ABUKUMA-SAMMYAKU

(Japanese: Abukuma Mountains), range in northern Honshu, Japan, extending for 106 miles (170 km) north to south and paralleling the Pacific coast of Fukushima Prefecture (ken), Tohoku Region (chiho). Its southern end extends into Ibaraki Prefecture of Kanto Region. The mountain range is 30 miles wide, and the individual peaks are sphenoidal, or wedge shaped. They consist of schistose granite and granodiorite, occasionally accompanied by slate, sandstone, and limestone. The mountains are also referred to as the Abukuma-kogen (Abukuma Plateau) because much of the original surface in the south has been obliterated by erosion and broken by several parallel fault valleys that run from north-northwest to south-southeast. Otakine-san (Mt. Otakine) is the highest point in the range; it rises to 3,914 feet (1,193 m) above the surrounding eroded surfaces, which average 2,950 feet (900 m) in elevation. Since ancient times a main highway has followed the pass between these mountains and the Mikuni-sammyaku from the Kanto Plain to Tohoku Region. The eastern piedmont hills contain the Joban coalfields, which are developing as a new industrial district.