Kamchatka’s
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Reserve TerritoryKronotsky Zapovednik is located on Kamchatka’s east coast. The reserve is a compact area 160 kilometers long and 60 kilometers wide. Its total area comes to 1,142,134 hectares, including 135,000 hectares of protected marine aquatoria (a 3 mile-wide zone). Kronotsky Zapovednik’s diverse landscapes are representative of the natural world of the Kamchatka Peninsula as a whole. Volcanoes, glaciers, and the work of the wind and river and ocean currents exert particular influence on the reserve’s terrain. Volcanoes. The zapovednik is located in Kamchatka’s Eastern Volcanic Zone. Here volcanoes, scoria cones, calderas, lava flows and plains create a unique terrain. Mountains surround the reserve on all sides, and there are 25 volcanoes in the reserve (8 active and 17 inactive). The largest volcanic formations are in the northern part of the reserve and form the Kronotsky-Gamchenskaya Chain. With an elevation of 3528 m, Kronotsky Volcano is the tallest volcano in the reserve. Its perfectly shaped, even cone resembles precisely what the average person’s imagination conjures up when it pictures the word “volcano.” Volcanoes with such straight contours are in fact very rare, and in shape and beauty Kronotsky rivals Japan’s famous Fujiyama Volcano. One of the most interesting younger volcanoes in the reserve is Savich Volcano (elevation 1552 m), which is a separate cone in the Kikhpinych volcanic range. Savich Volcano is only 1400 years old, and like a true child, it is very energetic and continually puffing smoke. The Central and Large Semyachik Volcanoes stand guard in the southern part of the reserve. Central Semyachik is a large volcanic system consisting of a number of volcanic formations between 1500 and 1700 m in height, all with a shared base. The entire formation is 15 kilometers in diameter! A 100,000 year-old caldera is contained inside Semyachik. Semaychik is a very active volcano that exhibits constant geothermal activity, in the form of jets of superheated steam, boiling mud pools and thermal lakes. The Kikhpinych, Krasheninnikov and Uzon Volcanoes are part of the reserve’s Central Volcanic Group. Uzon Caldera is an enormous volcanic depression with an area of 30 square kilometers. The sides of the depression are between 200 and 900 meters high. Calderas are one of the earth’s oldest geologic formations, and Uzon is hundreds of thousands of years old. Here boiling springs, steam jets, mud pools, volcanic and thermal lakes bubble continually on 5 thermal fields. Uzon is rightly called a geothermal wonderland. Taunshits and Unana Volcanoes are located on the southwestern border of the reserve. Rivers and Lakes. Large and small rivers cut through the entire territory of the zapovednik, and almost all of them ultimately flow into the Pacific Ocean. Most of these waterways are mountain rivers, complete with rapids and waterfalls. The longest river in the reserve is the Bogachyovka, which begins on the slopes of the Gamchensky Range and flows for another 72 kilometers. The Klyuch Goryachyi River, which begins as a vent in the Semyachikskiye Klyuchi thermal springs, is the shortest river in the reserve, with a length of only 4 km. The reserve’s lakes are numerous and vary in origin, including lagoon lakes (such as Semyachiksky and Kronotsky estuaries), marsh lakes (such as Lake Chazhma), crater lakes (such as Tsentralnoye Lake), and glacial lakes. The zapovednik is home to the largest and deepest lake on the Kamchatka Peninsula – Kronotskoye Lake, which is hidden in a mountain crater at an elevation of 372 m. Kronotskoye Lake is 242 square kilometers in area – the size of almost 33 soccer fields – and 148 m deep – 3 times the height of Niagara Falls. Kronotskoye is not only the largest and deepest lake on Kamchatka, but also one of the peninsula’s most beautiful, especially in the summer and fall, when its mirror-like surface reflects the fine contours of Kronotsky Volcano. Hot thermal springs. The land itself in Kronotsky Zapovednik is very active, and heat breaks through the surface in the form of various phenomena including geysers, boiling mud pools, and hot thermal springs. The Maliye (Small) and Bolshiye (Large) Tyushevskiye, Chazhminskiye, Kipeliye and Nizhne-Semyachikskiye thermal springs are well-known for their healing properties, as their moderate temperatures and mild chemical composition are considered to have beneficial impacts on human health. Snowfields and glaciers are also inseparable from the reserve’s landscape; of the 414 glaciers on Kamchatka, 46 are found in Kronotsky Zapovednik. The largest of these is located on the Kronotsky Peninsula . There are relatively few flat lowlands in the reserve, and they are found in the form of sandy coastal beaches along the seacoast just south of the Kronotsky Peninsula. Kronotsky Zapovednik is home to a number of unique natural phenomena, which are without analogue not only on Kamchatka, but in all of Russia. While these phenomena are recognized as being of particular value and interest for scientists, professional photographers and film directors, they also require high levels of protection, and they are governed by special visitation rules and are routinely inspected by zapovednik staff. Tourists can visit these unique areas as part of an organized group during the tourist season. There are 11 such unique natural phenomena in Kronotsky Zapovednik. They are: 1. The Valley of the Geysers; 2. Uzon Caldera; 3. Sakhalin fir grove; 4. Kronotskoye Lake; 5. Larch forest in the Kronotskoye Lake basin; 6. Chazhminskiye Hot Springs; 7. Semyachikskiye Thermal Springs; 8. Semyachiksky Estuary; 9. Tyushevskiye Hot Springs; 1 0. Burlyashchy Volcano ; 11. The Nikolskiye Fir Groves in the Pravaya Shchapina River Basin. The most famous of these phenomena is the Valley of the Geysers, hidden in the mountains at an elevation of over 500 m and rightly considered one of the natural wonders of the world. The Valley of the Geysers is the name given to the deep canyon cut by the Geyzernaya River. The geysers themselves are jets of boiling water that at regular intervals burst through the earth’s surface from the depths under the Kikhpinych Volcano. The Valley was discovered in 1941 by geologist Tatyana Ivanovna Ustinova and her guide, A. Krupenin, who in their attempts to understand why water in one river was warmer than in others came upon a jet that was subsequently named the Pervenets Geyser. (In Russian “pervenets” means “the first one.”) Thus was made one of the greatest geographic discoveries of the 20 th century. There are more than 20 large geysers in an area of 7 square kilometers in the Valley. Each one is unique and has its own name and personality. “Velikan” expels 30 tons of water per minute up to the height of a second story building; “Bolshoy” creates an inimitable cascade, with water spurting up through a huge rift, and “Pervenets” casts a jet of water from under a stone foundation directly into the Geyzernaya River. Gushing hot springs, streams of gas and steam, pools of boiling red clay and waterfalls all add to this colorful performance. In the summer of 2007 the appearance of the Valley of the Geysers changed forever. On Sunday, June 3, at 2:20 pm, a large rockslide carrying more than 15 million cubic meters of earth slid nearly 5 kilometers down the channels of Vodopadnyi Stream and the Geyzernaya and Shumnaya Rivers, filling the 2 canyons with ice, snow, rock and mud dozens of meters high. The rockslide came to a halt at the Lower Gates (Nizhniye Vorota) – 2 cliffs rising from the banks of the Geyzernaya River – forming a dam ranging from 10 to 40 meters high. The river behind the dam began to rise rapidly, flooding several geysers. One June 7 the dam broke, and the water level began to fall. A warm lake about 1 km long and 20 m deep formed in the river channel. The lake has already become another attraction in the Valley, and may be included in new tour programs. The rockslide changed the appearance of the Valley significantly – the Malyi, Troinoy and Sakharnyi Geysers have all ceased to function. Although it is still possible that they could be restored, nonetheless visitors to Kronotsky Zapovednik today will see a different Valley of the Geysers. The Valley of the Geysers is stunning at any time of the year. In the summer it appears in all its majesty, full of strength and bright, colorful beauty. In the fall and early winter the Valley is full of unusual contrasts – snow gently falls to the earth’s surface while streams of boiling water burst forth from underground. In the spring the Valley is the first to throw off its fluffy blanket of snow and be painted in green shoots of new life.
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