of a general meaning. So what are they afraid of? The onset of a new Ice Age as a result of a grandiose eruption?
The first worrying predictions
In fairness, it is worth noting that scientists knew about the gradual reduction in the periods between cataclysms before. However, given the astronomical time frame, humanity cared little. Initially, Yellowstone in the United States was expected in about 20,000 years. But after working through the accumulated information, it turned out that this would happen in 2074. And this is a very optimistic forecast, since volcanoes are extremely unpredictable and very dangerous.
A researcher from the University of Utah, Robert Smith, in 2008 said that “... as long as magma is located at a depth of 10 kilometers from the vent (with its constant rise of 8 centimeters per year), there is no reason to panic ... But if it rises at least up to three kilometers, we will all be unhappy. That's why Yellowstone is dangerous. The United States (more precisely, the scientific community of the country) is well aware of this.
Meanwhile, back in 2006, Ilya Bindeman and John Valei published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science, and in the publication they did not indulge the public with comforting forecasts. The data for the last three years, they say, indicate a sharp acceleration in the rise of lava, constantly opening new crevices through which hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide come to the surface.
This is a sure sign that some major trouble is about to happen. Today, even skeptics agree that this danger is quite real.
New Signals
But why did this topic become the “trend” of last year? After all, people already had enough hysteria with the year 2012? And all because in March there was a sharply increased seismic activity. Increasingly, even geysers, which were considered long asleep, began to wake up. Animals and birds began to migrate en masse from the territory of the national park. But all these are real harbingers of something very bad.
Following the bison, the deer also fled, quickly leaving the Yellowstone Plateau. In just a year, a third of the livestock migrated, which has never happened even in the memory of Indian natives. All these movements of animals look especially strange in the light of the fact that no one hunts in the park. However, people have known since ancient times that animals perfectly feel the signals that portend major natural disasters.
The available data further increase the alarm of the scientific world community. In March last year, seismographs recorded tremors up to magnitude four, and this is no longer a joke. At the end of March, the area shook significantly with a force of 4.8 points. Since 1980, this is the most powerful manifestation of seismic activity. Moreover, unlike the events of thirty years ago, these tremors are strictly localized.
Why is the volcano so dangerous?
For decades, during which at least some study of this area was carried out, scientists have long assumed that the Yellowstone caldera is no longer dangerous: the volcano, supposedly, has long since died out. According to new data from geodetic and geophysical exploration, there is approximately twice as much magma in the reservoir under the caldera as indicated in the most pessimistic reports.
Today it is known for certain that this reservoir extends as much as 80 kilometers in length and 20 in width. A geophysicist from the city of Salt Lake City learned this by collecting and analyzing a huge amount of seismological data. At the end of October 2013, he made a report on this in the city of Denver, at the annual scientific conference. His message was immediately replicated, and practically all the leading seismological laboratories in the world became interested in the results of the research.
Opportunity Assessment
To summarize his findings, the scientist had to collect statistics on more than 4,500 thousand earthquakes of varying degrees of intensity. This is how he determined the boundaries of the Yellowstone caldera. The data showed that the size of the "hot" area in past years was underestimated by more than half. Today it is believed that the volume of magma is within four thousand cubic meters of hot rock.
It is assumed that "only" 6-8% of this amount falls on molten magma, but this is very, very much. So Yellowstone Park is a real time bomb on which the whole world will someday explode (and this will happen anyway, alas).
First Appearance
In general, the first time the volcano showed itself brightly about 2.1 million years ago. A quarter of all of North America at that time was covered with a thick layer of volcanic ash. In principle, nothing more ambitious has happened since then. Scientists believe that all supervolcanoes manifest themselves once every 600 thousand years. Considering that the last time the Yellowstone supervolcano exploded more than 640 thousand years ago, there is every reason to prepare for trouble.
And now things can be much worse, because in just the last three hundred years the population density of the planet has increased many times over. An indicator of what happened then is the caldera of the volcano. This is a cyclopean crater, which arose as a result of an earthquake of unimaginable power that occurred 642 thousand years ago. How much ash and gas was then thrown out is unknown, but it was this event that greatly influenced the climate of our planet for the next millennia.
For comparison: one of the relatively recent (by geological standards) eruptions of Etna, which occurred six thousand years ago, and which was hundreds of times weaker than that ejection from the caldera, caused a grandiose tsunami. Archaeologists find traces of it all over the Mediterranean. It is assumed that it was it that served as the basis for the legends about the Biblical flood. Apparently, our ancestors really experienced many tragic events then: hundreds of villages were simply washed away in a few moments. The inhabitants of the Atlit-Yam settlement were more fortunate, but even their descendants continue to talk about the grandiose waves that crushed everything in their path.
If Yellowstone behaves badly, then the eruption will be 2.5 thousand (!) Times more powerful, and 15 times more ash will be released into the atmosphere than got there after the last awakening of Krakatoa, when about 40 thousand people died.
Eruption is not the point
Smith himself has repeatedly stressed that the eruption is the tenth thing. He and his fellow seismologists say that the main danger lies in subsequent earthquakes, which will be clearly more powerful than eight on the Richter scale. On the territory of the national park and now almost every year there are small tremors. There are also harbingers of the future: in 1959 there was an earthquake with a power of 7.3 points at once. Only 28 people died, as the rest were evacuated in a timely manner.
All in all, the Yellowstone Caldera is sure to bring more trouble. Most likely, lava flows will immediately cover an area of at least one hundred square kilometers, and then gas flows will suffocate all life in North America. Perhaps a grandiose ash cloud will reach the shores of Europe within a couple of days at most.
This is what Yellowstone Park hides. When the scale will happen, no one knows. It remains to be hoped that this will not happen very soon.
Approximate model of the disaster
If the volcano explodes, the effect can be compared with the detonation of a dozen powerful intercontinental missiles. The earth's crust over hundreds of kilometers will rise tens of meters high and warm up to about a hundred degrees Celsius. Pieces of rock in the form will bombard the surface of North America for several days in a row. The content of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and other dangerous compounds will increase thousands of times in the atmosphere. What are the other effects of the Yellowstone volcano eruption?
Today it is believed that an explosion will instantly burn out an area of about 1000 km 2. The entire northwest of the United States and much of Canada will become a scorching desert. At least 10 thousand square kilometers will immediately be covered with a layer of red-hot rock, which will forever change this world!
For a long time, mankind believed that today civilization is threatened only by mutual destruction during an atomic war. But today there is every reason to believe that we have forgotten about the power of nature in vain. It was she who arranged several Ice Ages on the planet, during which many thousands of species of plants, animals and birds died out. One cannot be so self-confident and consider that a person is the king of this world. Our species may also be wiped off the face of this planet, as has happened many times over the past millennia.
What other dangerous volcanoes are there?
Are there other active volcanoes on the planet? You can see a list of those below:
Llullaillaco in the Andes.
Popocatepetl in Mexico (last eruption in 2003).
Klyuchevskaya Sopka in Kamchatka. Erupted in 2004.
Mauna Loa. In 1868, Hawaii was literally washed away by a giant tsunami that arose due to its activity.
Fujiyama. The famous symbol of Japan. The last time he “pleased” the Land of the Rising Sun in 1923, when more than 700 thousand houses were destroyed almost instantly, and the number of missing people (not counting the found victims) exceeded 150 thousand people.
Shiveluch, Kamchatka. It erupted simultaneously with Sopka.
Etna, which we have already spoken about. It is considered “asleep”, but the calmness of the volcano is a relative thing.
Asso, Japan. Over the entire known history - more than 70 eruptions.
Famous Vesuvius. Like Etna, it was considered "dead", but suddenly resurrected in 1944.
Perhaps this should end. As you can see, the danger of an eruption accompanied mankind throughout the entire path of its development.
