Volcano Islands

The Volcano Islands are a Japanese island group in the Ogasawara Islands, south of the main Japanese archipelago. They comprise Iwo Jima, Kita Iwo Jima, and Minami Iwo Jima.

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Iwo Jima: A volcanic island in the Volcano Islands, known for its strategic location and the 1945 battle fought there. The group’s largest and best-known island, also called Iōtō.
Volcanic arc: A curved chain of volcanoes formed above a subduction zone. The Volcano Islands are emergent peaks in a subduction-related volcanic arc.
2023 eruption of Iwo Jima: A submarine volcanic eruption near Iwo Jima that built a temporary new island in 2023. It demonstrated that the group’s volcanic activity can create new land.
Battle of Iwo Jima: A major battle between U.S. and Japanese forces fought on Iwo Jima in February and March 1945. The battle made the group’s central island a defining site of the Pacific War.
Kita Iwo Jima: An uninhabited volcanic island north of Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands. It is the northern member of the three-island group.
Subduction: The descent of one tectonic plate beneath another into the mantle. Pacific Plate subduction supplies the tectonic setting for the group’s volcanism.
Fukutoku-Oka-no-Ba: A submarine volcano in the Volcano Islands region, southeast of Iwo Jima. Its eruptions have produced short-lived islands near the group.
Iwo Jima campaign: The Allied military operation to capture Iwo Jima from Japan during World War II. The campaign reflects the strategic value of the island group’s location.
Minami Iwo Jima: An uninhabited volcanic island south of Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands. It is the southern member of the three-island group.
Phreatic eruption: An explosion caused when magma or hot rock heats groundwater into steam, without necessarily ejecting new magma. Hydrothermal explosions are a hazard at the group’s active volcanic islands.