No latest activity reported for Iwate.

Below is a summary of eruption dates and Volcanic Explosivity Indices (VEI).

The following references are the sources used for data regarding this volcano. References are linked directly to our volcano data file. Discussion of another volcano or eruption (sometimes far from the one that is the subject of the manuscript) may produce a citation that is not at all apparent from the title. Additional discussion of data sources can be found under Volcano Data Criteria.

IAVCEI, 1973-80. Post-Miocene Volcanoes of the World. {IAVCEI Data Sheets, Rome: Internatl Assoc Volc Chemistry Earth's Interior}.

Itoh J, 1998. The eruption history of Iwate volcano in the Edo period, based on the historical documents. {Bull Volc Soc Japan (Kazan)}, 43: 467-481 (in Japanese with English abs)

Japan Meteorological Agency, 1996. {National Catalogue of the Active Volcanoes in Japan (second edition)}. Tokyo: Japan Meteorological Agency, 502 p (in Japanese)

Kudo T, Hoshizumi H, 2006-. Catalog of eruptive events within the last 10,000 years in Japan, database of Japanese active volcanoes. Geol Surv Japan, AIST, http://riodb02.ibase.aist.go.jp/db099/eruption/index.html

Kuno H, 1962. Japan, Taiwan and Marianas. {Catalog of Active Volcanoes of the World and Solfatara Fields}, Rome: IAVCEI, 11: 1-332

Nakano S, Yamamoto T, Iwaya T, Itoh J, Takada A, 2001-. {Quaternary Volcanoes of Japan}. Geol Surv Japan, AIST, http://www.aist.go.jp/RIODB/strata/VOL_JP/

Tanaka S, Hamaguchi H, Ueki S, Sato M, Nakamichi H, 2002. Migration of seismic activity during the 1998 volcanic unrest at Iwate volcano, northeastern Japan, with reference to P and S wave velocity anomaly and crustal deformation. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 113: 399-414

Viewed from the east, Iwate volcano has a symmetrical profile that invites comparison with Fuji, but on the west an older cone is visible containing an oval-shaped, 1.8 x 3 km caldera. After the growth of Nishi-Iwate volcano beginning about 700,000 years ago, activity migrated eastward to form Higashi-Iwate volcano. Iwate has collapsed seven times during the past 230,000 years, most recently between 739 and 1615 AD. The dominantly basaltic summit cone of Higashi-Iwate volcano, Yakushi-dake, is truncated by a 500-m-wide crater. It rises well above and buries the eastern rim of the caldera, which is breached by a narrow gorge on the NW. A central cone containing a 500-m-wide crater partially filled by a lake is located in the center of the oval-shaped caldera. A young lava flow from Yakushi-dake descended into the caldera, and a fresh-looking lava flow from the 1732 eruption traveled down the NE flank.