Explaining Surprise Eruption of Japan Volcano Where Dozens are Presumed Dead

Mount Ontake belongs to a class of unpredictable "stratovolcanoes."

Rescuers investigate mountain lodges during eruption.
Dan Vergano National Geographic
PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 28, 2014
The weekend tragedy on Japan's Mount Ontake, where more than 30 hikers are presumed
dead after an eruption of toxic fumes and ash, is a deadly reminder that volcanoes
especially certain kindscan be unpredictable.
Resting on a volcanic island where three of the Earth's crustal plates collide, Japan is often
wracked by earthquakes and eruptions. The Japan Meteorological Agency currently has
warning for six other volcanoes, besides Mount Ontake. Located about 125 miles (200
kilometers) west of Tokyo, Ontake is one of many volcanoes popular with hikers in Japan
Mount Fuji is the most famous exampleand is also the site of religious pilgrimage. (Related
Video: "Volcanoes 101.")
Although movements of magma preceding major eruptions can sometime trigger warnings,
such as recent ones in Iceland, venting of steam-driven ash and fumes from an active volcano
such as Mount Ontake isn't always preceded by such movements. (See also: "Icelandic
Volcano Triggers Air Travel Warnings.") That's why Saturday's eruption seems to have come
without warning, sending a hail of ash and rock upon hikers enjoying Autumn foliage atop the
volcano. The second-highest volcano in Japan, at about 10,062 feet (3,067 meters), Mount
Ontake belongs to a class of "stratovolcanoes," which form where one continental plate dives
beneath another and which are known for erupting at unpredictable intervals. They are the
most lovely and deadly of volcanoes, with gentle lower slopes that steepen dramatically at
their narrow tips. The ashfall that covered two miles (three kilometers) of the mountain's
south slope over the weekend appears less massive than a 1979 eruption that saw super-
heated lava flows down the mountain, spilling 200,000 tons of ash across its slopes. A 1984
avalanche following an earthquake there travelled 8 miles (12 kilometers) and killed 15
people.
Two Types of Eruptions
What makes stratovolcanoes especially deadly is the "pyroclastic" eruptions that they tend to
release with little warning. These fast-moving eruptions of ash and rock cling to the sides of
volcanoes, picking up tremendous speed, perhaps 450 miles per hour (700 kilometers per
hour) as they head downslope. That's the kind of eruption that occurred on Mount Ontake in
1979.
Saturday's eruption was a typically more minor kind of eruption, a "phreatic" one, an outburst
of steam, ash and rock unaccompanied by lava. Carbon dioxide or hydrogen sulfide fumes
from these eruptions can asphyxiate people, as appears to be the case over the weekend.
Since 1979, steam has regularly vented from Mount Ontake, which has four volcanic calderas,
cauldrons of collapsed land created by volcanic eruptions.
If they're not usually as deadly as full-scale pyroclastic eruptions, phreatic eruptions can still be
very large. The 1883 phreatic eruption of Krakatau in Indonesia, is thought to have created the
loudest sound in recorded history.
The eruption of the uninhabited volcanic island was heard 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) away
in Australia. In the ensuing tsunamis, some 30,000 people were swept out to sea.
MLA Heading
Title your paper:
10/2 Article Summary: Explaining the Japan Volcano
1) Write a 5 sentence summary of what the article was about.
2) How tall is the volcano in meters?
3) What is a stratovolcano?
4) How deep was the ashfall?
Due at the beginning of class on Thursday 10/2