Skip to main content

Volume 54 Supplement 3

Special Issue: Satsuma-Iwojima: Continuous degassing of a rhyolitic volcano

  • Article
  • Published:

Volcanic activity of the Satsuma-Iwojima area during the past 6500 years

Abstract

Satsuma-Iwojima is a small volcano island located on the northern rim of Kikai caldera to the south of Kyushu, southwest Japan. Observations of new outcrops and 14C dating of the tephra layers have revealed post-caldera activity in the Satsuma-Iwojima area. After the large-scale ignimbrite eruption in 6500 y.B.P., volcanic activity was resumed with rhyolitic activity. At the foot of Iwodake, post-caldera tephra layers are divided into eight units by the development of humic soils. K-In-1 and -2 were formed by basaltic activity with phreatomagmatic eruption around 3900 y.B.P. and had ended by 2200 y.B.P. Other tephra layers (K-Sk-l and K-Sk-u) are rhyolitic ejecta with an increasing proportion of silicified fragments in the younger tephras. On the slope of Iwodake, there are also some pumice fall deposits and pyroclastic flow deposits (K-Iw). From the 14C data of K-Iw, the most recent magmatic activity of Iwodake was around 600−500 y.B.P.

References

  • Kitagawa, H., H. Fukuzawa, T. Nakamura, M. Okamura, K. Takemura, A. Hayashida, and Y. Yasuda, AMS 14C dating of varved sediments from Lake Suigetsu, central Japan and atmospheric 14C change during the late Pleistocene, Radiocarbon, 37, 371–378, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  • Machida, H. and F. Arai, Atlas of tephra in and around Japan, 276 p., Univ. of Tokyo Press, 1992 (in Japanese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Matumoto, T., The four gigantic caldera volcanoes of Kyushu, Jap. Jour. Geol. Geogr., 19, sp.no., 57 p., 1943.

    Google Scholar 

  • Okuno, M., F. Arai, H. Moriwaki, T. Nakamura, and T. Kobayashi, Radiocarbon age of humic soil from Kikai-Komoriko tephra group on Takeshima island, southwest Japan, Rep. Fac. Sci. Kagoshima Univ. (Earth Science and Biology), 27, 189–197, 1994 (in Japanese with English abstract).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ono, K., T. Soya, and T. Hosono, Geology of the Satsuma-Io-jima district, Quadrangle series, scale 1:50000, Geol. Surv. Japan, 80 p., 1982 (in Japanese with English abstract).

  • Shinohara, H., W. F. Giggenbach, K. Kazahaya, and J. W. Hedenquist, Geochemistry of volcanic gases and hot springs of Satsuma-Iwojima, Japan: Following Matsuo, Geochem. J., 27, 271–285, 1993.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stuiver, M. and P. J. Reimer, Extended 14C database and revised CALIB radiocarbon calibration program, Radiocarbon, 35, 215–230, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stuiver, M., P. J. Reimer, E. Bard, J. W. Beck, G. S. Burr, K. A. Hughen, B. Kromer, F. G. McCormac, J. Plicht, and M. Spurk, INTCAL98 Radiocarbon age calibration 24,000-0 cal BP., Radiocarbon, 40, 1041–1083, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yoshihisa Kawanabe.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kawanabe, Y., Saito, G. Volcanic activity of the Satsuma-Iwojima area during the past 6500 years. Earth Planet Sp 54, 295–301 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353029

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353029

Keywords