Akuseki-jima Volcano
Ryukyu Islands (Japan), 29.46°N / 129.6°E
Current status: normal or dormant (1 out of 5)
Akuseki-jima volcano is a small stratovolcano in the southern Ryukyu Islands, Japan. It forms the island of the same name, which measures 2.5 x 3.2 km in diameter and is surrounded by steep cliffs with beaches present only on the SW and SE sides.
Although no direct date exists, it is plausible that Akuseki-jimais is still active.
Akuseki-jima Island
Only about 80 people live on the small island. Access to Akuseki-jima island is limited to one ferry running twice a week traveling 11 hours from Kagoshima. The island has no sources and depends on rainwater as water source.
July 22, 2009 solar eclipse
It was one of the best observation spots (one of the closest inhabited areas to the location of maximum eclipse duration) for the Solar eclipse of 22 July 2009.
Akuseki-jima volcano eruptions: less than 80,000 years ago
Latest nearby earthquakes
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Background
The andesitic-dacitic volcano rises about 800m above the sea floor and consists of 2 somma volcanoes, the (probably older) Biro-yama forming the southern half of the island, and Naka-dake in the center and northern half.Mi-take (Ontake) is a lava dome that had grown inside Naka-dake's caldera and forms the summit of the island.
Omune is the local name of gently sloping plateau on the top of the cliff at the northeastern end of the island. In this area, a ca. 100 m thick dacitic lava flow was sampled and dated recently a recently. The K-Ar ages was <80,000 yrs Before Present, but its youthful morphology and the absence of any tephra layers above suggest it could be as young as the Holocene (i.e. less than 10,000 years old).
The Omune lava flow, after the Kikai rhyolite the most SiO2-rich lava known in the Tokara islands, is the youngest product of Akuseki-jima volcano, forms a low-angle plateau overlying cliffs forming the northern coast.
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Source: Furuyama K, Daishi M, Nagao K, Eguchi M (2002). "The discovery of young dacite lava in Akuseki-jima Island, Tokara Islands, Japan" Bull Volc Soc Japan (Kazan), v.47, pp 751-755
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