, also referred to as , is the 14th highest mountain and second highest
volcano
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...
in
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 ...
(after
Mount Fuji
, or Fugaku, located on the island of Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan, with a summit elevation of . It is the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highest ...
) at . It is included in ''
''.
Description
Mt. Ontake is located around northeast of
Nagoya
is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most po ...
, and around 200 km (125 mi) west of Tokyo, at the borders of
Kiso and
Ōtaki,
Nagano Prefecture
is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the ...
, and
Gero,
Gifu Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture to the northwest, ...
. The volcano has five
crater lake
Crater Lake ( Klamath: ''Giiwas'') is a volcanic crater lake in south-central Oregon in the western United States. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and is famous for its deep blue color and water clarity. The lake partly fill ...
s, with at being the highest mountain lake in Japan. Ontake is a major sacred mountain, and following older
shamanist
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiri ...
ic practices, actors and artists have gone to the mountain to put themselves into trances in order to get divine inspiration for their creative activities.
Eruptions
Ontake was thought to be inactive until October 1979, when it underwent a series of explosive
phreatic eruption
A phreatic eruption, also called a phreatic explosion, ultravulcanian eruption or steam-blast eruption, occurs when magma heats ground water or surface water. The extreme temperature of the magma (anywhere from ) causes near-instantaneous evap ...
s which ejected 200,000 tons of ash, and had a
volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 2.
There were minor non-explosive (VEI 0) phreatic eruptions in 1991 and 2007.
On Saturday, September 27, 2014, at around 11:53 a.m.
Japan Standard Time
, or , is the standard time zone in Japan, 9 hours ahead of UTC ( UTC+09:00). Japan does not observe daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated on several occasions. During World War II, the time zone was often referred t ...
(UTC +9),
the volcano erupted with a VEI of 3.
There were no significant
earthquakes
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fro ...
that might have warned authorities in the lead up to the
phreatic eruption
A phreatic eruption, also called a phreatic explosion, ultravulcanian eruption or steam-blast eruption, occurs when magma heats ground water or surface water. The extreme temperature of the magma (anywhere from ) causes near-instantaneous evap ...
—caused by ground water flashing to steam in a
hydrothermal explosion
Hydrothermal explosions occur when superheated water trapped below the surface of the earth rapidly converts from liquid to steam, violently disrupting the confining rock. Boiling water, steam, mud, and rock fragments are ejected over an area of a ...
. The Mount Ontake volcano eruption was an extremely rare phenomenon which made it difficult to take precautionary measures. At the time of the eruption, several hiking parties were undertaking ascents and descents of Ontake, with emergency descents having to be undertaken in the presence of ash clouds and falling rocks. 63 people were killed; five bodies were never found. The
Japan Self-Defense Forces
The Japan Self-Defense Forces ( ja, 自衛隊, Jieitai; abbreviated JSDF), also informally known as the Japanese Armed Forces, are the unified ''de facto''Since Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution outlaws the formation of armed forces, th ...
began carrying out helicopter searches for missing people after the eruption.
Gallery
See also
*
*
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 ...
*
List of Ultras of Japan
This is a list of all the Ultra prominent peaks (with topographic prominence greater than 1,500 metres) in Japan.
See also
*List of mountains in Japan
The following is a list of the mountains and hills of Japan, ordered by height.
Mount ...
*
List of volcanoes in Japan
This is a list of active and extinct volcanoes in Japan. An Orange background indicates a volcano considered active by the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Hokkaido
Honshū
Izu Islands
Ogasawara Archipelago
The Ogasawara Archipelag ...
*
Ontake Prefectural Natural Park
*
Three-thousanders (in Japan)
There are 21 three-thousanders ( mountains with elevations of or greater) in Japan. The tallest is Mount Fuji, at .
Geography
There are three-thousanders in the following regions:
* The ''independent peaks'' of Mount Fuji and Mount Ontake.
* ...
*
OSJ Ontake SkyRace
The OSJ Ontake SkyRace was an international skyrunning competition held for the first time in 2006 and till 2014. It rans every year in Nagano ( Mount Ontake, Japan) in August. The race was valid for the Skyrunner World Series six times consecutiv ...
References
External links
Ontakesan- Japan Meteorological Agency
* - Japan Meteorological Agency
Ontakesan- Smithsonian Institution: Global Volcanism Program
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ontake, Mount
Volcanic crater lakes
Mountains of Gifu Prefecture
Mountains of Nagano Prefecture
Sacred mountains of Japan
Volcanoes of Honshū
Volcanoes of Gifu Prefecture
Volcanoes of Nagano Prefecture