ASIAPACIFIC JAPAN AND THE PHILIPPINES Japan has more

ASIA/PACIFIC JAPAN AND THE PHILIPPINES

Japan has more than 75 active volcanoes!!!!

LOCATION OF MT. UNZEN ON KYUSHU

Mount Unzen (Japan)

Mount Unzen

UNZEN VOLCANIC COMPLEX: 25 miles east of from Nagasaki Includes three large stratovolcanoes: Kinugasa, Fugen-dake, and Kusenbu Also includes Mayu-yama lava dome complex (formed 400 years ago). This was the source of the 1792 AD debris avalanche and tsunami.

MOUNT UNZEN 1792 --- Eruption caused avalanche and tsunami that killed 15, 000 (Japan’s worst volcanic-related disaster) 1991 --- Eruptions and earthquakes forced evacuation of 12, 000 people. June 3, 1991, eruption’s pyroclastic flow killed 43 scientists and journalists. (See you-tube video)

MOUNT UNZEN, continued 1991 to 1994 --- Over 10, 000 small pyroclastic flows destroyed 2, 000 homes. Since then, heavy rains have frequently remobilized pyroclastic material, generating lahars.

Read description of 1991 events at Mt. Unzen

Mt. Aso

Location of Mt. Aso on Kysuhu

Mt. Aso caldera (24 km n/s, 18 km e/w)

Mt. Aso facts: q. One of largest calderas in the world (15 miles by 11 miles)

Mt. Aso facts: q. One of largest calderas in the world (15 miles by 11 miles) q. One of the world’s most active volcanoes

Mt. Aso facts: q. One of largest calderas in the world (15 miles by 11 miles) q. One of the world’s most active volcanoes q. Has erupted more than 165 times since 553 AD

Mt. Aso facts: q. One of largest calderas in the world (15 miles by 11 miles) q. One of the world’s most active volcanoes q. Has erupted more than 165 times since 553 AD q. Over 50, 000 people live inside caldera

Mt. Asama

Mount Fuji

Mount Fuji Japan’s highest mountain (12, 389 feet). 200, 000 people climb it yearly. Last erupted 1707 and 1708 Holy mountain in Japanese culture and symbol of Japan in artwork. Forest at base of mountain is named Aokigahara and is world’s second most popular suicide location.

Summer hikers at top of Mt. Fuji

Know where this is? “Sulfur Island”

Iwo Jima v. Submarine caldera v. At least 10 small eruptions in last 100 years v. Last erupted in 1982 v. More than 40 feet of uplift on island since 1952

Mayon Volcano, Luzon,

Mayon Volcano: o Most active volcano in Philippines o Erupted over 48 times in past 400 years o 1814 eruption buried town of Cagsawa, over 2, 200 people were killed o 1897 eruption lasted 7 days and buried four small villages in lava and ash (400 killed)

Mayon Volcano: o 1984 eruption evacuated 73, 000 people but no one was killed o 1993 pyroclastic flows killed 77 o Small eruptions with major evacuations (20, 000 to 35, 000 people) occurred in 2006 and 2009

Mt. Pinatubo, Philippines (Alt. 5, 249 ft)

June, 1991…. . major eruption of Mount Pinatubo Minor eruptions with gas and ash in April 1991 along with hundreds of small earthquakes triggered evacuations of tens of thousands of people. Even with this, 883 people were killed and 23 were reported missing. Most deaths were due to mudflows that occurred after eruptions subsided.

600, 000 people were put of work Major US airbase (Clark Air Base) was rendered inoperable and abandoned. Almost 10 k 3 of tephra accumulated on slopes and caused immense mudflows Plinian column rose to 25 miles (40 km) on June 15, 1991

Mount Pinatubo before major eruption

Destroyed hangers at Clark Air Base

Space Shuttle (Mission STS 43) photograph of the Earth over South America taken on August 8, 1991, showing double layer of Pinatubo aerosol cloud (dark streaks) above high cumulonimbus tops

Mt. Pinatubo was largest disturbance of the stratosphere since Krakatoa in 1883 (and ten times larger than Mt. St. Helens in 1980) As estimated 30 million tons of sulfuric acid aerosol was released. (Compare this to 20+ tons from Krakatau and 100+ tons from Tambora)

Aerosol cloud spread around the earth in two weeks and covered planet within one year. During 1992 and 1993 the Ozone hole over Antarctica reached unprecedented size. Global temperatures dropped about 0. 5 0 C in 1992 and 1993 (0. 7 0 C in August 1992)

Home destruction q 4, 979 destroyed and 70, 000 damaged in 1991 q 3, 781 destroyed and 3, 137 damaged in 1992 (lahars plus small eruption in August 1992)

Lahar damage

Clark Air Base

Clark Air Base gym

Ashfall 20 miles away

Schoolhouse covered from lahar