Mount Oakan

Mount Oakan
雄阿寒岳

View from the Siberian Dwarf Pine zone on Mount Oakan, looking toward Mount Meakan. (July 2008)
Elevation 1,370.4 m (4,496 ft)
Listing List of mountains and hills of Japan by height
Location
Location Hokkaidō, Japan
Range Akan Volcanic Complex
Topo map Geographical Survey Institute 25000:1 雄阿寒岳
50000:1 阿寒湖
Geology
Type shield volcano and parasitic lava dome
Age of rock Late Pleistocene-Holocene
Volcanic arc/belt Kuril arc

Mount Oakan (雄阿寒岳 Oakan-dake?) is a shield volcano located in Akan National Park in Hokkaidō, Japan.

Contents

Geography and geology

Mount Oakan sits in the Akan caldera northeast of Lake Akan. The volcano rises some 900 metres (3,000 ft) above the surrounding terrain. The top of the volcano is 1,370 metres (4,490 ft) above sea level. The volcanic cone is some 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) in diameter. There are three explosion craters at the summit. At Kitanakahara (北中腹?) at about 800 metres (2,600 ft), there is a fumarole.[1] The volcano is made mostly from non-alkalai mafic volcanic rock. The main rock type is andesite and dacite.

History

Mount Oakan emerged in the Late Pleistocene dropping pumice on Minamishikata. After that, continuous lava flows formed the bulk of the volcano. In the final stages of its life, a parasitic volcano formed a lava dome at the summit.[1]

According to its name and local legend, Mount Oakan is the male counterpart to Mount Meakan on the other side of Lake Akan. [2]

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b Saitō, Hiroshi (1996). "雄阿寒岳火山" (in Japanese). 新版 地学事典. 平凡社. http://riodb02.ibase.aist.go.jp/strata/VOL_JP/dic/218e.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-10. 
  2. ^ Hunt, Paul (1988). "32: Climbing an Active Volcano: Meakan-dake (雌阿寒岳)". Hiking in Japan: An Adventurer's Guide to the Mountain Trails (First Edition ed.). Tokyo and New York: Kodansha International. pp. 195–200. ISBN 0-87011-893-5.