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WONDERS OF NATURE
Peninsula Kamchatka. Nature miracle
This amazing and unusual corner of Russia - a true "wonderland" - is located far from the habitable places, at the very eastern border of Russia. However, the word "corner" is not very suitable for him: in area, the Kamchatka Peninsula is equal to ten Belgiums or almost three Bulgarias.
With the exception of the environs of the world's most beautiful Avacha Bay, where the main Kamchatka city and port of Petropavlovsk is located and the Kamchatka River valley - the "Kamchatskaya Volga", as it is called, the peninsula is almost uninhabited and undeveloped. And this gives a special charm to its unique nature. A chain of formidable volcanoes stretched across the whole of Kamchatka. There are more than one hundred and forty of them here, including twenty-eight active ones. Among them is the highest of the actively active volcanoes in Eurasia - almost five kilometers Klyuchevskaya Sopka, which has erupted only in the last three hundred years fifty-five times! Karymsky and Mutnovsky volcanoes, as well as Avachinskaya Sopka, are not inferior to it in activity. Karymsky, for example, erupted more than twenty times in the 1945th century alone. An eerie and grandiose impression is left by the spectacle of the revelry of the fiery element. Here is how an eyewitness describes the picture of the eruption of Klyuchevskaya Sopka in 30: “From the crater, almost continuously, either weakening or intensifying, a majestic fountain of liquid lava shot up to a height of up to three hundred meters, which seemed fiery red during the day, and dazzling, golden yellow at night ". The lava in the vent first swelled, and then, with the sound of a splash of heavy liquid, it rapidly took off in a huge lump with torn outlines, which crumbled in the air into many bizarre fiery flakes. Simultaneously with the fountaining of the lava, its abundant outpouring occurred. A hot stream, red-white in the middle and dark purple at the edges, with a roar, hiss and crunch, it smoothly rolled down the ravine, from time to time crossing streams, and then the resulting steam caused explosions, throwing columns of red-brown ash, similar to cauliflower, 50-XNUMX meters high, and dull red chunks of cooling lava." The Bezymyanny volcano, located next door, behaves differently. For three centuries he was silent, and he was considered extinct. But in 1955, the earth around it trembled, ash and volcanic bombs flew from the crater into the sky, and streams of red-hot lava flowed down the slopes. Six months later, the eruption seemed to have begun to subside, and suddenly there was a terrible explosion. Around darkened as at night - clouds of ash covered the sun. When the ashes settled, it became noticeable that the appearance of the volcano had changed: a three-hundred-meter piece of its top was demolished by an explosion, and in its place a giant funnel with a diameter of two kilometers and a depth of up to a thousand meters was formed. The explosion uprooted, broken and burned trees at a distance of up to twenty-five kilometers. The ash cloud shot up to a height of forty kilometers and rushed down the slope at a speed of four hundred kilometers per hour, destroying all life around in an area of five hundred square kilometers. A stream of lava escaped from the newly formed crater and moved down the valley of the nearby Sukhoi River, passing eighteen kilometers. Since the unbearable heat began the rapid melting of snow, a powerful mud stream gushed down the river, which swept along it for ninety kilometers, grinding everything in its path. When this terrible avalanche, having reached the confluence of the Dry into the Kamchatka River, finally stopped, the stream of mud, mixed with stones and charred, mutilated tree trunks, reached a width of six kilometers. No less ferocious is the temperament of the northernmost volcano on the peninsula, Shiveluch. In 1954, a terrible roar was heard from its depths. A gloomy black cloud of ash rose from the top of the volcano, in which crimson lightning continuously flashed. The column of fire shot up to a height of twenty kilometers, so that the eruption could be seen from villages located five hundred kilometers from the volcano. A thick layer of ash covered the sea over an area of one hundred and forty square kilometers. The force of the explosion was such that the blast wave circled the globe twice. At the same time, the surroundings of the volcano were subjected to a real bombardment, and what a bombardment! A huge lava block measuring 15x7x10 meters and weighing 500 tons was thrown out to a distance of two kilometers! Pieces of lava (they are called "volcanic bombs") weighing 700-10 tons scattered over 12-XNUMX kilometers! And smaller bombs - twice as far. Fortunately, the area around Shiveluch is uninhabited and no one was injured in the explosion. And the Tolbachik volcano in 1975 erupted for almost a year. Volcanologists predicted this eruption in advance, and a large expeditionary force watched it from the very beginning. One of its participants later said: “The spectacle was amazing. Huge cracks opened up in the ground, lava fountains rose up like fiery curtains above them. Literally before our eyes, new cones grew. walls, filled with boiling lava. Clouds of ash rose to a height of eighteen kilometers and stretched downwind to a distance of a thousand kilometers. Sometimes lava flows block the path of rivers, and then amazingly beautiful lakes are formed, such as Kronotsky, which will be discussed below. However, lakes sometimes appear here and right in the craters of volcanoes, and then they amaze with the most unusual colors. For example, in the crater of the Bolshoy Semyachik volcano there is Black Lake, the surface of which is covered with a black film of iron sulfides. And the Gorely volcano, unique even for Kamchatka (it has as many as nine craters!), has two lakes at once: in the Blue Lake crater there is indeed a reservoir with pale blue water, and nearby, in the Chasha crater, the water in the lake is purple. The formation of such colored lakes is associated with the different acidity of the water in the craters and the different composition of the lava in them. Not only the mountains are amazing, but also the flora and fauna of the peninsula. And most of all curiosities were collected by nature at the foot of one of the highest and, probably, the most beautiful volcano of Kamchatka - Kronotskaya Sopka, which raised its snow-covered head three and a half kilometers above sea level. Not without reason, back in 1822, at the suggestion of the zoologist Dybov, one of the first sanctuaries in Russia was arranged. As of 1934, the entire considerable adjacent territory (the size of three islands of Cyprus) was declared a protected area. The Kronotsky Nature Reserve stands apart from other Russian protected areas. Perhaps, in no other reserve of our country you will find such a collection of rare wonders of animate and inanimate nature. And abroad, only the famous Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks in the USA and the protected corners of New Zealand can be compared with it. There are 16 volcanoes in the reserve alone, five of them are active! The highest one - Kronotskaya Sopka - until recently was considered extinct. But in 1922, a column of black smoke rose from its crater, with which the volcano reminded that it was too early to write it off.
The ideally correct almost four-kilometer cone of Kronotskaya Sopka is covered with a snow cap that glistens in the sun like a precious crown. Nearby, beyond the Kronotskaya River, there is the Krasheninnikov volcano, named after the member of the Bering expedition, the first explorer of Kamchatka, Stepan Krasheninnikov. This volcano is unusual in appearance and structure. Once there was a huge shield volcano, the base of which was 30 kilometers across. Its top collapsed, and two new volcanic cones grew in the resulting caldera cavity with a diameter of 10 kilometers. The first, southern one, is similar to most volcanoes: on top of it there is a crater 800 meters wide and 80 meters deep. But in the second, northern cone at the bottom of the crater, another small volcano a hundred meters high with a wide base arose. In its six hundred meter crater there is, in turn, another cone 60 meters high with a fifteen meter crater at the top. There are no such "four-story" volcanoes anywhere else on the planet. And at the foot of the neighboring Kikhpinych volcano, a path begins leading to the main miracle of the peninsula - the famous Valley of Geysers. Geysers - these periodically operating natural fountains of hot water - are extremely rare. On our planet, they are found, except for Kamchatka, only in three places: in Iceland, on the Yellowstone River in the USA and in the New Zealand Rotorua Valley.
Nature has safely hidden the Kamchatka miracle from people. Only in April 1941, the geologist Ustinova, while examining the non-freezing Shumnaya River, flowing from the Uzon volcanic caldera, accidentally noticed a fountain of soaring water on one of its tributaries. Further study of the tributary showed that in its valley there are 21 more large geysers and many pulsating hot springs, boiling multi-colored lakes, steam-water jets and gurgling mud pots. This tributary was named the Geysernaya River. It is difficult to convey the impression that this amazing place makes on the traveler! The whole valley seems to smoke, emitting clouds of white steam and jets of boiling water, there is an incessant roar, whistling, hissing, gurgling and splashes around, making one involuntarily recall the picture of hell described by the great Dante. The largest of the geysers - the Giant - erupts every five hours. At the same time, a meter-thick jet of boiling water takes off to a height of forty meters, and clouds of steam rise to three hundred meters! A kind of "scale" of mineral salts, which precipitated when the water cooled, formed a cone with a diameter of thirty meters at the base of the geyser. The same cones of freshly formed rock (called geyserite) are found in other geysers, as well as pulsating springs. Geyserite is yellow, brownish, pink and even greenish, depending on the composition of the precipitated salts. One of the geysers was even named Sugar - so similar is its geyserite cone to a pile of burnt sugar. Geyser Fountain is the most active: every 17 minutes it throws its powerful jet to the height of a seven-story building. And the Crying Geyser is distinguished by the peculiar nature of the gurgle produced: it looks like a dull sob. The Vodopadny geyser is very effective, below which a stream of boiling water breaks off a rock with a 27-meter waterfall. In the hot water of streams and lakes of the Valley of Geysers, multi-colored heat-loving bacteria and blue-green algae are rapidly developing. Therefore, its slopes amaze with an incredible riot of colors. Especially beautiful is one of the waterfalls of the valley, for its bright multi-colored coloring, which received the name Toy. On the warm soil of the valley, the grass begins to turn green earlier than in neighboring areas, and grows to gigantic sizes. So, the usual Kamchatka silkworm (umbrella plant, reminiscent of the "bear pipe" we are used to) reaches a height of four meters here! Leaving this amazing corner of the Earth, you still see for a long time, looking back at the turns of the mountain path, the emerald green spot of the Valley of Geysers, crowned with white clouds of steam... Another pearl of the nature of this region is the Uzon volcanic caldera. Once there was a high, up to three kilometers, volcano. As a result of an explosive eruption, its cone was destroyed, and the surface of the earth at the site of the former volcano sank, forming a huge "saucer" with a diameter of twelve kilometers. A lot of hot springs, mud volcanoes and steam-gas jets - fumaroles are scattered all over the bottom of the caldera. From numerous holes in the soil, jets of steam and boiling water are beating here. The holes are surrounded by clay of various colors: white, blue, red, yellow and even black. The outlets of some jets are, moreover, rimmed with bright yellow rims of sulfur deposits. In large springs, water bubbles with such force that its noise drowns out the human voice. When you pass through the caldera among gurgling water boilers in clouds of steam, it seems that you have landed on another planet - its landscape is so unlike anything seen before. The water in the lakes and streams of the Uzon caldera is heated up to 90 degrees. In winter, most of them do not freeze. This contributes to the lush development of plants here and attracts many waterfowl here: ducks, geese, swans and others. Volcanic eruptions owe their origin to the largest lake in Kamchatka - Kronotskoe. Lava flows flowing down from the slopes of the Kronotskaya Sopka and the Krasheninnikov volcano blocked the valley of the ancient river flowing between them, forming a two-hundred-meter dam. Behind it, a vast and deep lake with an area of XNUMX square kilometers spilled out, from which a stormy and fast river flows into the Kronotsky Bay, also called the Kronotsky. But the peninsula is famous not only for its volcanic curiosities. There are many amazing phenomena of wildlife here. Only in Kamchatka has a unique piece of pre-glacial coniferous forests been preserved - a grove of graceful fir. This small forest - only 19 hectares - is unique, as the graceful fir does not grow anywhere else in the world. For a long time, the Kamchadals guarded the grove as sacred and did not even dare to touch the deified trees. The legend tells that there was once a Cossack prison on the shore near the grove, but when one of the Cossacks cut down fir in the reserved forest, a smallpox epidemic broke out in the fortress, and the entire garrison died out in one month. Since then, Kamchadals have believed that a terrible disease lurked in these trees unlike any other, and if at least one of them is cut down in the grove, smallpox will come out again and start its dirty work. In general, the forests in Kamchatka do not look like the Siberian taiga. On the coastal plains and in the lower belt of mountains, it is not spruce or larch that grows here, as everywhere in Siberia, but stone birch. This is a low tree with a twisted, gnarled trunk and very strong wood. Stone birch is distinguished by rare longevity - individual trees live up to six hundred years! At an altitude of 600-700 meters, birch forests are replaced by elfin cedar. The thickets of this semi-tree-semi-shrub are so dense that even a bear walks here only along its old paths laid over the years. People also use them. Walking along such a path, you often see a tuft of red wool on a branch, left along the road by the harsh "master of the taiga". There are many bears in Kamchatka. Sometimes, going out to the steep bank of the river, you can see five or six of them at once. On the river, the animals are busy with an important business: they catch fish. During the spawning period, many thousands of large, 3-5-kilogram salmon fish flood the rivers of the peninsula and irresistibly rush upstream, through rapids and even waterfalls. Most of their lives, these fish: pink salmon, sockeye salmon, chum salmon, chinook salmon and char - spend in the sea, and only to spawn they enter the rivers. The course of salmon to spawn is a fantastic picture. The river seems to boil, foam and rage, filled to the brim with fish. Small channels are clogged with it so that the water overflows the banks. A stick stuck in the water remains upright and moves along with the fish school against the current. It is difficult to navigate the river at this time in a boat. It happens that there is not enough space in the river for fish, fish backs stick out of the water, and in some places individual fish are pushed ashore by their relatives. Fish crawl over sandbanks, roll over stones, and at waterfalls, dozens of them jump out of the water at the same time, trying to overcome the obstacle. It is clear that clubfoot has enough prey. (It is interesting that bears only eat off the head of the fish, and throw away the carcasses.) Wolves and wolverines, foxes and sables, otters and martens, and even wild boars feed on fish at this time. Numerous birds feast next to them, among which the largest predator of the bird world of Kamchatka stands out - the Steller's sea eagle with a wingspan of three meters. In the mountains of the peninsula, there is a rare and beautiful animal - bighorn sheep or bighorn. It has survived only in the most inaccessible areas and surprises zoologists by the fact that in the spring it descends from the steep steep slopes of the ridges - its usual habitat - to the very shore of the sea, where it is easier to find food. Not a single animal of Kamchatka is capable of such movements in height (from sea level to three thousand meters and above). And on the sea coast there is a special world of its own: between the rocky islets with bird colonies, you can see seals, sea lions and a rare guest - sea otters in the water. This rather large (up to one and a half meters in length) animal with valuable and durable fur spends almost all its life in water. In appearance, it resembles a miniature seal. It is amusing to watch how the female sea otters swim on their backs, placing their cubs on their belly and looking with curiosity at the spectators located on the shore. Rookeries of sea lions hide in bays covered with impregnable rocks, where the animals do not bother anyone's eyes. These largest pinnipeds after walruses spend the winter in the warm Sea of Japan, and in the spring come to the shores of Kamchatka. Here, male sea lions gather numerous harems of 15-20 females around them and vigilantly protect their families from enemies. Even a bear does not dare to poke his head in the rookery, fearing the prospect of being nose to nose with an angry master of the harem. At the bottom of the bays and bays of the peninsula lives the king crab - the largest of all crustaceans in the world. Its claws reach a length of one and a half meters, and weight - eight kilograms. And yet, no matter what marvels of zoology and botany Kamchatka surprises us with, its main miracle is the slender silhouettes of smoking fire-breathing mountains with glaciers whitening at the tops, roaring multi-meter columns of boiling water surrounded by clouds of steam, hot waterfalls and motley cones of geyserite in a fabulous valley as if brought to us from another planet. Author: B.Wagner
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