Point of Interest No. 2
The Remains of a Recent Eruption
The different hues of the gritty sand called scoria, which covers the ground of Mt. Iwate, tell the story of the mountain’s repeated eruptions. The black scoria found around Mt. Yakushidake’s caldera was ejected during a relatively recent eruption in the Edo period (1603–1868). The gray areas are scoria and rock fragments from eruptions between the Heian (794–1185) and Edo periods, while the red areas are scoria from approximately 3,600 years ago. Climbing Mt. Iwate and observing the layers of scoria from the various eruptions gives a sense of the passage of time.