Karasawa Cirque - Karasawa Cirque

... The mountain is mainly composed of hard rock called porphyritic rock, and faults have created steep slopes that drop sharply into the Gamata River on the west and the Azusa River on the east, and glaciers have eroded these to form gentle, wide U-shaped valleys and cirques. In particular, the Karasawa cirque on the eastern slope is the largest in Japan. In the glacial valley, vegetation such as Japanese knotweed and Japanese lantern plant, as well as alpine butterflies such as the red nebula, can be seen, and at the bottom of the cirque deep in the valley, alpine plants such as the wet-type Ainguruma and Hakusan Kozakura, the neutral-type Japanese black lily, Japanese lily, four-leaved staghorn fern, and mountain buttercup bloom in abundance, and ptarmigan also live. ...

*Some of the terms mentioned in relation to "Karasawa Cirque" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…　山体はおもにヒン岩と呼ばれる硬い岩石で構成され，断層によって西側の蒲田（がまだ）川，東側の梓川に激しく落ち込む急斜面ができ，それを氷河が浸食して緩く広いU字谷やカールが形成された。とくに東側斜面の涸沢カールは日本最大のスケールをもつ。　氷食谷には，イタドリやコバイケイソウなどの植生や，ベニヒカゲなどの高山チョウが見られ，谷奥に広がるカール底には，湿性のチングルマやハクサンコザクラ，中性のクロユリやクルマユリ，ヨツバシオガマ，ミヤマキンポウゲなどの高山植物が咲き乱れ，ライチョウも生息する。…

※「涸沢カール」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報