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Chirinkotan
Island in Kuril Islands, Russia
Chirinkotan (Russian: Чиринкотан; Japanese: 知林古丹島, romanized: Chirinkotan-tō) is an uninhabited volcanic island located in the centre of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Its name is derived from the Ainu language for "mudslide".
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It is located 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) west of Ekarma, its nearest neighbor. Chirinkotan is at the far end of a volcanic chain extending nearly 50 km west of the central part of the main Kuril Islands arc. The island is the top of a partially submerged stratovolcano rising approximately 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) from the floor of the Sea of Okhotsk, and is roughly circular with an area of 6 square kilometres (2.3 square miles). The island's highest point ("Masaochi" in Ainu) is 742 metres (2,434 feet) high, and is still an active volcano with major eruptions recorded in 1760, 1884, 1900, 1979, 1986, 2004, and 2013. Reports of a 1955 eruption are unconfirmed. The caldera is approximately one kilometre (0.62 miles) wide, with a depth of 300 to 400 metres (980–1,310 feet), and is breached on its south-east side. The shores of the island are steep cliffs, making landing by small boat impossible. Chirinkotan has had no permanent habitation.
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