Hakone Volcano
Honshu (Japan), 35.23°N / 139.02°E
Current status: normal or dormant (1 out of 5)
Hakone (Hakoneyama) volcano is located 80 km SW of Tokyo. It is a massive stratovolcano truncated by 2 overlapping calderas, the largest being 11 x 10 km wide. It contains several younger vents, mostly lava domes, on a SW-NE trend cutting through the center of the caldera. The Kami-yama stratovolcano, the youngest of these, forms the high point of the volcano.
The calderas are breached to the east by the Haya-kawa canyon. The scenic Lake Ashi (Ashinoko) was created by a phreatic eruption 3000 yeas ago, which followed the collapse of the NW flank of the largest and youngest of the lava domes and dammed the Haya-kawa valley.
The last activity of Hakone volcano was ca. 800 years ago and consisted in phreatic explosions.
Lake Ashi and other major thermal areas in the caldera are a tourist destination SW of Tokyo.
Hakone volcano eruptions: 1170 AD ± 100 years (radiocarbon dated), 50 BC (?), 1050 BC (?), 1200 BC (?), 1400 BC ± 100 years, 3700 BC ± 100 years, 6000 BC ± 100 years
Latest nearby earthquakes
Time | Mag. / Depth | Distance / Location | |||
Mar 24, 03:35 am (GMT +9) Mar 23, 18:35 GMT | 2.8 191 km | 17 km (10.9 mi) to the S | Japan, 10 km southeast of san dao, Shizuoka | Info | |
Tuesday, March 19, 2024 GMT (1 quake) | |||||
Mar 20, 02:02 am (GMT +9) Mar 19, 17:02 GMT | 2.6 191 km | 19 km (12 mi) to the SW | Japan: EASTERN SHIZUOKA PREF | Info |
Background
The Hakone volcano calderas were formed as a result of 2 major explosive eruptions about 180,000 and 49,000-60,000 years ago.Dome growth after the caldera formation occurred progressively to the south. Ōwakudani (大涌谷, lit. "Great Boiling Valley") is a valley with intense hydrothermal activity and the location of several phreatic explosions in the past.
The latest magmatic eruption from Hakone was ca. 2900 years ago and produced a pyroclastic flow and a lava dome in the explosion crater. Phreatic eruptions have last occurred in the 12-13th centuries AD. Seismic swarms occurred at Hakone during the 20th century.
(Source: Smithsonian / GVP volcano information)
Eruptions of Hakone volcano
On 22 April 1991, 300 earthquakes were recorded 5 km beneath the central part of the caldera, but no eruption has followed.