Although we know that Japan is prone to earthquakes, many might not know that the nation is also home to many volcanoes. There has not been a major volcanic eruption in the recent years but early today, one of Japan’s most active volcanoes awoke and spewed ash and rocks.
Mount Asama stands at 2,568 meters tall and started rumbling today. It is located about 90 miles from the city of Tokyo but the eruption was strong enough to send some light clouds of ash down its way. The good news is that despite the amount of ash and rocks coming from the volcano, no damages or injuries have been reported.
The last major eruption of Mount Asama was in 2004. That eruption was not that serious either. It only spewed enough ash to damage some local crops. This was not the case when it erupted in 1783, though, as about 1,500 people were back then.
Mount Asama is not the only volcano in Japan that seems to be making noise these days. According to the authorities, Mount Sakurajima, another volcano found in the southwestern part of Japan has also been showing signs of activity. The same thing has been observed of Karymsky, located in the Russian Kamchatka peninsula. These activities are only classified as minor eruptions, however.
Some additional information on Japan, its volcanoes,and seismic activity…the country is part of the seismic ring of fault lines in the Pacific. It is also home to about 108 active volcanoes – a whopping 10% of the world’s total number of volcanoes!
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Posted February 2nd, 2009 by Maki | Comment (1)
It’s surprising to think that people don’t know that Earthquakes and Volcanoes are both incredibly related. As they are both tectonic activities.
Japan is located on three different tectonic plates, which makes it one of the most susceptible countries to earthquakes in the world!