TITLE: "A peculiar geology & endemic Laminarialongissima, Pacific coast, easternmost of Hokkaiddo" by Naoto Hirano
(Laminarialongissima called "nagakonbu", species of kelp)
COMPETITION: Award for Excellence. http://geosociety.jp/faq/content1135.html (only in Japanese)
COMMENTARY: Lava flows and sills (shoshonitic basalt) covered with sandstone and mudstone layers of the Late Cretaceous Nemuro Geological Belt. The shoshonitic basalt, a kind of harder strata, creates capes and reefs under water along the Pacific coast of the eastern Hokkaido (Nemuro and Kushiro area). The Laminarialongissima kelp grows up footing the basalt reefs, the length of which are up to 15 meters!Â