Island near Nishinoshima may trigger tsunami

Island near Nishinoshima may trigger tsunami
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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 on Tuesday.

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 on Tuesday. The small, but growing, island appeared last year and quickly engulfed the already-existing island of Nishinoshima, around 1,000 km south of Tokyo. It now covers 1.26 square km.

The island’s craters are 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,” said 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 1m tsunami that could travel faster than a bullet train, hitting Chichijima island130 km away in 18 minutes.
Chichijima, home to some 2,000 people, is the largest island in the Ogasawara archipelago, a wild and remote chain. “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,” he said.
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