MICHAEL MANGA

Neat stuff in the Field

Sakurajima volcano, Japan, 2013
The 2014 IAVCEI meeting was held in Kagoshima, Japan. Excellent meeting, gracious hosts, and spectacular special events. On July 22 the meeting ran a field trip and we were fortunate to watch 50 minutes of vulcanian eruptions from Sakurajima from up close. At the meeting I talked about volcanic bomb sags, pyroclastic flows, and eruptions triggered by earthquakes. The next IAVCEI meeting is in Portland, Oregon. We can hope that Mount Hood does not welcome volcanologists by erupting.


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After 40 minutes of repeated vulcanian eruptions. 1914 eruptions of lava flows connected the volcano to the mainland. Peak is 1.1 km above sea level.


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The beginning of the first eruption.


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The Aira caldera with Sakurajima (just before erupting) on the left. The caldera was created by an eruption 22 ka that produced about 400 cubic km of tephra. The caldera is 23 km by 17 km. Sakurajima is a post-caldera cone with its earliest eruptions about 16 ka.


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In case you get hungry . . .


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End of an early morning eruption as viewed from Kagoshima, a city of 680,000 people..


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