Pauzhetka, Kamchatka, Russia

Location: 51.43N, 156.93E
Elevation: 4,366 ft. (1,331m)

Pauzhetka (located in southernmost Kamchatka, Russia) is a one of the largest and best studied volcanic structures in Kamchatka. This caldera forms a depression that is filled by Kurile Lake is a Krakatau-type collapse caldera. This depression is cut by several major fault systems. The Pauzhetka caldera stretches 25 km in an east-west direction. Kurile Lake , being 10 km wide and 13 long, has two bottoms, the northern part has a flat saucer-shape with a maximum depth of 300m; the southern portion is more irregular and has a depth greater than 300m. Russian scientists believe that the northern section is a blast funnel that has filled in with breccia, and the southern part of the lake is a typical caldera. The depression that creates this lake is said to have caused the formation of Ilyinsky volcano and the Diky Graben. Some other volcanoes in this area are: Kambalny, Koshelev , Ilyinsky and Zhelotovsky.

Sources of Information:

Erlich, Edward 1986 Geology of Calderas of Kamchatka and Kurile Islands with Comparison to Calderas of Japan and the Aleutians, Alaska Open-File Report 86-291, US Dept. of the Interior- Geological Survey, p81-91.

Sviatolovsky, A. E. 1959 Atlas of Volcanoes of the Soviet Union, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow USSR. p168.



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