Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano eruption in Tonga after the general scene of the apocalypse frightened everyone, the material from the volcanic eruption rushed straight to 20 kilometers in height, spread to a diameter of thousands of kilometers in one day, Tonga lost contact, the tsunami caused by it directly submerged an inhabited island, New Zealand to the rescue of the plane can not take off and land, can only use ships, too terrible!
Before and after eruption
At this time, it was rumored that Japan's Mount Fuji will also erupt, and Korean media reported that the "spitting mouth" of Mt. Fuji has increased from 44 to 252, a full 6 times, and according to Japanese experts, the current state of Mt. Fuji may erupt at any time!
Mt. Fuji Eruption: How Powerful Is It?
Mt. Fuji is a symbol of Japan, and this volcano at 3776.24 meters above sea level is the highest mountain in Japan and the second highest volcano in Asia, located near the Pacific coast in central Honshu, just southwest of Tokyo.
Straddling the border between Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures, there are four small cities around it: Gotemba in the east, Fujiyoshida in the north, Fujinomiya in the southwest, and Fuji in the south. There are five lakes around it, namely Gotemba, Fujiyoshida, Fujinomiya and Fuji Lake, which are generally referred to as fuji five lakes, referring to the surrounding Fuji.
Topographic map of Japan: The red-yellow position on the center and right is Mt. Fuji
Volcanic origin of Mt. Fuji
Japan is located between the Pacific Plate and the Eurasian Plate, as well as the North American Plate and the Philippine Plate, with the Japan Trench to the east, the Izu Ogasawara Trench to the southeast, the Soma Trench in the center, and the South China Sea Trench to the southwest, as shown in the following figure:
The location of Mt. Fuji is near the end of the Soma Trench at the end of mainland Japan and the extension of the South China Sea Trench connects with the central tectonic line of Japan's famous fault zone, as shown in the following figure:
Honshu Island is bisected by the Amur Plate and the Okhotsk Plate in the Eurasian Plate, the Philippine Plate in the south, and Mt. Fuji at the intersection of these three plates, and the Pacific Plate subducts in the lower mantle through these plates, with a total of 17 eruptions between 781 and 2022 AD, less than once in 100 years, and the most recent eruption was in 1707, about 300 years ago, which seems to be long overdue for the eighteenth eruption.
Mount Fuji Five Lakes Earthquake: Is It Really Going to Erupt?
On December 3, there were five consecutive earthquakes in the southern part of Honshu Island, Japan, three of which were near Mount Fuji:
- December 3, 02:18, eastern Yamanashi Prefecture, Fuji Five Lakes, M4.1 magnitude, source depth of 20 km;
- December 3, 02:23, eastern Yamanashi Prefecture, Fuji Five Lakes, M3.6 magnitude, source depth of 20 km;
- 06:37 on December 3, eastern Yamanashi Prefecture, Fuji Five Lakes, M4.9 magnitude, source depth of 20 km;
The continuous earthquake at the bottom of Mt. Fuji could not help but make the Japanese nervous, and some people even reported that they had seen smoke coming from Mt. Fuji, although this was a false alarm, but the Performance of the Japanese was already a bird of fright. In July 2020, Hiroki Kamada, a professor at kyoto University's Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, published an article stating:
About 20 kilometers underground of Mt. Fuji, there is a "magma chamber" filled with magma (Figure 1). There is a large amount of liquid magma heated to 1000 °C, and when it rises to the surface, it begins to erupt.
Volcanoes do not erupt suddenly, and somewhat similar to earthquakes, it has a process of energy accumulation, there will be a magma chamber below it, and the magma from the depths of the formation will slowly accumulate after entering, and together with gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapor and sulfur dioxide, it will produce extremely high pressure, and eventually break through the top layer to cover the rock layer, resulting in a large eruption.
- 1. "Low-frequency earthquake" occurs at the top of the magma room;
- 2. After the magma enters the pipeline, some sensible earthquakes will occur, and the depth of the earthquake will change from deep to shallow;
- 3. When the magma is approaching the crater, there will be "tremors" before the eruption, and there may be multiple low-frequency earthquakes at this time, and there may be earthquakes at any time;
Toshiyasu Nagao, visiting professor at the Maritime Research Institute of Tunghai University, said:
"Judging from the frequency of earthquakes since December last year, the seismic activity around Mt. Fuji is increasing, and the probability of eruption is not small."
"Mt. Fuji has not erupted for 300 years, and a powerful force has accumulated inside.
Professor Nagao also pointed out that volcanic activity in various parts of Japan has increased since the 311 earthquake, such as the nishinoshima volcanic eruption range in the Ogasawara Islands.
Hideki Shimamura, a distinguished professor at Musashi University, said directly:
"The earthquake that occurred in the eastern part of Yamanashi Prefecture was caused by the entry of magma from Mount Fuji into the magma chamber" (referring to the continuous earthquake of December 3)
Hiroki Kamata, professor emeritus at Kyoto University and a distinguished scholar in the field of volcanoes, said:
"Since the 2000s, there have been two eruptions in Mt. Fuji, and this eruption is imminent, and the upper ceiling of the magma pool under Mt. Fuji has collapsed, so the eruption is on standby."
This warning may have become an imminent crisis, because a small earthquake can detonate Mt. Fuji in this state, and in Japan, such a small earthquake is likely to occur in the next second.
The volcanic island of Nishinoshima, about 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo, Japan, is erupting
If Mt. Fuji erupts, how serious will it be?
Mt. Fuji has had 17 eruptions in its history, the most recent of which was the Hoyonite Eruption on December 16, 1707, which lasted until February 24, after more than two months, when the erupted volcanic ash silted the river channel during the rainy season in August of the following year, forming a temporary dam, and on August 7, the larger embankment of the Sakai River broke down, and the flood covered the foot-stemmed plain.
The fertile plains were covered with floods and volcanic ash, resulting in a grain harvest failure and a great famine in Japan, and the Honei eruption was not the largest eruption in the history of Mt. Fuji, but it should have been the most influential, after all, the historical record is also more detailed, and you can get a glimpse of the tragic scene at that time.
If it erupts now, how serious are the consequences?
1707 was the Edo period in Japan, and the main impact of volcanic eruptions was agricultural harvest and famine, but now it is different, because the "downwind" of Mt. Fuji volcanic ash is the Kanto Plain, not only the largest agricultural cultivation area in Japan, but also the Tokyo metropolitan area is also around Tokyo Bay, and the consequences of the eruption will be extremely serious!
According to Japanese experts, under the influence of the westerly wind, the volcanic ash of Kanagawa Prefecture will reach 10 to 29 centimeters, the tokyo and Chiba metropolitan areas will accumulate 2 to 9 centimeters, and the Tokyo metropolitan area will be covered with a thick layer of volcanic ash in the tokyo metropolitan area two hours after the eruption of Mt. Fuji.
Simulation of volcanic ash deposits in various places after the eruption of Mt. Fuji
Volcanic ash is not only ash, it will cause the substation trip to lead to a large blackout, radio communications are seriously interfered with, toxic volcanic ash will pollute the water source, road ash will affect traffic, and the internal combustion engine intake cannot work properly after being blocked. Therefore, Japanese experts said that Tokyo was basically paralyzed 3 hours after the eruption of Mt. Fuji, and it is difficult to imagine what this will be if communications and transportation are paralyzed.
Japan's emergency plan after the eruption
Japan has made a large number of plans for the eruption of Mt. Fuji, of which the latest simulation of the mt. Fuji eruption was announced in March 2020, and the impact of lava and volcanic ash has been comprehensively assessed.
Fifteen days after the eruption, the Kanto region, centered on Tokyo, Saitama, Kanagawa, Chiba, Gunma, Tochigi, and Ibaraki, is expected to stop operating, and the blackout area will be extended to the surrounding areas including Tokyo and Kanagawa.
Infrastructure such as railways, roads, logistics, electricity, water and sewerage, and communications may be out of service due to volcanic ash, and employees may not be able to return home for several days or be forced to stay at home, including measures such as installing disaster air purifiers, repairing drainage pipes, increasing the amount of drinking water and household storage.
But even the simulations would be unable to accurately assess the impact on tens of millions of people, as is the case with the current volcanic eruption in Tonga, which is likely to be collectively lost after several days of communications interruptions, which may trigger more panic than the eruption.
Mt. Fuji Super Eruption: Will It Affect China?
In fact, the flower grower can guess your thoughts, Mt. Fuji erupted or not, that is a geological disaster, everyone cares about whether it will affect China, just like the volcanic eruption in Tonga, it drifts west under the influence of the southeast trade wind, this Mt. Fuji to Shanghai, China is also 1600 kilometers, a few days will float over, is this not a pit daddy?
The answer is no, because in the dimension where Mt. Fuji is located, the west wind blowing is the west wind, the west wind that is forever and ever, is not very magical, and the future is also drifting to the United States, but the volcanic ash should not reach the United States, or the direct impact should be very low, the main impact is still in the Kanto Plain, that is, the volcanic ash impact range in the preceding picture.
This is a special phenomenon caused by the planetary wind system, in the mid-latitude region, when the subtropical high-pressure light belt sinks to the north and south, it will radiate to the east in the middle latitude of the northern hemisphere, forming a west wind belt, so the volcanic ash that rushes high into the sky after the eruption of Mt. Fuji is carried to the Kanto Plain under the action of the westerly wind belt, rather than drifting in the direction of China.
If it erupts in the summer, it may partially affect the Korean Peninsula under the action of warm and humid air flow in the north, but according to the simulation of South Korean meteorological experts, the eruption of Mt. Fuji has a very small impact on South Korea, and the general scale of the eruption is estimated that the attitude of South Korean friends should be to eat melon.
But if there is a super-eruption, in the short term, it will cause global cooling due to volcanic ash reflecting sunlight, but in the long run, it may exacerbate global warming due to the greenhouse effect caused by a large amount of carbon dioxide emissions, but according to the historical eruption scale of Mt. Fuji, it has not reached this level, but Yellowstone Volcano can really do, that level is really too big.
reference:
https://www.sisajournal.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=231025
https://news.mt.co.kr/mtview.php?no=2022011113560281080
https://biz.chosun.com/international/international_general/2022/01/02/6OSGXYRSZJASDF5MRKHLBVWDMI/
#日本富士山喷火口数量增加近6倍 #