[Abstract]

A large-scale collapse occurred at the eastern slope of Fuji volcano about 2900 years ago, based on calibrated 14C age of a wood sample collected in the resulting debris avalanche deposit. The collapsed slide deposit, called "Gotemba debris avalanche deposit" (Goda), is distributed on the eastern foot of the volcano covering an area of more than 53 km2. The source amphitheater is not preserved because it became covered by younger tephra erupted from the summit crater. This avalanche deposit is overlain by the "Gotemba mudflow deposits" (Gomf) emplaced repeatedly after the avalanche. Some flow units of the Goda and Gomf entered pre-existing rivers and were finally emplaced as fluvial deposits. The Goda is composed of debris-avalanche blocks, showing jigsaw cracks, along with smaller blocks ranging from several tens of centimeters up to 1 m in diameter. The debris-avalanche matrix is a mixture of smaller pieces of blocks and ash-sized materials due to mainly shearing and fragmentation of large blocks. Igneous rocks include fresh and altered gray basaltic lava, weathered tephra including red scoria and white clay. Petrographical and geochemical data indicate that most blocks were derived from the Older Fuji volcano. The volumes of the Goda and Gomf are about 1.05 km3 and 0.71 km3, respectively, based on presently available geological and borehole data.
Since the blocks of Goda are composed mostly of the products of the Older Fuji volcano and the older stage lavas of Younger Fuji volcano do not extend to the eastern foot of Fuji volcano, a bulge of Older Fuji volcano must have existed in the eastern flank of Fuji volcano preventing the older stage lavas to flow to the east. This bulge collapsed in the form of three blocks from the foot of the mountain. The abundance of hydrothermally altered deposits in the Goda and the absence of fresh volcanic products within the Goda suggest its origin as a rupture inside the altered deposits possibly triggered by a large earthquake or phreatic eruption.

Key words:

altered depositsÅCdebris avalanche, Fuji volcano, geochemical data, mudflow