Shinmoedake volcano eruption on Friday 22 June 2018.

Mount Shinmoedake, a 1421 m volcano that part of the Kirishima Volcanic Complex on southern Kyūshū Island, erupted again on the morning of Friday 22 June 2018, producing a column of ash that rose several kilometres above the summit of the volcano and and through fragments of rock over 1100 m from the caldera. This is the latest in a series of erutpions on the volcano, which began in October 2017, after a six year period of inactivity.

Ash column over Mount Shinmoedake, Japan, following an eruption on Friday 22 June 2018. Reuters.

Japan has a complex tectonic situation, with parts of the country on four different tectonic plates. Kyūshū Island lies at the northeast end of the Ryukyu Island Arc, which sits on top of the boundary between the Eurasian and Philippine Plates. The Philippine Plate is being subducted beneath the Eurasian Plate, in the Ryukyo Trench, to the Southeast of the Islands. As it is drawn into the interior of the Earth, the tectonic plate is partially melted by the heat of the Earth's interior, and liquid magma rises up through the overlying Eurasian Plate to form the volcanoes of the Ryukyu Islands and Kyūshū.

The movement of the Pacific and Philippine Plates beneath eastern Honshu. Laurent Jolivet/Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans/Sciences de la Terre et de l'Environnement.

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Eruption on Io Yama volcano, Japan.

Iō Yama, a 1562 m stratovolcano (cone shaped volcano made up of layers of ash and lava) at the northwestern end of the Kirishima Volcanic Complex on southern Kyūshū Island, erupted suddenly slightly before 3.40 pm Japan Standard Time on Thursday 19 April 2018. The Japan Meteorological Agency has issued a warning to avoid going within 3 km of the volcano, due to the dangers of flying rock fragments or pyroclastic flows.

Eruption on Io Yama on 19 April 2018. Japan Meteorological Agency.

Japan has a complex tectonic situation, with parts of the country on four different tectonic plates. Kyūshū Island lies at the northeast end of the Ryukyu Island Arc, which sits on top of the boundary between the Eurasian and Philippine Plates. The Philippine Plate is being subducted beneath the Eurasian Plate, in the Ryukyo Trench, to the Southeast of the Islands. As it is drawn into the interior of the Earth, the tectonic plate is partially melted by the heat of the Earth's interior, and liquid magma rises up through the overlying Eurasian Plate to form the volcanoes of the Ryukyu Islands and Kyūshū.

The movement of the Pacific and Philippine Plates beneath eastern Honshu. Laurent Jolivet/Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans/Sciences de la Terre et de l'Environnement.

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Further eruptions on Mount Shinmoedake.

The Japan Meteorological Agency has expanded the warning area around Mount Shinmoedake to 4 km, a 1421 m volcano that forms part of the Kirishima Volcanic Complex on southern Kyūshū Island, following two large explosions on Saturday 10 March 2018. The volcano erupted slightly before 2.00 am and again slightly before 4.30 am, throwing rocks up to 1800 m from its crater, and produced an ash column that rose to an altitude of about 4.5 km.

Eruption on Mount Shinmoedake on 10 March 2018. Asahi Shimbun.

Japan has a complex tectonic situation, with parts of the country on four different tectonic plates. Kyūshū Island lies at the northeast end of the Ryukyu Island Arc, which sits on top of the boundary between the Eurasian and Philippine Plates. The Philippine Plate is being subducted beneath the Eurasian Plate, in the Ryukyo Trench, to the Southeast of the Islands. As it is drawn into the interior of the Earth, the tectonic plate is partially melted by the heat of the Earth's interior, and liquid magma rises up through the overlying Eurasian Plate to form the volcanoes of the Ryukyu Islands and Kyūshū.

 

 The movement of the Pacific and Philippine Plates beneath eastern Honshu. Laurent Jolivet/Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans/Sciences de la Terre et de l'Environnement.

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