Mount_Oakan

Mount Oakan

Mount Oakan

Stratovolcano/Lava dome on the island of Hokkaido, Japan

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

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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-alkali mafic volcanic rock. The main rock type is andesite and dacite.

View from the Siberian Dwarf Pine zone on Mount Oakan, looking toward Mount Meakan. (July 2008)

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]

Notes

  1. [1]
    Saitō, Hiroshi (1996). 雄阿寒岳火山. 新版 地学事典 (in Japanese). 平凡社. Retrieved 2008-10-10.[permanent dead link]
  2. [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 ed.). Tokyo and New York: Kodansha International. pp. 195–200. ISBN 0-87011-893-5.
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