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Report on Kirishimayama (Japan) — March 1992


Kirishimayama

Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, vol. 17, no. 3 (March 1992)
Managing Editor: Lindsay McClelland.

Kirishimayama (Japan) Steam emission and weak seismicity

Please cite this report as:

Global Volcanism Program, 1992. Report on Kirishimayama (Japan) (McClelland, L., ed.). Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network, 17:3. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.BGVN199203-282090



Kirishimayama

Japan

31.934°N, 130.862°E; summit elev. 1700 m

All times are local (unless otherwise noted)


Steam emission from Shinmoe-dake cone's summit crater . . . produced a continuous 100-200-m-high plume in March. Seismicity was at low levels, with a monthly total of 27 small earthquakes, similar to February . . . . Two weak tremor episodes were recorded on 6 and 17 March. Fine ash emissions . . . were not observed in March.

Geological Summary. Kirishimayama is a large group of more than 20 Quaternary volcanoes located north of Kagoshima Bay. The late-Pleistocene to Holocene dominantly andesitic group consists of stratovolcanoes, pyroclastic cones, maars, and underlying shield volcanoes located over an area of 20 x 30 km. The larger stratovolcanoes are scattered throughout the field, with the centrally located Karakunidake being the highest. Onamiike and Miike, the two largest maars, are located SW of Karakunidake and at its far eastern end, respectively. Holocene eruptions have been concentrated along an E-W line of vents from Miike to Ohachi, and at Shinmoedake to the NE. Frequent small-to-moderate explosive eruptions have been recorded since the 8th century.

Information Contacts: JMA.