Matua

an island in the central part of the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin Oblast, RSFSR. Length, 12 km; width, 6 km; area, 52 sq km. Nadezhda Strait and Golovnin Strait separate it from the islands of Rasshua and Raikoke. The whole island is occupied by the active volcano Sarychev, which is 1,446 m high and is composed of andesites and andesite-basalts. The volcano has erupted many times including in 1946. The shores are precipitous. The island is covered with brush and elfin wood.