姶良カルデラの第四紀後期の地殻変動と火山活動

抄録

The southwestern rim of Aira caldera, which is situated at the head of Kagoshima Bay, is critical for examining late Pleistocene and Holocene crustal movements of the caldera with respect to volcanic activity. A suite of Pleistocene and Holocene sea-level and eruption records occurs in combination in exposures on the rim, and so tectonic displacement of the caldera as well as volcanic activity in historical times are both obtainable. Using elevations of coastal landforms and deposits, and with a chronology determined via tephrochronology and archeological remnants, we examined vertical crustal movements of the Aira caldera in the late Pleistocene and Holocene, and compared these movements with historical movement in the light of concomitant volcanic activity. The main conclusions are as follows. Aira caldera has been subjected to distinct uplift, with an average rate of 0.5-0.8 mm per year over the past ~108,000 years. The uplift rate of 0.8-1.1 mm per year, from ~7000 cal BP to the present, appears to be higher than that, 0.4-0.7 mm per year from ~108,000 to ~7000 cal BP. Comparison of these late Quaternary uplift rates with those in historical time clearly suggests that volcanic activities of Aira caldera are responsible for the late Quaternary vertical movements in and around Aira caldera. The results help to evaluate future eruptions of Aira caldera, and to examine the relationships between the late Quaternary crustal movement and volcanic activities in other gigantic calderas without sea-level remnants.