PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, November 15 (RIA Novosti) - A lava flow has started to come down the slope of Eurasia's highest volcano, the Klyuchevskoy, on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East, a local volcanologist said on Sunday.
The Klyuchevskoy, which lies 220 miles north of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, is one of the largest active volcanoes in the world and reaches an altitude of 15,584 feet. It erupts about every 2 years.
"A small flow of lava has started trickling down the south-eastern slope of the Klyuchevskoy after magma has filled its crater to the brink," said a researcher at the Far Eastern Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
He also said the volcano continued to throw red-hot rocks to a height of 200 meters (over 650 feet).
The current eruption started in August after several months of relevant inactivity. Unlike many others, it started slow, but its intensity is rapidly growing. Seismological stations near the Klyuchevskoy register hundreds of small tremors in the area every day.
The volcano is dangerous only to tourists at this point, although lava flows and high-altitude ash emissions could soon threaten air traffic in the region.
The Klyuchevskoy started a new active cycle with an eruption on February 15, 2007. Volcanic ash from that eruption stretched over 500 km above the Bering Sea at the height of 8.2-8.7 km.
There are more than 150 volcanoes on Kamchatka, 29 of them active.
