prologue
What kind of worlds do Geoparks show us?
Visit a “Geopark” to see the big picture about our earth, from volcanoes to geographic features and geologic l […]...
2016/07/20
Walking through the region in geological time
From July 9 to September 25, a special exhibit is underway at Hokkaido Museum in Sapporo entitled "Let's go to a Geopark! Dinosaurs, Ammonites, Volcanos — a Journey to Find the Mysteries of the Earth." The idea is to search anew for the appeal of Hokkaido's nature, history and culture from the angle of a geopark. This exhibition, which is getting attention throughout Japan, involves extensive partnerships with five geoparks in Hokkaido.
2016/07/20
Earth science and how the island of Hokkaido came to be
How Hokkaido came to be? Let's go back a little in history and look at how Hokkaido arrived at its current form. Some 80 million years ago when dinosaurs had dominion over the earth, rather than being one island, Hokkaido was scattered over an enormous area of thousands of kilometers.
2016/07/20
Please enjoy “Bird’s-eye View Geopark”, a three-minute film produced by Hokkaido-Chizu Co., Ltd.
2016/07/27
To five geoparks
Crops grow strong, reaching for the skyline. Windbreak trees tower straight and true. Rolling hills are home to verdant pasture. The bountiful lands that provide the town of Shikaoi with its abundant food were created as cycles of volcanic eruption and freezing repeated for approximately a million years.
2016/07/27
Toya Caldera and Usu Volcano UNESCO Global Geopark
The Lake Toya caldera was formed approximately 110,000 years ago. Mt. Usu was born from volcanic activity that occurred on the south side of the lake approximately 20,000 years ago. This background was learned from visiting the Toya Caldera and Usu Volcano UNESCO Global Geopark.
2016/08/03
The stage for the Shirataki Geopark is one of the world’s leading obsidian producing regions. The obsidian, created by volcanic activity 2.2 million years ago, was an irreplaceable tool for life in the Paleolithic era, when it was used to make knives and arrows.
2016/08/10
Approximately 80% of the globe’s volume is made up of peridotite rock. The normally invisible world created by this green rock deep underground can be experienced here at Mt. Apoi.
2016/08/17
Formed by the activity of massive tectonic plates, complex mountain ranges are strung together throughout central Hokkaido. These steep ridges were formed over immense periods of time, under enormous pressure from both sides -- conditions which also produced layer upon layer of intricate geological phenomena beneath the earth. The city of Mikasa is situated atop one such region.
2016/08/24
