Kikai Caldera Recharges With Fresh Magma 7,300 Years After Holocene's Largest Eruption
Updated
Updated · ScienceDaily · Jul 29
Kikai Caldera Recharges With Fresh Magma 7,300 Years After Holocene's Largest Eruption
2 articles · Updated · ScienceDaily · Jul 29
Summary
Seismic surveys beneath Japan's mostly submerged Kikai caldera found a vast magma-rich reservoir refilling with newly injected molten rock, researchers at Kobe University reported.
Airgun pulses and ocean-floor seismometers mapped the underground structure, showing the reservoir matches the system that fed Kikai's giant eruption 7,300 years ago rather than leftover magma from that event.
A lava dome growing for about 3,900 years and chemical differences in recent volcanic material point to a newer magma source rebuilding the caldera's plumbing.
The team said the finding does not signal an imminent eruption, but it offers a model for how giant calderas such as Yellowstone and Toba recharge after catastrophic blasts.