TOKYO: An erupting volcanic island that is expanding off Japan could trigger a tsunami if its freshly-formed lava slopes collapse into the sea, scientists said yesterday.
The small, but growing, island appeared last year and quickly engulfed the already-existing island of Nishinoshima, around 1,000 kilometres south of Tokyo. It now covers 1.26 square kilometres.
The island’s craters are currently spewing out 200,000 cubic metres of lava every day -- enough to fill 80 Olympic swimming pools -- which is accumulating in its east, scientists said.
“If lava continues to mount on the eastern area, part of the island’s slopes could collapse and cause a tsunami,” warned Fukashi Maeno, assistant professor of the Earthquake Research Institute at the University of Tokyo.
He said a rockfall of 12 million cubic metres of lava would generate a one metre (three feet) tsunami that could travel faster than a bullet train, hitting the island of Chichijima -- 130 kilometres away -- in around 18 minutes, he said.
Chichijima, home to some 2,000 people, is the largest island in the Ogasawara archipelago, a wild and remote chain that is administratively part of Tokyo.
“The ideal way to monitor and avoid a natural disaster is to set up a new tsunami and earthquake detection system near the island, but it’s impossible for anyone to land on the island in the current situation,” Maeno added.
AFP
