Mount Fuji may erupt if strong temblor causes cracks inside: study

A group of researchers from Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology ( AIST) said Tuesday that the Mount Fuji may erupt if strong earthquake causes cracks inside the inactive volcano.

The researchers said that underground magma inside the volcano has accumulated over the past 300 years since its last eruption, known as Hoei eruption, in 1707 and warned that a gigantic quake could cause cracks inside and may trigger a violent eruption.

The researchers found that a large number of dikes created before the Hoei eruption have prevented magma from rising, after analyzing past eruptions between some 10,000 years ago and the 1707 eruption through field investigation and aerial photos.

The scientists said that they expect magma to have accumulated as a series of low-frequency earthquake have been detected under the Mount Fuji, saying two magnitude 8 temblors that hit the volcano in 1703 and 1707 made magma under the surface to rise.

The Hoei eruption dumped a large amount of volcanic ash onto the Kanto region, centering on Tokyo, while the inactive 3,776- meter Mount Fuji was inscribed into UNESCO's list of World Heritage cultural sites last month.