Japan Volcano Erupts

for 4th Day But Seen Quieting

Japan Volcano Erupts for 4th Day But Seen Quieting

Fri Sep 17, 2:26 AM ET Science - Reuters

By Elaine Lies.

TOKYO (Reuters) - A volcano in central Japan sent smoke and ash high into the sky and spat out molten rock as it erupted for a fourth straight day on Friday, but experts said the peak appeared to be quieting slightly. Minor eruptions were detected throughout much of Thursday at Mount Asama, a 8,425 foot peak 90 miles northwest of Tokyo, and this activity had carried over into Friday, an official at Japan's Meteorological Agency said.

The frequency of the eruptions appeared to have tapered off by Friday afternoon, however, although caution was still needed, a different official said. Television footage showed gray smoke mixed with ash billowing over the mountain on Friday afternoon.

Earlier, the mountain was spewing smoke mixed with ash about 3,000 feet into the air, and monitoring cameras detected molten rock being thrown a distance of 600-1,000 feet from the summit during the pre-dawn hours on Friday.

ASH LIKE SNOW.

Late on Thursday night, prevailing winds carried ash from the peak as far as central Tokyo. Television showed gray flakes falling over Shibuya, one of the city's liveliest entertainment districts. Cars in Karuizawa were covered with gray ash. Enough ash had accumulated by morning that a dog being walked by its owner left prints on the street.

By 2 p.m. (1 a.m. EDT) some 572 earthquakes related to the volcano had been detected since the start of Friday, all of them too small to be felt by humans. Nearly 1,400 similar quakes were detected on Thursday. Mount Asama, one of Japan's more active volcanoes, had its biggest eruption in 21 years on Sept. 1, spewing hot rock and raining ash on areas as far as 125 miles away.

Senior members of Japan's Coordinating Committee for Prediction of Volcanic Eruptions said last Thursday there was no data suggesting that a large-scale eruption of Mount Asama was imminent.

But the panel -- made up of government officials, disaster prevention experts and academics -- said the possibility of repeated "explosive eruptions" similar to those that occurred on Sept. 1 could not be ruled out, and that the volcanic activity needed to be monitored carefully. Mount Asama has had several minor eruptions in recent years, including at least four in 2003, but the one on Sept. 1 was the biggest since April 1983.

Japan, located in the so-called Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches partly encircling the Pacific Basin, has 108 active volcanoes, according to the Meteorological Agency -- some 10 percent of the world total.

In 1991, 43 people including police, fire officials and journalists were killed by a lethal mix of steam, ash and rock when a volcano erupted on the southern island of Kyushu.

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