Simushir

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Simushir (Russian: Симушир, Japanese: 新知島) is a deserted volcanic island, part of the Kuril Islands in Russia, located at 46.9666667° N 152.0333333° E. A series of volcanoes (up to 1539 meters) form the structure of this highly elongated island, 59 km long and 12 km wide, with an area of 227.6 sq. km. A partly submerged, 7.5 km wide caldera is situated at the northeastern tip of the island. Down to the southwest lies Zavaritzki Caldera, with three calderas contained within each other.

At the northeastern tip of the island is the Brouton Bay used by the Soviet Navy as a secret submarine base between 1987 and 1994. The remains of the base can be seen clearly on satellite images. Today the island is not inhabited, and several Soviet villages are deserted. The Ainu and the Aleuts settled Simushir in the 19th century. Even earlier, in the early 1770s, the Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov had been marooned on Simushir and spent a full year subsisting on "scallops, grass, and roots".

[edit] References

• Global Volcanism Program
• Simushir submarine base
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