Aira Caldera

Aira Caldera (ja:姶良カルデラ Aira-Karudera) is a gigantic volcanic caldera in the south of the island of Kyūshū, Japan. The caldera was created by a massive eruption, approximately 22,000 years ago. Eruption of voluminous pyroclastic flows accompanied the formation of the 17 × 23 km-wide Aira caldera. Together with a large pumice fall, these amounted to more than 400 km of tephra (VEI 7). The major city of Kagoshima and the 13,000-year-old Sakurajima volcano lie within the caldera. Sakura-jima, one of Japan's most active volcanoes, is a post-caldera cone of the Aira caldera at the northern half of Kagoshima Bay.