Mendeleev Volcano

Mendeleev Volcano (Vulkan Mendeleeva) is an active stratovolcano with a central extrusive dome in the south of Kunashir Island, in the Yuzhno-Kurilsky municipal district of Sakhalin Oblast. It rises 886–888 meters and its cone sits inside a broad, ancient caldera. The nearest settlement is the village of Mendeleevo, next to the airport of the same name.

History

The lava deposits underlying the volcano are 200,000–230,000 years old, though the cone itself took shape later, roughly 10,000 years ago. The last recorded eruption was in 1880, and the volcano is still classed as active, currently in a quiet phase. It was named in 1946, after Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands joined the USSR, in honor of the chemist Dmitri Mendeleev. In 1983 it was given the status of a state natural monument covering about 30,000 hectares. Nearby stands Cape Stolbchaty, with its basalt columns formed several million years ago by an eruption of the same volcanic group.

Nature and thermal fields

The volcano's slopes are covered with mixed coniferous-broadleaf forest and a dense understory of Kuril bamboo up to two meters tall, along with thickets of dwarf Siberian pine. On the northeastern slope lies a fumarole field: sulfurous gases vent from cracks, and the surrounding rock is stained bright yellow by sulfur deposits. Hot springs with water up to 40°C emerge in the same area — one outlet is known as the "Hot Beach" recreation spot, where visitors can bathe.

Mendeleevskaya geothermal plant

At the volcano's foot, drawing on its geothermal heat, operates the Mendeleevskaya geothermal power plant, which supplies Kunashir Island with electricity and heat. The plant has been upgraded several times and remains one of the few operating geothermal facilities in the Kuril Islands.

Legends

Locals tell a legend of the "sleeping beauty": seen from a certain vantage point, the volcano's silhouette resembles the outline of a reclining woman.

Getting there

Kunashir Island is reached by sea or by air, through Mendeleevo Airport. A dirt road runs from the village toward the volcano, passable by off-road vehicle to about the 17th kilometer, where a roughly 7-kilometer round-trip hiking trail begins through the bamboo thickets.