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or Iwo Tori-shima, also called Okinawa Torishima (沖縄鳥島), is a
or Iwo Tori-shima, also called Okinawa Torishima (沖縄鳥島), is a volcanic
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plat ...
island part of the Ryūkyū Island chain with the only active volcano in Okinawa Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi).
Naha is the capital and largest cit ...
.
Geography
Iotourishima is located 65 km west ofTokunoshima
, also known in English as is an island in the Amami archipelago of the southern Satsunan Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan.
The island, in area, has a population of approximately 27,000. The island is divided into three administrative ...
Island. On exceptionally clear days, Iōtorishima can be seen from the west coast of Tokunoshima.
The 2.50 km² large island consists of two interconnected volcanoes made from andesite
Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predo ...
. The southern Gusuku kazan (グスク火山, "Castle Volcano") is a lava dome located in the center of the two summits. The northern Iōdake-kazan (硫黄岳火山, "Sulfur Peak Volcano") is a stratovolcano
A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and peri ...
whose crater consists of a small lake of sulfur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formul ...
. It is still active, although none of the recent outbreaks had explosive character. The highest point of the island is at 212 m, which belongs to Iōdake-kazan; the highest of the Gusuku kazan is the Maedake (前嶽) at 189.3 m.
History
Sulfur was mined by the inhabitants for centuries within theKingdom of Ryukyu
The Ryukyu Kingdom, Middle Chinese: , , Classical Chinese: (), Historical English names: ''Lew Chew'', ''Lewchew'', ''Luchu'', and ''Loochoo'', Historical French name: ''Liou-tchou'', Historical Dutch name: ''Lioe-kioe'' was a kingdom in the ...
, and it was used as tribute to the Chinese Empire.
The first recorded eruption was in 1664, when a woman died from a landslide. In a series of eruptions and earthquakes from March to August 1903, all residents were temporarily moved 220 km to Kume Island, but were permanently relocated by June 1958; the final settlement had 86 inhabitants. Since then, the island has been uninhabited. In July 1968 there was another eruption.
Administratively, the island belonged to Gushikawa on Kume-jima, but merged in 2002 with Nakazato to the city Kumejima.
See Also
* List of islands in Japan *List of volcanoes in Japan
This is a list of active and extinct volcanoes in Japan. An Orange background indicates a volcano considered active by the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Hokkaido
Honshū
Izu Islands
Ogasawara Archipelago
The Ogasawara Archipelag ...
External links
Commons: Io-Torishima - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files relating to the island.References