Mountains of the rising sunThis is pretty neat, this is a view of the highest peak in Japan from the

Mountains of the rising sunThis is pretty neat, this is a view of the highest peak in Japan from the second highest peak at sunrise.Mount Kitadake has a height of 3,193 meters, about 600 meters shorter than the lovely cone in the distance.Although Japan is famous, even here, for its volcanoes, Kitadake is a mountain of a different sort. It sits within the Minami Alps national park, a long, thin national park in the highest part of the country. Unlike the peak in the distance, these mountains are made of sedimentary rocks. They are Paleozoic to Mesozoic in age and have been thrust upward to great heights by the ongoing subduction off the coast. The rocks formed originally off the coast of the Eurasian continent and they’ve been thrust upwards by the ongoing plate tectonic convergence. Instead of single cones, the Minami Alps form a thin chain of high ground; oriented, linear ridges of sediment that give rise to the rivers that flow to the coastline.The Minami Alps are one of Japan’s Geoparks, regions designated as having unique geological and geographic character worthy of preservation and further study. With this view I think we can all agree that designation is earned.-JBBImage credit: Sky Carphttps://flic.kr/p/oyxyiMRead more:http://bit.ly/1IPWoIphttp://www.bes.or.jp/english/parks/minamialps.htmlhttp://machiaruki.net/unique_nagano/detail.php?id=102http://www.geo-itoigawa.com/eng/introduction/jgn.html -- source link

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