Mount Shinmoedake:
Japan’s Mount Shinmoedake, a volcano in the Kirishima mountain range on Kyushu Island, erupted recently, sending a towering ash plume into the sky.
- Mount Shinmoedake is an active stratovolcano located on Kyushu Island, Japan, within the Kirishima mountain range.
- It rises 1420.8 meters above sea level as part of the volcanic complex in Kagoshima Prefecture, displaying frequent eruption patterns and geological formations.
- Recorded eruptions of Shinmoedake started in 1716.
- Since then there have been eruptions scattered across all the years to the present day.
- It gained international fame as one of the filming locations for the 1967 James Bond movie “You Only Live Twice”.
- Stratovolcano is a tall, steep, and cone-shaped type of volcano.
- Unlike flat shield volcanoes, they have higher peaks.
- They are typically found above subduction zones, and they are often part of large volcanically active regions, such as the Ring of Fire that frames much of the Pacific Ocean.
- They are usually about half-half lava and pyroclastic material, and the layering of these products gives them their other common name of composite volcanoes.
- At the peak, stratovolcanoes usually have a small crater. The crater may be filled with water or ice, or it may contain a volcanic dome during a period of relative inactivity.
- Stratovolcanoes comprise the largest percentage (~60%) of the Earth’s individual volcanoes, and most are characterized by eruptions of andesite and dacite, lavas that are cooler and more viscous than basalt.
- These more viscous lavas allow gas pressures to build up to high levels. Therefore, these volcanoes often suffer explosive eruptions.
