Abukuma-sammyaku

▪ mountains, Japan

      (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), Tōhoku Region (chihō). Its southern end extends into Ibaraki Prefecture of Kantō 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-kōgen (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. Ōtakine-san (Mt. Ōtakine) 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 Kantō Plain to Tōhoku Region. The eastern piedmont hills contain the Jōban coalfields, which are developing as a new industrial district.

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