AP News, June 7th, 2007
Several of the wondrous geysers feared obliterated by a massive landslide on Russia's remote Kamchatka Peninsula reappeared Thursday after a drop in the water level in a lake formed by the flow of rock and mud, the World Wildlife Fund said.
Sunday's landslide buried much of the valley of geysers containing 90 geysers and an array of thermal pools in the Kronotsky Nature Preserve on the volcano-studded peninsula in Russia's Far East, putting the geysers out of sight and raising concerns they were destroyed.
However, geysers began to reappear after water, mud and debris went over the top of a dam formed by the landslide and the level of the lake dropped by more than 15 feet, the WWF said in a statement.
Two geysers dubbed Vodopadnaya and Shel reappeared, "spewing water and steam skyward with all their former zeal," it said. A wall of geysers known as Vitrazh _ meaning stained-glass window _ reappeared completely, and a geyser known as Malachite Grotto was also re-emerging from the water.
"These events testify to the fact that it is not necessary to take aggressive measures to restore the valley to its original form," Laura Williams, director of nature conservation group's Kamchatka office, was quoted as saying. "Nature will heal its own wounds and re-create itself once again."
A sparsely populated peninsula, Kamchatka is located some 4,200 miles from Moscow. It was completely closed to foreigners until 1990 and now attracts thousands of tourists annually with its volcanos, geysers and national parks.
