is a group of
volcanic
A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...
rocks in the
Philippine Sea
The Philippine Sea is a List of seas#Marginal seas by ocean, marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, Western Pacific Ocean east of the list of islands of the Philippines, Philippine Archipelago (hence the name) and the List of seas#Largest seas ...
about south of
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
and south-southeast of
Aogashima, in the south portion of the
Izu archipelago,
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
. The rocks were discovered by the French
corvette
A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...
''Bayonnaise'' in 1850, while surveying the islands south of
Tokyo Bay
is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan spanning the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture, on the southern coast of the island of Honshu. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. Th ...
.
Geography
The rocks are the exposed portion of the western ridge of a submarine
volcanic caldera, approximately in diameter at a depth of approximately .
[Christopher G. Newhall, Daniel Dzurisin: ''Historical Unrest at large Calderas of the World.'' Volume 1, U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1855, Washington 1988, p. 506]
Bathymetric map around "Bayonnaise Rocks" based on Basic Map of the Sea
(1:50.000, retrieved 2012-12-13). The above sea-level portion has a surface area of approximately 0.01 square kilometers, with a summit height of . and consists of three large rocks and many smaller rocks.
The caldera is known to have erupted in 1869–1871, 1896, 1906, 1915, 1934, 1946, 1952–1955, 1957–1960, 1970, and 1988. The last known
submarine eruption
Submarine eruptions are volcano eruptions which take place beneath the surface of water. These occur at constructive margins, subduction zones, and within tectonic plates due to hotspots. This eruption style is far more prevalent than subaerial ...
of the caldera was in 2023, which discolored the local water.
[ ]
On the northeast rim of the same caldera to the east of the Bayonnaise Rocks is a submerged reef named , which is a post-caldera cone with a depth of approximately . During a submarine volcanic eruption of 17 September 1952, an ephemeral island was formed, with a height of , which was created and destroyed several times by volcanic activity until completely disappearing on 23 September 1953. The following day, an eruption killed 31 researchers and crewmen aboard the Maritime Safety Agency survey ship No.5 Kaiyo-Maru. The island reappeared on 11 October, sinking again on 11 March 1954 and reappeared one more time between 5 April and 3 September 1954.
Vegetation is sparse among the Bayonnaise Rocks. The islands are a resting place for
migratory birds. Located in the
Kuroshio Current
The , also known as the Black Current or is a north-flowing, warm ocean current on the west side of the North Pacific Ocean basin. It was named for the deep blue appearance of its waters. Similar to the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic, the Ku ...
, the area has abundant sea life, and is popular with sports fishermen.
See also
*
Izu Islands
The are a group of volcanic islands stretching south and east from the Izu Peninsula of Honshū, Japan. Administratively, they form two towns and six villages; all part of Tokyo Prefecture. The largest is Izu Ōshima, usually called simply Ōsh ...
*
Desert island
An uninhabited island, desert island, or deserted island, is an island, islet or atoll which lacks permanent human population. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereotypes ...
*
List of islands
This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water
A body of water or waterbody is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another planet. The term most often refer ...
*
List of islands in Japan
References
External links
* - Japan Meteorological Agency
*
Bayonnaise Rocks Volcano- volcanolive.com
{{Authority control
Izu Islands
Uninhabited islands of Japan
Volcanoes of Japan
Islands of Tokyo