More than 9,000 years ago, a catastrophic volcanic eruption created a huge caldera on the southern end of Onekotan Island, one of the Kuril Islands, located off the southern tip of Russia's Kamchatka peninsula. Today, the ancient Tao-Rusyr caldera is filled by the deep blue waters of Kal'tsevoe Lake. In the north-west section of the caldera is Krenitzyn Peak, which rises to a height of 1,325m (4,347ft). Like the other Kuril Islands, Onekotan lies along the Pacific 'ring of fire'. The Kuril Island volcanoes are fueled by magma generated by the subduction of the Pacific plate under the Eurasian plate, which takes place along a deep trench about 200km (120 miles) to the east. The only historical eruption at Krenitzyn Peak occurred in 1952, a week after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake along the subduction fault
Photograph: EO-1/NASA
The Guardian
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