Aira Caldera

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Kyūshū region

Space radar image of Sakurajima. The volcano lies within the bay formed by the Aira caldera

Aira Caldera is a gigantic volcanic caldera in the south of the island of Kyūshū, Japan. The caldera was created by a massive eruption, approximately 22,000 years ago. The major city of Kagoshima, Kagoshima and the 13,000 year old Sakurajima volcano lies within the caldera. Sakura-jima, one of Japan's most active volcanoes, is a post-caldera cone of the Aira caldera at the northern half of Kagoshima Bay. Eruption of voluminous pyroclastic flows accompanied formation of the 17 x 23 km wide Aira caldera at the eruption 22,000 years ago. Together with a large pumice fall, these amounted to more than 400 km³ of tephra (VEI 7).

[edit] References

• Aramaki, Shigeo (1984). "Formation of the Aira Caldera, Southern Kyushu, ∼22,000 Years Ago". Journal of Geophysical Research 89 (B10): 8485–8501. 

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