Southern Yatsugatake Volcanic Group

Southern Yatsugatake Volcanic Group
Southern Yatsugatake Volcanic Group
	Yatsugatake from Mount Gongen (August 2010)
Highest point
Peak	Mount Aka
Elevation	2,899 m (9,511 ft)
Coordinates	35°58′15″N 138°22′12″E
Naming
Etymology	Southern mountains with eight peaks
Native name	南八ヶ岳 Minami-Yatsugatake
Geography
Country	Japan
States	Nagano Prefecture and Yamanashi Prefecture
Region	Chūbu
Districts	Minamisaku and Suwa
Municipalities	Hara, Fujimi, Chino, Hokuto and Minamimaki
Parent range	Yatsugatake Mountains
Borders on	Northern Yatsugatake Volcanic Group
Biome	Alpine climate
Geology
Orogeny	Island arc
Age of rock	Quaternary
Type of rock	Volcanic

Southern Yatsugatake Volcanic Group (南八ヶ岳, Minami-Yatsugatake), also just Yatsugatake is a volcanic group of inactive volcanoes located on the border of Nagano Prefecture and Yamanashi Prefecture on Honshū in Japan.

Yatsugatake from Mt. Kitayoko (June 2007)

Description

The Southern Yatsugatake Volcanic Group is part of the Yatsugatake Mountains. The southern group is defined as the mountains south of the Natsuzawa Pass. The highest peak of the mountains is Mount Aka and the elevation is 2,899 metres.

The southern Yatugatake mountains are steep and have alpine characteristics. The mountains of the Northern Yatsugatake Volcanic Group are gentler and lower.

This volcanic group is listed among the 100 famous mountains in Japan. There the mountains are listed as Yatsugatake. Mount Tateshina is also part of the Yatsugatake mountains, but is listed separately.

These mountains are part of the Yatsugatake-Chūshin Kōgen Quasi-National Park.[1]

Geology

The volcanoes are stratovolcanoes that are 1 million to 200,000 years old. The rock is mainly basalt and andesite.[2]

List of peaks

The following peaks make up the Southern Yatsugatake Volcanic Group:[2][3]

Name	Height
Mount Aka (赤岳, Aka-dake)	2,899.2 metres (9,511.8 ft)
Mount Yoko (横岳, Yoko-dake)	2,829 metres (9,281 ft)
Mount Amida (阿弥陀岳, Amida-dake)	2,805 metres (9,203 ft)
Mount Iō (硫黄岳, Iō-dake)	2,760 metres (9,060 ft)
Mount Gongen (権現岳, Gongen-dake)	2,715 metres (8,907 ft)
Mount Amigasa (編笠山, Amigasa-yama)	2,523.7 metres (8,279.9 ft)
Mount Nishi (西岳, Nishi-dake)	2,398 metres (7,867 ft)
Utsukushimori (美し森, Utsukushi-mori)	1,542.4 metres (5,060.4 ft)

Gallery

Mount Aka, the highest peak of the Yatsugatake mountains
Mount Gongen, from Mount Aka
Mount Amida, Mount Iō, Mount Yoko and Mount Aka from Mount Gongen
Mount Amida, Mount Iō, Mount Yoko, Mount Aka and Mount Gongen from Mount Amigasa

References

八ヶ岳中信高原国定公園. Japan Integrated Biodiversity Information System (in Japanese). Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan. Archived from the original on 2008-05-12. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
"YATSU-GA-TAKE". Quaternary Volcanoes of Japan. Geological Survey of Japan, AIST. 2006. Retrieved 2008-08-19.
Hunt, Paul (1988). "14. Yatsu-ga-take". Hiking in Japan: An Adventurer's Guide to the Mountain Trails (First ed.). Tokyo: Kondansha International. pp. 111–115. ISBN 0-87011-893-5.