Pumice from an undersea volcano is creating severe problems for ports and boats in the Ryukyu Islands, south of Japan according to media and reports.

Published 3 years ago

A major clear-up operation has started on Okinawa, in the southwestern tip of the Japanese archipelago, to remove pumice stone which has accumulated along the island’s coast after a huge underwater volcanic eruption in August. Reportedly about 10 tonnes of pumice are being removed every day by huge diggers.

The grey pebbles/pumice came from the Fukutokuokanoba undersea volcano, hundreds of kilometres away in the Ogasawara island chain.

The floating stone has covered the white sand beaches of the island’s resorts, blocked ports, wrecked boats, and killed farmed fish that swallowed the pumice.

There are reports that the pumice will be moving north, perhaps up to Kyushu and then along the Pacific coast to central Japan (Tokyo area). Some pumice fields have already been spotted off Shikoku.

Kirk Patterson from Konpira Consulating, Japan, talked with Noonsite about the expected spread of the pumice:

“It has traveled west to Okinawa which is rather counter-intuitive as the main current flows in the opposite direction, but this movement may be because of a back-eddy or the prevailing winds,” he said.

“As to how long this will last, nobody seems to know. But I’ve seen some articles saying that the problem could last for as long as two years.

“The main issue, of course, is that the pumice can get into engines and cause major damage. It’s not just floating on the surface, there are many bits, generally small but some the size of baseballs, floating several meters below the surface that could be easily sucked into a boat’s raw-water intake.”

Currently, the pumice has been located throughout the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa, Amami, etc.)  Many ports have been forced to close, fishing boats can’t move and some ferries have stopped running.

A useful simulation of the pumice flow showing its movements to date and predicted movements through November and into December can be found at this link.
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Noonsite has not verified this information.

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Related News:

• Pumice Stones Continue to Cause Problems in Japan (NHK World)
  
• Japan ports swamped by Pumice Field Spewed from Undersea Volcano (The Guardian)
  
• Okinawa Struggling with Pumice Stones (Japan Times)
  
• South Pacific, Tonga to Fiji: Navigation Alert – Dangerous Slick of Volcanic Rubble (Noonsite 2019)
• Pumice Raft the size of Belgium floating off New Zealand (Noonsite 2012)
• New Volcanic Island Reported Near Tonga (Noonsite 2006)
• More articles on Pumice on Noonsite.
  

Related Links:

Konpira Consulting
Konpira Consulting was founded in 2018 to support the development of Japan as a marine-tourism destination.