Mt. FujiMt. Fuji

By: Angie Drexler and Dee By: Angie Drexler and Dee RosenRosen

Mt. Fuji Fun FactsMt. Fuji at sunrise from Lake Kawaguchi Elevation: 3,776

meters (12,388 feet)

Location: Honshu, Japan

Coordinates: 35°22′N,138°44′E

Type: Stratovolcano (dormant)

Last eruption: 1707

First ascent: 663 by an anonymous monk

Easiest Route: Hike

Temperature: -18 to +8 degrees Celsius

Guess What? More Fun Facts!!

Mt. Fuji is famous for its perfectly

symmetrical cone.

Mt. Fuji is not only a single structure, the volcano is actually

a group of "superposed"

cones. (Fuji consists of 3 different volcanoes)

The Japanese call the mountain Fuji-yama or Fuji-san and it is considered a sacred mountain because

the climbing of it is a religious practice.

Map and Lakes

Mt. Fuji consists of 5 surrounding lakes:

• Lake Motosuko- deepest lake

• Lake Shojinko- smallest lake

• Lake Kawaguchi- accessible and commercialized

• Lake Yamanako- recreational

• Lake Subarshiri

Mt. Fuji: A Stratovolcano• Stratovolcanoes make up 60%, the largest percentage, of the earth's individual volcanoes.

• Most stratovolcanoes are characterized by eruptions of andesite and dacite. However, unlike most stratovolcanoes Mt. Fuji is mostly composed of Basalt.

• These two rocks make up lavas that are cooler, thicker, and more sticky than basalt.

Andesite (top) & Basalt (bottom)

These thicker lavas, andesite and dacite, allow gas pressures to build up to high levels which results in explosive eruptions.

Volcanic Eruptions

Mt. Fuji is comprised of three different volcanoes that lie one on top of the other:

•Komitake•Ko-Fuji (older Fuji Volcano)

•The present Fuji (younger Fuji Volcano)

Mt. Komitake first errupted 700 thousand years ago and forms

the northern part of Mt. Fuji. (See Above)

Ko-Fuji (older Fuji Volcano) is newly erupted and on the south

side of Mt. Komitake. (See Below)

The younger, and present day, Fuji

Volcano erupted 10 thousand years ago

and expanded from the central crater of Ko-Fuji. (See Above)

Mt. Fuji’s Eruptions

• Komitake became an active volcano in the

middle Pleistocene. The eruption consisted of andesite lava flows.

• The younger Fuji Volcano varied in it’s type of eruptions over the past 11 thousand

years.

“He whoclimbs Mount

Fuji once is a wise man,

he who climbs it twice is a fool.”

Japanese Proverb

References

• http://www.thudscave.com/petroglyphs/kgrafx/dacite.jpg•

http://seis.natsci.csulb.edu/basicgeo/ANDESITE/Andesite_handsample_porph.jpeg

•http://yamanashi.visitors-net.ne.jp/~fujivisi/english/history/

•http://geology.wcedu.pima.edu/~jcanfield/firstcanfield.html

•http://jove.geol.niu.edu/students/mdare/VirtualFieldTrip/Mt_Fuji/MountFujiGeology.html

• http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/as/igneous/Basalt.jpg