Scenic Mt. Fuji is the highest mountain in all of Japan, and is certainly a marvelous example of the beauty that nature can provide. It's grand, majestic, and an iconic Japanese landmark.
It's also an active volcano.
Mt. Fuji hasn't erupted for over three hundred years, but if these new reports are accurate, it may just be overdue.
Wired
No way to sugar coat it, folks: this is really going to blow. It's going to be much more than a Nippon-the butt for Japan.
Seriously, though, this could be a major disaster for the nation still recovering from the tsunami in 2011. The cost of an eruption (at least, according to Wikipedia) could reach $1.6 billion dollars. When you consider the possible the amount of people who would die or be displaced... yeah, it's not looking very good for the land of the rising sun.
Will Japan be unprepared for the coming tide of liquid hot magma, or will they volca-know what to do when the time comes?
It's also an active volcano.
Mt. Fuji hasn't erupted for over three hundred years, but if these new reports are accurate, it may just be overdue.
The pressure in Mount Fuji's magma chamber is now higher than it was in 1707, the last time the nearly 4,000-metre-high Japanese volcano erupted, causing volcanologists to speculate that a disaster is imminent.
The new readings, taken by the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention, reveal that the pressure is at 1.6 megapascals, nearly 16 times the 0.1 megapascals it takes to trigger an eruption.
No way to sugar coat it, folks: this is really going to blow. It's going to be much more than a Nippon-the butt for Japan.
Seriously, though, this could be a major disaster for the nation still recovering from the tsunami in 2011. The cost of an eruption (at least, according to Wikipedia) could reach $1.6 billion dollars. When you consider the possible the amount of people who would die or be displaced... yeah, it's not looking very good for the land of the rising sun.
Will Japan be unprepared for the coming tide of liquid hot magma, or will they volca-know what to do when the time comes?