Large Explosion at Aso Volcano, Kyushu Island, Japan

Explosion from Aso’s Nakadake crater this morning (image: screenshot of RKK video)

A strong explosion occurred this morning, at around 11:43 local time, from the volcano.

During a phase of intense steam emissions, suddenly an explosion occurs that sends a large column of ash to several kilometers height as well as a dense, ground-hugging circular base surge that almost reaches the visitors’center. On the following embedded video, large ballistic projectiles can be seen ejected from the center of the explosion and landing in several hundred meter distance as well.

From the appearance of the eruption, it looks most likely as a phreatic type explosion, or steam-driven, as a larger pocket of overheated water under the crater suddenly flashed to steam and decompressed in the process, generating lots of block and ash fragments as well as dense and heavy turbulent mixtures that are seen rising and spreading from the center.

Courtesy of volcanodiscovery.com

https://tinyurl.com/49cdjy27