Valley of Geysers

The Valley of Geysers, about 170km away from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatksy, capital city of the peninsula, belongs to Kronotsky National Biosphere Reserve on the eastern range. It is located in a volcanic canyon 4km wide, 8km long and 400 meters deep. In the heart of the valley, flows Geyzernaya River. Six kilometers from its mouth are gathered about twenty small and big geysers including “Bolshoi” (big), “Velikan” (giant), “Krepost” (fortress), “Bastion”, “Fontane”, “Banna” (bath), “Jemchuzhny” (perly), “Plashchanitsa” (Holy Shroud), and more. They are concentrated on the left bank of the river. The Valley of Geysers was discovered on April 14, 1941 by Tatiana Ivanovna Ustinova (1913-2009) and Anisifor Pavlovich Krupenin (1912-1990). On that day they discovered a first geyser that they called “Perveniets” (first-born). They came back to the valley on July 25, 1941 and they drew up the complete inventory. They valley still has hot boiling and steaming springs as well as mud pools, waterfalls, rivers and lakes. On June 3, 2007 a massive landslide or mud-flow of 22.7 million m3 took place. It created a 60 meters high barrier that had increased the water level of Geyzernaya River and gave birth to the lake “Ozero Geyzernoye”. No one was hurt or killed in the catastrophe. However, the valley was deeply damaged. Quickly nature showed its strength of regeneration. The landslide did not destroy but started a mutation for the Valley of Geysers.