Mount Fuji

[MataPam]

Apparently the big quake has increased pressure in the magma chamber. When? No guess, apparently there's no movement of magma, ATM.

http://rt.com/news/fuji-volcano-eruption-japan-564/

 

[packyderms_wife]

wasn't there some speculation last, year after the mega quake hit, that it had clogged Mt. Fuji somehow when the island itself shifted?

K-

 

[packyderms_wife]

Fuji time bomb: Volcano to erupt under pressure
Published: 07 September, 2012, 12:38



Japanese scientists predict Mt. Fuji will blow due to new tectonic pressures that are higher than when the volcano last erupted more than 300 years ago. Estimates say the eruption will affect more than 400,000 people and cost over $30 billion.

The National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention has issued a warning that Japan’s 9.0 magnitude undersea quake last year, plus an aftershock four days later near Mt. Fuji, has created large pressure on the volcano’s magma chamber, which could lead to an eruption.

Mt. Fuji has already been classified as an active volcano, but scientists revealed new readings that show that the current pressure is at 1.6 megapascals, nearly 16 times higher than that required to trigger an eruption (0.1 megapascals).

It is "not a small figure", Kyodo News quotes lead volcanologist on the case as saying.

However, no signs of an eruption have so far been detected.

Nevertheless, “it’s possible for Mt. Fuji to erupt even several years after the 2011 earthquake, therefore we need to be careful about the development,” a team researcher stated.

http://rt.com/news/fuji-volcano-eruption-japan-564/

 

[Samsmom]

Fuji time bomb: Volcano to erupt under pressure
Published: 07 September, 2012, 12:38



Japanese scientists predict Mt. Fuji will blow due to new tectonic pressures that are higher than when the volcano last erupted more than 300 years ago. Estimates say the eruption will affect more than 400,000 people and cost over $30 billion.

The National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention has issued a warning that Japan’s 9.0 magnitude undersea quake last year, plus an aftershock four days later near Mt. Fuji, has created large pressure on the volcano’s magma chamber, which could lead to an eruption.

Mt. Fuji has already been classified as an active volcano, but scientists revealed new readings that show that the current pressure is at 1.6 megapascals, nearly 16 times higher than that required to trigger an eruption (0.1 megapascals).

It is "not a small figure", Kyodo News quotes lead volcanologist on the case as saying.

However, no signs of an eruption have so far been detected.

Nevertheless, “it’s possible for Mt. Fuji to erupt even several years after the 2011 earthquake, therefore we need to be careful about the development,” a team researcher stated.

http://rt.com/news/fuji-volcano-eruption-japan-564/

Boy, do I need new glasses. I thought that said megarascals instead of megapascals!!

If that thing blows, they will probably be thinking about megarascals.

That poor country has been thru so much and it looks like more trouble is on the way.

 

[ladydkr]

When I was a girl in Japan in the 1950s the sight of Mt. Fuji was magnificent. It is a very beautiful volcano. At one time during the time I was in Japan I remember hearing that the snow was melting on the mountain in certain spots. Is anyone aware of any increased, recent, or reported change in snow melt on the mountain in recent years or months? I would assume that evidence of this sort would be predictive of magma movement. Perhaps in addition, increases in hot springs or minor earthquakes since the big earthquake.

 

[Be Well]

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/5966/mount-fuji-under-more-pressure-last-eruption

Mount Fuji under more pressure than last eruption

Friday, 7 September 2012
Agençe France-Presse

TOKYO: Pressure in the magma chamber of Japan's Mount Fuji is now higher than it was the last time the volcano erupted more than 300 years ago, scientists say.

Tectonic shifts triggered by last year's huge 9.0 magnitude undersea quake have left the chamber under 16 times the minimum pressure at which an eruption can occur, researchers said.

Researchers at the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention studied the tectonic movements caused by the tsunami-triggering quake on March 11, 2011 and a magnitude 6.4 quake that rocked central Japan four days later, Kyodo News reported.

Mount Fuji last erupted in 1707

They estimated that 1.6 megapascals of pressure, equivalent to atmospheric pressure of some 15.8 kilograms per square centimetre (226 pounds per square inch), was being exerted on the magma chamber.

Volcanic eruptions can be triggered by as little as 0.1 megapascals of pressure, and the reading of 1.6 megapascals is "not a small figure", said senior researcher Eisuke Fujita, according to Kyodo.

Mount Fuji, an almost perfectly cone-shaped mountain that stands as one of Japan's national symbols, last erupted in 1707, after an earthquake struck and boosted the pressure on its magma chamber, the report said, citing researchers.

Eruption could cause US$32 billion damage

Scientists say an eruption some time over the coming years is a possibility, but add that heightened pressure is not the only variable.

They say so far no signs of activity have been seen at Mount Fuji, possibly because the amount of magma that has accumulated is not substantial enough, Kyodo said.

If Mount Fuji erupts, it could cause up to 2.5 trillion yen (US$32 billion) of damage, according to a government report in 2004, Kyodo said.

In May this year, a team of researchers warned that the mountain might collapse if a newly-discovered faultline underneath it shifts.

The huge earthquake of March 2011 and tsunami that it generated devastated a large area of the country's northeast, killing around 19,000 people and generating a nuclear emergency at Fukushima.