Japan Faces Emergency as Boulder Hits Beach... Created by Undersea Volcano Eruption 1300km Away

Pumice from the underwater volcano Fukutoku-Okanoba (福?岡ノ場) that covered the coast of Amami City, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, on the 18th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] A large amount of pumice created by the eruption of an underwater volcano in the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean last August has drifted toward the Japanese archipelago, causing Japanese authorities to issue an emergency alert. Pumice is a porous rock formed when lava ejected from a volcano cools rapidly.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun and others on the 28th, a massive eruption occurred on August 13 at the underwater volcano Fukutoku-Okanoba (福?岡ノ場) near the Japanese territory of the Ogasawara Islands in the Philippine Sea.

This underwater volcanic eruption, analyzed as the largest on land and sea in Japan since 1945, sent smoke from the underwater crater rising through the surface up to the stratosphere at an altitude of 16 to 19 km.

The pumice created by the eruption has been carried by ocean currents and, within two months, has flooded in large quantities to the west, about 1,300 km away, reaching Okinawa Island and the remote islands of Kagoshima Prefecture. As a result, there have been consecutive reports of damage, including fish dying after ingesting pumice fragments and ship engines malfunctioning.

The Japan Coast Guard has warned vessels operating in coastal waters to be cautious, stating that pumice may approach the Honshu coast along with the Kuroshio Current (?潮), a warm current flowing through the Pacific Ocean along the Japanese archipelago.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority of Japan is concerned that the large amount of pumice could affect the operation of cooling water intake facilities at nuclear power plants along the Pacific coast.

At a press conference held on the 27th, the Nuclear Regulation Authority stated, "The eruption of the Fukutoku-Okanoba underwater volcano was a large-scale eruption that occurs once in a hundred years in Japan. We have requested operators of nuclear power plants located along the Pacific coast to prepare thoroughly."