Aogashima

Aogashima (Japanese青ヶ島, dt "blue island ") is a volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean. It belongs geographically to the Japanese Izu Islands and counts as the entire archipelago administratively to the prefecture of Tokyo. Aogashima is located 358 km south of Tokyo and 71 km south of the nearest island of Hachijo -jima, is managed by it, and with it the sub-prefecture Hachijo (八丈 支 庁, Hachijo- shicho ) forms.

Geography

Aogashima is 3.5 km long, 2.5 km wide and has an area of ​​5.97 km ². It reaches a height of 423 meters above the sea.

Aogashima was a stratovolcano; in the presence of the island is characterized by a steep cliff coast and two cones and a caldera that originated 2100-2600 years ago. The diameter of the caldera is about 1.5 kilometers. Both of the main crater as seen from the side craters poured repeated pyroclastic flows and lava flows. About 3000 years ago, the entire island was covered by huge pyroclastic flows. Over the following 600 years of East crater was filled by more lava flows and ash deposits. The last volcanic eruption took place 1781-1785; with him, the cinder cone formed in the center of the caldera. At the outbreak of about 140 people died; 1785 the islanders were evacuated to Hachijo -jima. The next 50 years, the island was uninhabited.

Since the outbreak on Torishima in 1902 Aogashima is the southernmost inhabited island of the archipelago. The 192 (as of February 1, 2014) inhabitants live in the village Aogashima, which is also the independent municipality of Japan with the lowest number of inhabitants. The population density is 32 inhabitants per km ².