Asama Volcano, Japan
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Asama Volcano, Japan
A temple sits astride the Onioshidashi lava flow on the north flank of Asama volcano.
The lava flow was erupted at the conclusion of the last major eruption of Asama, in 1783.
Asama is Honshu's most active volcano, and has an historical record dating back more than 1300 years.
The summit peak of Maekake-yama in the center was constructed within a horseshoe-shaped crater whose rim appears on the horizon at the extreme right.
Asama, Honshu's most active volcano, overlooks the resort town of Karuizawa, 140 km NW of Tokyo.
The volcano is located at the junction of the Izu-Marianas and NE Japan volcanic arcs.
The modern cone of Maekake-yama forms the summit of the volcano and is situated east of the horseshoe-shaped remnant of an older andesitic volcano, Kurofu-yama, which was destroyed by a late-Pleistocene landslide about 20,000 years before present (BP).
Growth of a dacitic shield volcano was accompanied by pumiceous pyroclastic flows, the largest of which occurred about 14,000-11,000 years BP, and by growth of the Ko-Asama-yama lava dome on the east flank.
Maekake-yama, capped by the Kama-yama pyroclastic cone that forms the present summit of the volcano, is probably only a few thousand years old and has an historical record dating back at least to the 11th century AD.
Maekake-yama has had several major plinian eruptions, the last two of which occurred in 1108 (Asama's largest Holocene eruption) and 1783 AD.
PHOTO SOURCE: Richard Fiske, 1961 (Smithsonian Institution), courtesy of the Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, used with permission.
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