Karasawa Cirque

Karasawa Cirque is one of major cirques in Japan, located in Matsumoto City, in Nagano prefecture.

Karasawa Cirque

Outline

Karasawa cirque lies under Mount Oku-Hotaka (3,190m) in Hida Mountains or "Northern Japanese Alps". The diameter of the cirque is about 2,000m. The bottom of the cirque is 2,300m above sea level. So, the deference of the elevation is 900m.[1] The melted snow of the cirque forms River Azusa and go down to Kamikochi valley. Karasawa cirque is the center for mountaineering Mount Hotakadake, and filled with many colorful tents in summer. Much snow remains in summer, and suitable for summer skiing. It is also famous for vivid color of autumn leaves. The altitude of the cirque floor is 2300m above sea level.

Karasawa Glacier

Geographist Tomoya Iozawa advocated two stages of glaciers in Japan through reading aerial photographs of Japanese Alps. That is Yokoo Glacier (60 thousand years ago) and Karasawa Glacier (20 thousand years ago).[2][3][4]

Mountain Huts

There are two major mountain huts.

  • Karasawa Hutte
  • Hut of Karasawa

References
  1. Masaki Iwafune "Rock Avalanches Occurred in the Snow-melt Season at the Karasawa Cirque in Mt. Hotaka-dake, the Japanese Alps"Journal of Geography 105(2) 569-589 1996
  2. Shuji Iwata"Turning points in the Glacial Landform Study of the Japanese Alps 第四紀研究(The Quaternary Research)53(6)p. 275─296
  3. "地球実感！長野県の地質風景／環境保全研究所". www.pref.nagano.lg.jp. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  4. Ito ,Vorndran"Glacial Geornorphology and Snow-Lines of Younger Quaternary around the Yari-Hotaka Mountain Range, Northern Alps, Central Japan" Polarforschung 53 (1): 75-89, 1983

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