is a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

Hokkaidō is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Unlike much of the rest of Japan, the Kitami Mountains are not very seismically active. The Kitami Mountains are north of the

Ishikari Mountains The is a range of volcanic mountains in central Hokkaidō, Japan. The mountain range is made up from the Daisetsuzan Volcanic Group and the Tomuraushi Volcanic Group. The volcanoes are part of the Kurile arc of the Pacific ring of fire ...

and east of the

Teshio Mountains Teshio Mountains (天塩山地 ''Teshio-sanchi'') is a mountain range of Hokkaidō, Japan. Mountains * Mount Pisshiri * Mount Santō is the second tallest mountain in the Teshio Mountains. It is located in Horokanai, Hokkaido is Japan's ...

. A depression separates the Kitami Mountains from the

Yūbari Mountains is a mountain range of Hokkaidō, Japan. Part of this range is protected by the . Geology The Yūbari Mountains continue the north–south line begun by the Teshio Mountains. The mountains are the result of the collision between the Kurile Is ...

. The highest point in the Kitami Mountains is

Mount Teshio is the tallest mountain in the Kitami Mountains. It is located on the border of Shibetsu and Takinoue, Hokkaidō, Japan. It is the source of the Teshio River. History On January 6, 1978, Mount Teshio and the surrounding region was designated t ...

. Mount Teshio sits atop the Wenshiri horst.

Geology

Rocks from the Kitami mountains are mostly sedimentary from the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

Paleogene The Paleogene ( ; British English, also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period, geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million yea ...

periods. Volcanic rock was placed down on top of this from volcanoes that erupted in the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

or later. The Kitami Mountains formed in the inner arc of the

Kurile Arc The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (; rus, Кури́льские острова́, r=Kuril'skiye ostrova, p=kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva; Japanese: or ) are a volcanic archipelago currently administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the ...

Mountains

* (1,558m) * (1,446m) * (1,345m) * (1,142m) * (1,129m) * (987m) * (818m)

References

Mountain ranges of Hokkaido {{Hokkaido-geo-stub