Alaid volcano

Alaid is located on Atlasov Island, one of the Kuril Islands. These are part of the ring of tectonic instability encircling the Pacific Ocean referred to as the Ring of Fire. The majority of these islands are volcanic, and that doesn't exclude Atlasov, which its main feature is the volcano.

It is formed mostly of alkali basalts, and minorly of basaltic andesite. Many rare minerals are present on the mountain. Yellow volborthite and turquoise atacamite are present on the volcano.

Eruptions

Alaid volcano is one of the most active volcanoes of the Sakhalin Oblast as a whole. The most significant eruptions were the 1793 and the 2022 eruption. Local records indicate that eruptions also happened in 1854, 1860, 1894, 1981, 1996, 2015, 2016, and 2022.

2022 eruption

The 2022 volcanic eruption was one of the biggest and most significant of the history of the volcano. Local flights had to be cancelled due to this eruption. It also increased the territory of the island by an unknown minor amount.

Strombolian-vulcanian activity provoked two lava flows, that went onto the southern slope of Alaid. The ash plumes mainly spread to the southeast with their height reaching 300-530 km. The outflow of lava caused the formation of lahars that descended the southern slope of the volcano and reached the island's coast.

Height

Alaid is the tallest mountain of the Kurils, and its peak makes Atlasov the highest island of all of Russia. Like most other mountains, the height of Alaid is disputed. Some sources state that the height is of 2,285 metres (7,497 ft); others, like NASA, put it at 2,339 metres (7,674 ft).