is a mountain range in northeastern

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island s ...

, in the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (''ken''): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku reta ...

of northern

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 ...

.Kitakami Mountains
''Encyclopedia Britannica’ The range extends for from the southern border of

Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the eas ...

in the north to the northern border of

Miyagi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,305,596 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefecture to the no ...

in the south, and are bordered by the Kitakami River valley in the west and the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

to the east, with an average width of around .The Kitakami Mountains are thus mostly located within eastern

Iwate Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture at , with a population of 1,210,534 (as of October 1, 2020). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefectu ...

. The range is largely an eroded plateau with a thick

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

bedrock, thus accounting for its other name: . In the north, the mountains are characterized by marine terraces at an altitude of around 300 meters, whereas in the south, the mountains are drowned to form a deeply indented rias coast. Geologically, the Kitakami Mountains are

Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ...

and

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...

formations, divided into northern and southern groups. the southern area has oldest previous

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleoz ...

foundation, which was once a shallow sea on the continental margin where the water temperature was high enough for coral growth from the Silurian to the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, wh ...

periods; this region, later collided with the northern Kitakami mountainous area in the early

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 ...

period, and the whole was penetrated by the granite in various places. Until the

Paleogene The Paleogene ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning o ...

, the Kitakami Mountains were geologically part of Primorsky region of

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...

. About 30 million years to 15 million years ago, the Japanese archipelago separated from the continent and moved to its present position. The Kitakami Mountains around that time was an island, the west side was a shallow sea, and the Ōu Mountains were not yet born. The uplift of the Ōu mountain range began in late

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 ...

and the Kitakami Basin was born. The Kitakami Mountains were exposed to erosion for a long time because they were above water from the

Cenozoic The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configu ...

onwards. In addition, as a result the glacier effects of the last glacial period, the current gentle topography was created. Mount Hayachine, near the center of the range, is the highest peak at , and supports endemic alpine vegetation. Notable caves within the Kitakami Mountains include

Akkadō is a limestone cavern located in the town of Iwaizumi, Iwate Prefecture in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. It has a measured length of , which makes it the longest in Japan.

and

Ryūsendō is one of Japan's three largest limestone caverns. It is located in the town of Iwaizumi, Iwate Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. Ryūsendō has an accessible length of 1200 meters, making it the 62nd longest in Japan; howe ...

. The peaks of the Kitakami mountains include the following: * Mount Hayachine (早池峰山) 1917 m *Hashigamidake (階上岳) 739.6 m *Akkamori (安家森) 1239 m *Kuromoriyama (黒森山) 837 m *Goyozan (五葉山)1351 m *Muroneyama (室根山) 895 m *Omoriyama (大森山) 750 m *Tokusenjosan (徳仙丈山) 711 m *Tatsuganesan (田束山) 512 m

References

Notes

{{Authority control Mountain ranges of Aomori Prefecture Mountain ranges of Iwate Prefecture Mountain ranges of Miyagi Prefecture