A pyroclastic flow on 23 June 1993 at Unzen volcano in southern Japan travels down the flanks of the volcano into the Senbongi residential district of Shimabara city. Pyroclastic flows had been occurring at Unzen since May 1991 as a result of partial collapse of the lava dome growing at the summit of Fugendake. This pyroclastic flow traveled 1 km through inhabited areas that had been evacuated since August 1991. One resident who had returned to watch his house burn was killed by a second pyroclastic flow.

Photo by Setsuya Nakada, 1993 (Kyushu University).

This image is made available under the Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 license terms.

Galleries: Pyroclastic Flows

Keywords: pyroclastic flow | eruption | explosive eruption | ash plume | ash | lava dome | block-and-ash flow | human impacts | pyroclastic density current (PDC) | dome collapse | co-ignimbrite plume

Unzendake