Kuchinoerabu-jima

Steam plumes pour from a newly opened arcuate fissure on Shin-dake, the summit crater of Japan's Kuchinoerabu volcano, on September 29, 1980. A brief eruption from the new 800-m-long fissure the day before ejected blocks and ash up to 2 km above the crater. A group of young stratovolcanoes forms the eastern end of the island of Kuchinoerabu-jima in the Ryukyu Islands. All historical eruptions have occurred from Shin-dake, which has had frequent explosive eruptions since 1840 that have sometimes damaged villages located near the crater.