The Aso Volcanological Laboratory
I’m a fortunate guy! I love what I do; in fact, I can’t imagine another job that would be so nearly perfect for me! Besides teaching class and doing research at the Moscow campus of the University of Idaho, my job allows me–requires me–to travel to all sorts of unusual and beautiful places around the world. Over the last few years I’ve been to Norway, Scotland, Spain, Chile, New Zealand and Australia (to name a few), but it’s not the travel itself that is so great… it’s what I get to do when I get there!
Right now I’m spending my sabbatical leave in the southernmost of the home islands of Japan (Kyushu) at Kyoto University’s Aso Volcanological Laboratory (AVL). No, I’m not a volcanologist–that would be the University of Idaho’s Dennis Geist. I’m a hydrogeologist that studies the flow of groundwater and other fluids (for example, steam, hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide), mostly in relation to energy systems. I’m particularly interested in geothermal systems, and when you mix groundwater with the heat from volcanos there’s plenty of geothermal energy to go around!
In any case, I’m here at the AVL because the research faculty and staff invited me to study the geothermal systems associated with the volcanos of central Kyushu. The AVL is actually located in the center of an enormous volcano (the Aso Volcano). Many of you may be familiar with the idea that Yellowstone is a giant volcanic caldera–a so-called ’supervolcano’–but in fact it is only one of a number of these large calderas that can be found around the globe. One of the largest volcanic caldera in the world is… Aso! It’s roughly elliptical in shape, 18km across in one direction and 25km across in the other, and it’s so huge there are many towns and villages contained completely within the crater! To give you an idea of just how big this volcano is, I climbed up on the roof of the AVL and took a few photos. The first one is looking north. The skyline that you see, as far away as is visible in the photo, is the northern edge of the caldera:
Looking towards the northern edge of the Aso caldera.
Looking west, the caldera rim is closer. The notch that you can see in the center of the photograph is the place where the crater wall collapsed tens of thousands of years ago. Currently that notch is where the Shirakawa (White River) runs out of the caldera and onto the surrounding plane.
The western rim of the Aso caldera.
The last great volcanic eruption (and I mean great–a worldwide catastrophe) was around 90,000 years ago. It was this giant eruption that formed the present day caldera, but the volcano has been active ever since. The most recent eruptions (not supervolcanic eruptions, just “normal” ones) were in 1998 and 2004. Most of the recent volcanic activity has been centered on Nakadake crater, one of the five main cones within the larger Aso caldera.
The author, standing on the roof of the Aso Volcanological Museum (different than AVL), with Nakadake in the background.
Those of you that read my last post know that I visited the Hachobaru geothermal plant last weekend; at 110MWe, Hachobaru is the largest geothermal power plant in Japan. It may surprise you to know that Idaho has perhaps the largest untapped geothermal potential in the U.S., but it’s true! Actually, there is quite a bit of “direct use” geothermal (that is, using hot groundwater for heating buildings, etc.) in the Boise area and one commercial power plant (the Raft River plant), but there are also lots of other high temperature resources. Many of these are located on public lands and are not readily accessible; however, with the current emphasis on green and renewable energy geothermal has a bright future in Idaho!
Tags: Aso caldera, Aso Volcanological Laboratory, AVL, Japan, Jerry Fairley, Kyushu, Mt. Aso