New Issue: Orbital Catastrophe Ahead? Read Now

August 4, 2025

2 min read

Google Logo Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm

Russian Volcano, Dormant for Hundreds of Years, Erupts after Massive Nearby Quake

The Krasheninnikov volcano, located less than 150 miles away from the epicenter of Russia’s July 29 earthquake, began erupting on August 3

By Meghan Bartels edited by Dean Visser

Aerial view of volcano erupting

A massive column of ash erupts from the Krasheninnikov volcano in Russia’s eastern Kamchatka region, marking its first eruption since 1550, according to the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program, on August 3, 2025. The eruption comes just days after one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded in the region.

Sheldovitsky Artem Igorevich/IViS/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images

Join Our Community of Science Lovers!

Russia’s Krasheninnikov volcano erupted for the first time in centuries on August 3, sending ash and gas nearly four miles into the atmosphere—less than 150 miles away from the epicenter of the magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck on July 29.

The mountain is one of eight active volcanoes in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve and part of the Eastern Kamchatka Volcanic Arc. The eruption began around 6 A.M. local time on Sunday (2 P.M. EDT on August 2), when personnel in the area noticed ash, steam and gas escaping from the slopes of the volcano, according to a Russian-language statement posted on the nature reserve’s website.

READ MORE: Why the Russian Earthquake Didn’t Cause a Huge Tsunami

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

The volcano is located on the sparsely populated Kamchatka Peninsula, just across the international date line from Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. Because of its remote location, the volcano presents little threat to humans. Scientists have cataloged 31 previous confirmed eruptions of Krasheninnikov throughout the current Holocene epoch, which began about 11,700 years ago. Its most recent known eruption occurred around 1550, according to the Smithsonian Institution‘s Global Volcanism Program.

Large earthquakes do occasionally trigger nearby volcanic eruptions, according to the U.S. Geological Survey—but only if the volcano is already nearing an eruption, with enough magma stored inside of it undergoing high enough pressure.

Another volcano in the same arc, Klyuchevskoy, is also currently erupting. Scientists watched lava fill the crater beginning in April and confirmed large amounts of fresh lava there on July 19, before the massive earthquake. This volcano has historically been much more active than Krasheninnikov, with more than 111 Holocene eruptions identified by scientists, including more than a dozen in the past two decades.

Rights & Permissions

Meghan Bartels is a science journalist based in New York City. She was previously a senior reporter at Scientific American. Before that she spent more than four years as a writer and editor at Space.com, as well as nearly a year as a science reporter at Newsweek, where she focused on space and Earth science. Her writing has also appeared in Audubon, Nautilus, Astronomy and Smithsonian, among other publications. She attended Georgetown University and earned a master’s degree in journalism at New York University’s Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program.

More by Meghan Bartels

Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism

Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.

When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.

Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber

Thank you,

Jeanna Bryner, Editor in Chief, Scientific American

Subscribe