84 years ago, the first geyser of the famous Valley was discovered in Kamchatka.
On April 14, 1941, employees of the Kronotsky Nature Reserve – geomorphologist Tatiana Ustinova and senior observer Anisifor Krupenin – discovered the first geyser of the famous Valley, Kamchatka.Today reports.
In April, the scientist and her guide went on an expedition to find out the exact location of the sources of the Noisy and Quiet rivers. On April 14, moving along the Shumnaya riverbed, they came to an unknown warm river.
“A jet of boiling water and clouds of steam hit us directly from the left bank of the river. All this was accompanied by some kind of dull underground thuds, thuds. Boiling water was falling right at our feet. Of course, we were terribly scared, because there are active volcanoes here, and we don’t know what to expect from them. We huddled together, neither alive nor dead, we didn’t know how it would end for us,” Tatyana Ustinova later recalled.
But an experienced geomorphologist quickly realized that this was the first geyser discovered in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve. That’s what they called him, the Firstborn.
April 14 is now a memorable date in the Kamchatka Territory, the Opening Day of the Valley of Geysers. Although in fact it was discovered more than three months later during the next expedition.
On July 24, the researchers saw a floating canyon, and the next day they descended into the gorge of a mountain river with dozens of natural fountains, pulsating springs, mud and water boilers.
The Valley of geysers has become one of the largest geographical discoveries of the twentieth century.
Photo by Elena Subbotina / Kronotsky Nature Reserve.