Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Balagan-Tas
Cinder cone volcano in Russia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Balagan-Tas (Yakut: Балаҕан Таас, Russian: Балаган-Тас) is a cinder cone volcano in Russia. It was discovered by V.A. Zimin in 1939[1] and is one of the main features of the Moma Natural Park.[2]
Remove ads
Description
Summarize
Perspective
This volcano is located in the Chersky Range,[3] in the Moma River valley, and is the only clearly Quaternary volcano in the area; the existence of another volcano active in the 1770s has not been confirmed.[4] The supposed Indigirsky volcano (reported near the Indigirka river) may be actually Balagan-Tas.[5] Its location has often been given incorrectly.[6]
Balagan-Tas is a volcanic cone with a crater of which little remains. It covers a surface area of 1.8 square kilometres (0.69 sq mi).[7] The crater is 200 metres (660 ft) wide and 40 metres (130 ft) deep; the cone is 300 metres (980 ft) high and has a base diameter of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft).[8] It may be considered a composite volcano.[9] The volcano has generated three lava flows which cover a surface area of 45 square kilometres (17 sq mi).[6] They reach a thickness of 10 metres (33 ft).[7]
The volcano has erupted alkali basalts typical for rift zone volcanoes.[6] Its composition has been characterized as hawaiite.[5] Titanium dioxide contents of 3.81% have been measured. The helium-3/helium-4 ratios approach these associated with mantle plumes.[1]
Balagan-Tas lies on an anticline.[10] It is associated with faulting.[11] Further it is related to the Moma-Zoryansk rift and the Gakkel ridge, which extends to the Laptev Sea.[12] The De Long Islands and a potentially Quaternary dyke complex of the Viliga river may also be related.[3] This tectonic activity is related to the interaction between the Eurasian Plate and the North American Plate.[13]
Other volcanoes are found in the neighbourhood.[6] Northwest of Balagan-Tas lies the Uraga Khaya volcano;[14] it is located at 66.1°N 145.4°E and is a lava dome formed by rhyolite. Its age is unclear; potassium-argon dating has yielded an age of 16.6 mya but its appearance indicates it may be considerably younger. A further volcano may exist northwest of this centre.[6] A liparite dome named Majak is located at 66.45°N 147.15°E,[7] but it may be the same as Uraga Khaya and the coordinates wrong.[6]
Potassium-argon dating of Balagan-Tas has yielded an age of 266,000 ± 30,000 years ago, comparable to Anyuj volcano,[15] and may reflect a regional or global pulse of volcanic activity.[16] Other sources consider the volcano late Holocene in age,[17] or even as active during historical times.[1] Hot springs are found southeast of Balagan-Tas. They reach temperatures of 30 °C (86 °F),[18] which together with the other activity indicates a hot upper mantle.[1] If reports of activity of the supposed Indighirsky volcano in the 1770s refer to Balagan-Tas,[7] then this volcano may have had historical activity,[7] one of the few outside of Kamchatka in continental Asia.[19]
Remove ads
References
Further reading
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads