Mount Kusatsu-Shirane
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is a active
stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and peri ...
in Kusatsu, Gunma,
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 n ...
. It is called Kusatsu Shirane to differentiate it from the
Mount Nikkō-Shirane is a Stratovolcano in the Nikkō National Park in central Honshū, the main island of Japan. It stands at 2,578 m high. It is the highest mountain in north eastern Japan (no higher mountains exist in the east or north of this mountain). Its pe ...
on the other side of
Gunma Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,362 km2 (2,456 sq mi). Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fuku ...
. The summit of Kusatsu-Shirane volcano, located immediately north of Asama volcano, consists of a series of overlapping
pyroclastic cone Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic landforms. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and s ...
s and three crater lakes. The largest of these is Yu-gama, an acidic emerald green lake with rafts of yellow
sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formul ...
sometimes seen floating on its surface. On January 23, 2018, a minor phreatic eruption of the volcano occurred. One person was killed, and others were injured in an
avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and ea ...
triggered by the eruption. The next day, new activity forced police to suspend search operations. One month after the eruption, it was announced by prefectural officials that only the summit of the volcano was off limits to the public. File:Kusatsu-Shirane Volcano Relief Map, SRTM-1.jpg, Relief map of Kusatsu-Shirane Volcano File:Kusatsu-Shiranesan01s5s4272.jpg, Yugama crater


See also

* List of volcanoes in Japan *
List of mountains in Japan The following is a list of the mountains and hills of Japan, ordered by height. Mountains over 1000 meters Mountains under 1000 meters As the generally accepted definition of a mountain (versus a hill) is 1000 m of height and 500 m of pro ...


References


External links


Kusatsu-Shiranesan
- Japan Meteorological Agency * - Japan Meteorological Agency

- Geological Survey of Japan Mountains of Gunma Prefecture Volcanoes of Honshū Active volcanoes Volcanic crater lakes Complex volcanoes Volcanoes of Gunma Prefecture Kusatsu-Shirane Stratovolcanoes of Japan {{Gunma-geo-stub