is a active

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...

Kusatsu, Gunma file:Kusatsu town office.JPG, 250px, Kusatsu town hall is a List of towns in Japan, town located in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. In September 2020, the town had a population of 6,255, in 3,407 households, and a population density of 130 persons per k ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It is called Kusatsu Shirane to differentiate it from the

Mount Nikkō-Shirane is a stratovolcano in the Nikkō National Park in central Honshū, the main island of Japan. It stands at 2,578 m high. It is the highest mountain in north eastern Japan (no higher mountains exist in the east or north of this mountain). Its pea ...

on the other side of

Gunma Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of . Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fuk ...

. The summit of Kusatsu-Shirane volcano, located immediately north of Asama volcano, consists of a series of overlapping

pyroclastic cone Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic landforms. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and s ...

s and three

crater lake Crater Lake ( Klamath: ) 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 a tourist attraction for its deep blue color and water clarity. T ...

s. The largest of these is Yu-gama, an acidic emerald green lake with rafts of yellow

sulfur Sulfur ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur ( Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms ...

sometimes seen floating on its surface. On January 23, 2018, a minor

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 ...

of the volcano occurred. One person was killed, and others were injured in an

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a Grade (slope), slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be triggered spontaneously, by factors such as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, othe ...

triggered by the eruption. The next day, new activity forced police to suspend search operations. One month after the eruption, it was announced by prefectural officials that only the summit of the volcano was off limits to the public. File:Kusatsu-Shirane Volcano Relief Map, SRTM-1.jpg, Relief map of Kusatsu-Shirane Volcano File:Kusatsu-Shiranesan01s5s4272.jpg, Yugama crater

References

External links

Kusatsu-Shiranesan
- Japan Meteorological Agency * - Japan Meteorological Agency

- Geological Survey of Japan Mountains of Gunma Prefecture Volcanoes of Honshū Active volcanoes Volcanic crater lakes Complex volcanoes Volcanoes of Gunma Prefecture Kusatsu-Shirane Stratovolcanoes of Japan {{Gunma-geo-stub

See also

References

External links