Karpinsky Group

The Karpinsky Group on southern Paramushir Island in the Kuril Islands consists of three Holocene andesitic volcanic centers at the southern end of the Karpinsky Ridge. A postulated caldera is thought to have been primarily excavated by glaciers (Gorshkov, 1970). The NE cone has a crater breached to the NW that contains a small arcuate cone and a vigorous fumarole along the NE crater wall. A lava flow originating from the cone traveled 7 km to the SE. The southern cone forms the high point of the massif and fed lava flows to the SE and W. The NW cone displays hot springs and cones that occasionally eject liquid sulfur. Dark-colored gases were observed rising from the fumarolic area following a tectonic earthquake in November 1952 (Gorshkov, 1970). No confirmed eruptions have been observed, and no lava flows have been dated.