What’s going on below? (Image: Japan Stock/Alamy)
SOMETHING is brewing under Japan’s Mount Fuji. Using rocks ejected by previous eruptions, between 781 AD and 1707, geologists are figuring out what the volcano’s internal plumbing looks like.
A team led by Takayuki Kaneko at the University of Tokyo’s Volcano Research Center has found that over the centuries the magma’s silica levels have gradually increased. High silica tends to indicate large explosions, suggesting eruptions have become more violent. Large amounts of basalt rich in aluminium oxide were also found, which can trigger an eruption when it collides with silica.
Based on the…
