The is a

geopark A geopark is a protected area with internationally significant geology within which sustainable development is sought and which includes tourism, conservation, education and research concerning not just geology but other relevant sciences. In 20 ...

in Japan. The area was declared a Japanese Geopark in 2008, and a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Global Geopark in 2010. The underlying themes of the geopark are "geological features, the natural environment, people's lives, and the formation of the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

". This geologically diverse area contains records of the process from when Japan was part of the Asian continent to its present-day formation of the Sea of Japan. People's lives are also diverse in this area because of its

geodiversity Geodiversity is the variety of earth materials, forms and processes that constitute and shape the Earth, either the whole or a specific part of it.Zwolinski, Zb. 2004. ''Geodiversity'', in: ''Encyclopedia of Geomorphology'', A.Goudie (ed.), Routle ...

Area

The San'in Kaigan Geopark is located to the northwest of

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

and

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

and consists of Kyotango in Kyoto Prefecture, Toyooka,

Kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...

, and Shin'onsen in

Hyōgo Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, an ...

, Iwami, and a major part of Tottori in

Tottori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Tottori Prefecture is the least populous prefecture of Japan at 570,569 (2016) and has a geographic area of . Tottori Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture to the west, Hirosh ...

. The geopark has an area of 2,458.44 square kilometers.

Geosites

The geopark includes sites that relate to the surrounding

geomorphology Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or n ...

and

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

. Examples include the

rice terraces In agriculture, a terrace is a piece of sloped plane that has been cut into a series of successively receding flat surfaces or platforms, which resemble steps, for the purposes of more effective farming. This type of landscaping is therefore ...

and

Tajima cattle The Japanese Black ( ja, 黒毛和種, Kuroge Washu) is a breed of Japanese beef cattle. It is one of six native Japanese cattle breeds, and one of the four Japanese breeds known as wagyū, the others being the Japanese Brown, the Japanese Polled ...

grazing areas located on the gentle slopes formed by

landslides Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of environments, ...

, red snow crabs and other fishery products from the Sea of Japan, the Oriental white stork habitat in the Toyooka Basin, the local

handbag A handbag, commonly known as a purse or pocketbook in North American English, is a handled medium-to-large bag used to carry personal items. Purse, handbag or pouch The term "purse" originally referred to a small bag for holding coins. In many ...

manufacturing industry,

onsen In Japan, are the country's hot springs and the bathing facilities and traditional inns around them. As a volcanically active country, Japan has many onsens scattered throughout all of its major islands. There are approximately 25,000 hot ...

(hot springs), and the cultivation of

melons A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of botanical berry, berry, specifical ...

and Chinese

shallots The shallot is a botanical variety (a cultivar) of the onion. Until 2010, the (French red) shallot was classified as a separate species, ''Allium ascalonicum''. The taxon was synonymized with ''Allium cepa'' (the common onion) in 2010, as the d ...

in the

sand dunes A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...

IUGS geological heritage site

One of the major geosites is Genbudo Cave formed in

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

, located in Toyooka City. This site is internationally significant, as it is where reversed geomagnetic polarity was first proposed and in respect of its importance in this regard, Genbudo Cave was included by the

International Union of Geological Sciences The International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) is an international non-governmental organization devoted to international cooperation in the field of geology. About The IUGS was founded in 1961 and is a Scientific Union member of the Inte ...

(IUGS) in its assemblage of 100 'geological heritage sites' around the world in a listing published in October 2022. The organisation defines an 'IUGS Geological Heritage Site' as 'a key place with geological elements and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as a reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences through history.' File:Ueyama-Tanada-Autumn.JPG, Rice terraces of Ueyama in Ojiro,

File:Takenohama Hyogo001.jpg, Nekozaki Peninsula and Takeno Beach in Toyooka File:Kyoto Tango-Peninsula Tateiwa001.jp
Tate-iwa Rock
in Kyotango File:Yumura onsen53n4592.jpg, Yumura Onsen "Arayu" in Shin'onsen File:Uradome Coast Sengan-Matsushima.JPG, Uradome Coast Sengan-Matsushima in Iwami File:Tottori-Sakyu Tottori Japan.JPG,

Tottori Sand Dunes The are sand dunes located outside the city center of Tottori in Tottori Prefecture, Japan. At a length of and less than wide, it is the largest sand dune in Japan. The sand dunes are part of San'in Kaigan Geopark, which is part of The UNE ...

in Tottori

References

External links

*
Explanation of San'in Kaigan Geopark on the website of UNESCO
{{Coord missing, Japan Global Geoparks Network members Geoparks in Japan Parks and gardens in Hyōgo Prefecture Parks and gardens in Kyoto Prefecture Parks and gardens in Tottori Prefecture Protected areas established in 2008 2008 establishments in Japan First 100 IUGS Geological Heritage Sites