Since I am currently living on one of Japan’s many islands, I figured that I would make a post of their most famous volcano, Mt. Fuji. Japan sits on the convergent plate boundaries of the Eurasian, Pacific, and Philippine plates, which contributes to a large number of earthquakes and volcanic activity in the region, and it why Mt. Fuji formed where it did. As you can tell from Mt. Fuji’s steep summit and sloping flanks, it is a composite volcano. Like most composite volcanos, Mt. Fuji looks to have been formed by silica-rich felsic magma. This type of magma has high viscosity, meaning that flows slowly and cools quickly so it would not present a great risk to surrounding human populations. Felsic magma also has a high gas content, which could cause some explosive eruptions from the sudden release of gas pressure. The crater on Mt. Fuji’s flack was created by one of these explosive releases. The powerful explosive release of gas and volcanic ash could be hazardous to surrounding life. Mt. Fuji has not erupted since 1708, so it is considered inactive (Oregon State University, n.d.). Its position on a convergent plate boundary makes it possible for it to erupt again, however, its high viscosity magma most likely hardened in its vent making another eruption unlikely.
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| Figure 1: Mt Fuji (Wikipedia, 2018) |
References:
Oregon State University (n.d.). Volcano World: Fuji. Retrieved from
Wikipedia (2018). Mount Fuji. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Fuji
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