Report on Kaitoku Seamount (Japan) — May 1984
Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletin, vol. 9, no. 5 (May 1984)
Managing Editor: Lindsay McClelland.
Kaitoku Seamount (Japan) Discolored water; floating lapilli; formal name
Please cite this report as:
Global Volcanism Program, 1984. Report on Kaitoku Seamount (Japan) (McClelland, L., ed.). Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletin, 9:5. Smithsonian Institution. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.GVP.SEAN198405-284100
Kaitoku Seamount
Japan
26.127°N, 141.102°E; summit elev. -95 m
All times are local (unless otherwise noted)
JMSA observations beginning 7 March indicated that eruptive activity was at its highest level in mid to late March, when floating ejecta and vapor plumes were nearly always seen. Beginning in April, activity subsided gradually. The area of discolored water decreased from 13 x 30 km in early March to 300 m in diameter in early May (table 1).
On either side of the submarine vent are two shallow areas, at 26.13°N, 141.10°E, and 26.05°N, 140.93°E (figure 1). JMSA has formally named the feature Kaitoku Kaizan (Kaitoku Seamount).
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Figure 1. Cross-section (top) and bathymetry (bottom) at Kaitoku Seamount. Courtesy of JMSA. |
Geological Summary. A submarine eruption was observed in 1984 from Kaitoku Seamount (Kaitoku Kaizan), a three-peaked submarine volcano 130 km NNW of Kita-Iojima. A submarine eruption had previously been reported in 1543 from a point about 40 km to the SW, which the Japan Meteorological Agency attributes to Kaitoku.
Information Contacts: JMA, Tokyo.
