ISSN 1028-334X, Doklady Earth Sciences, 2010, Vol. 432, Part 1, pp. 608–612. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2010. Original Russian Text © Yu.P. Masurenkov, A.L. Sobisevich, 2010, published in Doklady Akademii Nauk, 2010, Vol. 432, No. 1, pp. 105–109. 608 Pulsating vortical development of the Elbrus volca- nic region is for the first time distinguished and vali- dated as sequential displacement of the volcanic cen- ters (VCs) that compose the region. Regular evolution of this process is extended into the future. A conclu- sion is made about the possible place and time of the appearance of future volcanism. The Elbrus volcanic region is a location of broad manifestation of Neogene–Quaternary volcanism. Despite the relatively shallow depth of erosion corre- sponding to this time interval, traces of subvolcanic and near-surface intrusion formations of this time outcrop to the day-time surface here. Together with volcanic sources, they form an extremely inhomoge- neous distribution density at the present surface of the Earth (Fig. 1). The latter was determined using the method of a running square over the volcanic region. The step of the square was a half-square, within which the number of breaking out sources was counted (based on the results of field research). The obtained number corresponded to the center of the square. Thus, the entire region was covered with a network of numbers, and contour lines of their density distribu- tion were plotted. The regions of their increased den- sity are presented as VCs: Pyatigorsk, Kabardinsk, Balkar, and Elbrus. Such a presentation of VCs instead of the usual geological maps has several advantages [1–4]. First, they clearly bound the regions of the Earth’s surface, which had become the main sources of deep material. Second, individual regions of increased density of ele- vating sources and breaking out of the deep material distinguish localized zones of magma generation, being their projections to the Earth’s surface. The zones of magma formation distinguished on this basis usually have characteristic features of ring (centri- cline) distribution of energetic and petrological prop- erties within these concentrations. Third, concentra- tions of volcanic sources and subvolcanic intrusions reveal a clear correlation with ring fractures, which are mandatory elements of dome depression telescopic structures, within which breakout sources are mainly concentrated. Fourth, hydrothermal systems are con- fined near the concentrations of breakout sources, which can be pronounced at the Earth’s surface as sources of mineral and thermal mineral waters. Fifth, mapping of these factors as contour lines of the density of breakout sources and other structural and material characteristics gives the possibility for quantitative correlation of all these properties and for distinguish- ing of the structural material composition of the autonomous fluid magmatic system that drains the mantle. The major part of these indicators can be found in any of the distinguished concentrations of source breakout, which allows us to relate them to VCs in the sense introduced here. There is nothing extraordinary because geological mapping and numerous special investigations contain fundamental data about the peculiarities and evolution of modern volcanism [5–8]. We are only speaking about application of a greater number of guiding signs to identify the volcanic struc- tures existing here and a deeper understanding of term “volcanic center” as a genetically autonomous and tectonic fluid magmatic system localized in space and time that provides sink of matter and energy from the mantle, thus being a near surface structural material signal of the mantle plume. In this relation it is interesting to know the nature of the link (if any) and relation between the distin- guished VC. If one draws a line between their centers denoted as locations of the greatest density of breakout sources (“centers of centers”), a remarkable peculiar- ity will be seen: the pattern of their vortical or spiral location (Fig. 1). This peculiarity immediately makes us think that the spiral is a pathway of trajectory of VC migration. The question is put forward, what is actu- ally migrating? We can suppose that this is the migra- tion pathway of one and the same periodically acti- Pulsating Vortical Evolution of the Elbrus Volcanic Region (as a Consequence of Migration of the Mantle Plume?) Yu. P. Masurenkov and A. L. Sobisevich Presented by Academician E.E. Milanovskii November 8, 2009 Received November 11, 2009 DOI: 10.1134/S1028334X10050132 Schmidt Joint Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Bol’shaya Gruzinskaya 10, Moscow, 123810 Russia GEOPHYSICS