Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Kamchatka

Tolbachik – a mineralogist’s paradise

Tolbachik is a basaltic volcanic massif lying at the southern end of the Kliuchevskoi group in Kamchatka, Russia. It comprises two overlapping cones: Plosky Tolbachik, a Holocene shield volcano extending to 3 km in diameter; and the older (Pleistocene) Ostry Tolbachik, a sharp-topped stratovolcano reaching some 3,700 m in height.

Tolbachik

Lava flows on the summit of Plosky Tolbachik. Photo credit: Lena Melekhova

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