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Unzen Volcanic Area UNESCO Global Geopark
“Coexistence of an active volcano and human beings”
Celebrating Earth Heritage
Shimabara Peninsula is a stomach-shaped body of land projecting from the south eastern region of Nagasaki Prefecture, west of Japan. The southern region, with the Pre Unzen Volcano, is characterized by a low, gentle terrain. The Unzen Volcano in the centre of the Peninsula, is actually composite volcano formed by a number of volcanoes with 1,000 m above sea level; Mt. Fugen (1,359.3 m), Heisei Shinzan (1,482.7 m), Mt. Myoken (1,333 m), Mt. Kunimi (1,347 m). The northern and eastern parts are on a wide fertile volcanic fan where agriculture is carried out.
The theme of Unzen Volcanic Area UNESCO Global Geopark is “the coexistence of an active volcano and human beings”. The area around Unzen volcano was designated as the first national park in Japan in 1934 and its natural environment has been conserved since then.
In southern part of the UNESCO Global Geopark, basaltic lava flows erupted around 4.3 Ma, which is the oldest volcanic rock in the area. In the south-western part, andesitic lava flows and debris flows with an age of 2.5-1.5 Ma are present. Activity of the Unzen Volcano which is located in the centre of the area has started about 0.5 million years ago and is still ongoing. Its lava is dacitic and produced many lava domes, lava flows, and pyroclastic deposits. In the area two significant volcanic disasters occurred in historic times: the large sector collapse event of Mayuyama dome happened during the 1791-92 eruption (“Shimabara Catastrophe”), and the attack of repeated pyroclastic flows and associated debris flows took place during the 1990-95 “Heisei” eruption. The Heisei eruption is the first eruptive event which was scientifically recorded in detail by observations of the magma, generation of the lava dome, and pyroclastic flow formation.
Characteristics
Designation date
2015
Country(ies)
Transnational
No
Area (ha)
45,952
Population
127,833
Density
326
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