Kikai volcano is a 19 km large, mostly submerged caldera at the northern end of the Ryukyu Islands of Japan, located 45 km south of Kuyshu. It is one of the country's most active and most explosive volcanoes.
Tokara-Iwo-Jima (also known as Satsuma-Iwo-jima) is a small 6x3 km wide inhabited island, which has about 140 inhabitants. It is a portion of the NW caldera rim.
2004, 2003, 2002, 2000-01, 2000, 1998-99, 1997, 1988, 1934-35, 1914 (?)
radiocarbon / tephrochronology dated: 1430 ± 75 years, 1340 ± 30, 1030 ± 40, 1010 ± 40, 750 AD (?), 390 AD ± 100, 280 BC ± 75, 1090 BC ± 100, 1830 BC ± 75, 2450 BC ± 1000, 3250 BC ± 75, 3250 BC ± 75
around 4350 BC: VEI 7 caldera-forming eruption, one of the largest on earth in 10,000 years, producing the Akahoya tephra
Typische Aktivität
Explosiv
About 6300 years ago, Kikai volcano produced one of the largest known eruptions in the world during the past 10,000 years. The eruption devastated southern and central Kyushu and left the present-day caldera.
Younger cones have grown inside the caldera, including Iwo-dake, a rhyolitic lava dome at the eastern end of Tokara-Iwo-jima. Kikai's frequent historical activity were small to medium explosive eruptions mainly from Iwo-dake.
Showa-Iwo-jima is a lava dome (also known as Iwo-jima-Shinto) that forms a small island 2 km east of Tokara-Iwo-jima. It formed during submarine eruptions in 1934 and 1935.
