Volcanodle
Puzzle #29 was Sumisujima.
Sumisujima (also known as Smith Rocks) is a steep-sided basaltic pinnacle that forms part of the outer southern flank of a 8-9 km submarine caldera that truncates a 20-km-wide seamount. The caldera was formed between about 60,000 and 30,000 years ago. The Shirane dacitic central cone, 3 km wide and 800 m high, rises to within 8 m of the ocean surface in the eastern side of the caldera, whose 600-700 m walls and outer flanks expose basaltic, andesitic, and rhyolitic rocks.
Read about it at the Global Volcanism Program →
Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian Institution
What the record says
Puzzle 29 ran on 7 Aug 2026 and the answer was Sumisujima, played with 6 guesses against 8 columns. On the record: Country - Japan; Region - Northwestern Pacific Volcanic Regions; Type - caldera; Tectonic setting - subduction; Elevation - <500; Last eruption - 20th-century; Rock type - dacite; Historically observed - observed.
Beyond the grid the record adds Largest recorded eruption - VEI 2; Holocene eruptions recorded - 25 eruptions.
Volcanodle builds its record from Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian Institution (Venzke, E. (ed.), Volcanoes of the World, volcano.si.edu). The description above comes from the same place the game credits on every reveal: A verbatim excerpt of the volcano's GVP Geological Summary. The puzzle itself is still playable in the archive, and every answer that has been and gone is listed on the past-answers page.
How it scored
- Country
- Japan
- Region
- Northwestern Pacific Volcanic Regions
- Type
- caldera
- Tectonic setting
- subduction
- Elevation
- <500
- Last eruption
- 20th-century
- Rock type
- dacite
- Historically observed
- observed
Also on the record
- Largest recorded eruption
- VEI 2
- Holocene eruptions recorded
- 25 eruptions