The Making of the Japan Sea and the Japanese Mountains : Understanding Japan's Volcanism in Structural Context

概要

論文の詳細を見る
Many people, including scholars, routinely think that Japan has always been a set of volcanic islands. However, its geohistory speaks differently: not only are the basic building blocks of the archipelago primarily sedimentary in nature, they formed part of the Eurasian continental edge until relatively recently. In a previous article (Japan Review 15, 200 ), I traced the development of the major geological belts of Japan from 450 to 15 million years ago, ending with the formation of the archipelago itself upon the opening of the Japan Sea. In this sequel, I look more in detail at the mechanisms and causes of the rifting of the archipelago and then at the subsequent formation of its mountain chains and lowland basins. In these two processes of rifting and mountain-building, we find two very different kinds of volcanism contributing to the overall geological composition of Japan: alkali rifting volcanics and sub-alkaline subduction volcanics acting at very different times, locations and circumstances. And taking the larger tectonic processes into the future, we find that the Japan Sea is already beginning to close, bringing new patterns to the earthquakes that plague the archipelago. New geological concepts and terms used to discuss these matters are fully described in the Glossary, with geology lessons on rifting, folding and faulting, gravity and isostasy, in Appendix 1. Barnes 200 should be consulted for the table of geological periods, previously introduced processes, and specific figures referred to below.
International Research Center for Japanese Studiesの論文

The Making of the Japan Sea and the Japanese Mountains : Understanding Japan's Volcanism in Structural Context

スポンサーリンク

概要

International Research Center for Japanese Studies | 論文

スポンサーリンク