Science Japanese scientist seeks to prepare Japan for supereruption

As if earthquakes weren't enough.

Japan has experienced several supereruptions over its geological history, and one volcanologist believes waiting for the next one is not an option. Isoji Miyagi, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, has proposed venting gases from magma chambers deep beneath the Earth's surface to prevent another catastrophic eruption.

The idea remains highly theoretical. Major financial, technical, ethical and legal hurdles would have to be overcome before such a project could even be considered. Still, Miyagi argues that if the necessary technology can be developed, it could not only help protect humanity from one of nature's most destructive events but also provide Japan with new sources of energy and valuable mineral resources. A supereruption is the most powerful type of volcanic eruption known.

Japan has experienced such cataclysmic events once every 10,000 years, mainly in the southern main island of Kyushu. In ancient times, supereruptions occurred in what is now the Aso Caldera in Kumamoto Prefecture and the Aira Caldera in Kagoshima Bay in Kagoshima Prefecture. In the Kikai Caldera in the sea south of Kagoshima Prefecture, a massive eruption struck 7,300 years ago, the most recent known supereruption. It sent an immense pyroclastic flow hurtling toward southern Kyushu while ashes enveloped the Japanese archipelago. As a result, local Jomon culture in the Jomon Pottery Culture Period (14500 B.C. to 1000 B.C.) was wiped out. Some studies estimate there is a 1 percent probability of a supereruption hitting Japan within 100 years. One potential site is the Kikai Caldera, where magma is believed to be filling up the chamber.

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