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Japan's Sakurajima Volcano Has Violent Explosion

The Sakurajima volcano in Japan had it's most violent explosion since 2009, Japanese media and other sources are reporting. Japan's most active volcano in recent years, it had completed the year 2011 with the highest number of explosions on record since people began counting. Activity at the volcano shows no signs of slowing down.

Sakurajima is a complex stratovolcano with many vents, only a couple of the vents have been active in historical time. the volcanic complex is constructed within the Aira caldera, a massive caldera that formed about 22,000 years ago. Sakurajima is a post caldera cone, and has seen much activity throughout human history.

The Smithsonian GVP's summary of Sakurajima is as follows:

"Sakura-jima, one of Japan's most active volcanoes, is a post-caldera cone of the Aira caldera at the northern half of Kagoshima Bay. Eruption of the voluminous Ito pyroclastic flow was associated with the formation of the 17 x 23-km-wide Aira caldera about 22,000 years ago. The construction of Sakura-jima began about 13,000 years ago and built an island that was finally joined to the Osumi Peninsula during the major explosive and effusive eruption of 1914. Activity at the Kita-dake summit cone ended about 4,850 years ago, after which eruptions took place at Minami-dake. Frequent historical eruptions, recorded since the 8th century, have deposited ash on Kagoshima, one of Kyushu's largest cities, located across Kagoshima Bay only 8 km from the summit. The largest historical eruption took place during 1471-76."

Stratigraphy.net | Impressum

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