Mount Fuji

Mount Fuji, located on Honshu Island, is the largest volcano in Japan. It stands about  3,766.24 meters tall. This active stratovolcano last exploded on December 16, 1707. It lies approximately 100 meters southwest of Tokyo and can be seen from there on a clear day. Mount Fuji’s peak is capped by snowed many months of the year. The cap is a well-known symbol of Japan and is often photographed and visited by hikers and climbers. Fuji’s exact coordinates are 35.3580 degrees north and 138.7310 degrees east.

Mount Fuji formed from the slopes of Mount Komitake, a 700,000-year old extinct volcano. A new vent opened and formed Older Fuji. Older Fuji went extinct about 10,000 years ago, and after 5,000 years of no eruptions, Younger Fuji emerged.

Mount Fuji’s most recent eruption was known as the Great Hoei Eruption. It came several weeks after the Great Hoei Earthquake, which occurred on November 11, 170. and greatly damaged the city of Osaka.  35 days later, Mount Fuji erupted. The eruption caused cinders and hot ash to fall like rain in the regions of Izu, Kai, Sagami and Musashi. Vast amounts of volcanic ash and scoria (a dark colored volcanic rock) were spread over regions as far as Edo.

After the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, scientists began monitoring Mount Fuji closely. They found that the internal pressure in the Mount Fuji lava chamber had increased, putting the volcano in an imminent eruptive state. Some other signs of an impending eruption are the steam and hot gas that have been spewing from the crater, hot natural gas and springs nearby, and a 21-mile fault recently discovered beneath Fuji. It is estimated that if Fuji were to erupt again that it would do $32 billion dollars of damage to Japan.