Do the recent Japanese earthquakes influence volcanic activity either in Siberia or the Pacific Northwest? Can a model be made which shows the interface between quake and volcanic activity? If so, which generally comes first?

rocky Steve Geller

Dear Steve,

The magnitude 7.2 Kobe earthquake occurred on January 16, 1995. No volcanoes were erupting in Kamchatka or the Kurile Islands in January of 1995. In the Pacific northwest a small steam and ash plume erupted from Makushin, a stratovolcano in the Aleutians, on January 30. Makushin has erupted at least ten times since 1768. Aso , Unzen , and Sakura-jima, three volcanoes in Japan that were erupting in January and showed no unusual activity following the earthquake. With a look at the data available to me it appears that the Kobe earthquake did not trigger an increase in volcanism in Siberia, the Pacific Northwest, or Japan.

Some large earthquakes do trigger eruptions. For example, 44 minutes after the magnitude 7.5 Kalapana earthquake on the south flank of Kilauea volcano, Hawaii, an eruption began at the summit, 30 km away.

Yamashina and Nakamura (1978: Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, v. 4, p. 233-250) correlated tectonic earthquakes to volcanic activity for Izu-oshima volcano in Japan. Details of their model are reported in the article. They suggested that the small change in strain (deformation of the volcano due to the energy released by the earthquake) associated with earthquakes might induce activity when the volcano is under critical conditions. They also stated that the effect of strain is neither simple nor obvious.

According to Yamashina and Nakamura the earthquake(s) would come first.

Thanks for an interesting question. If you want to discuss this some more you might talk with Professor Tim Kusky at your college, Boston University.

Steve Mattox, University of North Dakota 

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