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STS047-90-85 Onekotan and Kharmkotan, Kurile Islands, Russia September 1992
The Kurile Islands are a chain of more than thirty volcanic islands stretching 775 miles (1245 km)between the Kamchatka Peninsula to the north and the Japanese Island of Hokkaido to the south, and are part of the "Ring of Fire" that encircles the Pacific Ocean. The Kurile islands are very young and active volcanoes, evidenced by their very pristine volcanic forms. This view shows three volcanic islands of the Kuriles, Onekotan (top left), Kharmkotan (center), and Shiashkotan. The low sunlight highlights the steep volcanic shapes on these islands. For scale, the small, circular volcano located within the caldera lake on Onekotan Island (upper left) reaches an altitude of 4367 feet (1330 meters).
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