Akuseki-jima is a small, 584-m-high stratovolcano in the southern Ryukyu Islands that rises about 800 above the sea floor.  Most of the island is surrounded by steep cliffs, and beaches are found only on the SW and SE sides.  The andesitic-dacitic volcano consists of two older somma volcanoes, Biro-yama and Naka-dake.  Mi-take lava dome forms the high point of the small 2.5 x 3.2 km wide island.  The dacitic Omune lava flow on the NE flank was Potassium-Argon dated at <80,000 yrs Before Present, and its youthful morphology and lack of overlying tephra layers suggests it could be as young as the Holocene (Furuyama et al., 2002).  The lava flow, the youngest product of Akuseki-jima volcano, forms a low-angle plateau overlying cliffs forming the northern coast.