70,000 Year Gallery of the Suigetsu Varves

Welcome to the Varve Museum!
Varves are annual layers ofsediments or sedimentaryrocks which show a beautiful
striped pattern.

Varves of Lake Suigetsu
Volcanic ash

One year=A striped pattern is formed
by depositing different
materials in each season.

45 m long Lake Suigetsu varves are exhibited as a form of stained-glasses.
We go back from the present to the past up to 70,000 years ago.

Thickness 0.7mm

A darker layer and a brightlayer are alternatively piled
up to form striped pattern.

Flood layerTwo values of Lake Suigetsu varves
Global standard ofgeological time scale

Time machine forenvironmental change

The Suigetsu varves have
improved the accuracy of
the radiocarbon dating
method used for dating ofarchaeological remains.
The data have been usedaround the world.

Pollen, volcanic ash etc.
included in the sediment reveal
vegetation and climatic changes
and volcanic activities in thepast.
Pollen of Japanese hemlock
found in Lake Suigetsu varves.

Varve Theater

Humanity and the environment
as seen from the Suigetsu varves

Varves of the world

Beautiful video introducing whatvarves are and what can be learned
from Lake Suigetsu.

Our ancestors left Africa and started to spread throughout the world since 70,000years ago. The exhibition introduces the history of humanity and the environment
using the Lake Suigetsu varves as historical references.

The secrets ofSuigetsu varves

More accurate dating

Measuring for mankind

Varves from around the world arecollected. Collections include varves
from Cretaceous period,
the age of dinosaurs.

Fukui Satellite Lab of theResearch Center for
Palaeoclimatology,
Ritsumeikan University

Landscape from theancient Past

Varves and our future

The landscape and climate from70,000 years ago to the present
were reconstructed by pollen
from varves.

This section introduces the mechanismof climate change and progressing
global warming. We think about how todeal with climate change.

Five Lakes of Mikata
Scenic lakes registered under the Ramsar Convention
Lake Hiruga

Lake Kugushi

Coring point

Lake Suga

Varve
MuseumLake Suigetsu
Lake Mikata
The mechanism to form the world’s
longest varves is introduced.
The images of the lake bed are also
exhibited in this section.

The display introduces theradiocarbon dating and the historyof Lake Suigetsu studies to make it
as the global standard.

This section shows the history andmeanings of making standards formeasuring exhibiting several kindsof the standard scales.

Take a look at the only research lab
specialised to the palaeoclimatologicalstudies in Japan.

Ramsar Convention: an intergovernmental treaty for the conservation and wise use of wetlands
and their resources.Five Lakes of Mikata was registered in 2005.

Cafe Shima

Why is the varves of Lake Suigetsu theworld standard?

Delicious foods using local
ingredients are providedtogether with a beautiful viewof Hasu River and Lake Mikata
from a hill top.

14

The amount of C in living organisms starts
to decrease after the death and becomes half14
in 5730 years (half-life of C). We can detect
how old excavated relics are by measuring
the amount of 14C.
If 1/4,11460 years old.

14

One of the menue- Varve sandwich
The wide straw at the centre
penetrates all layers. When
you take it out, you will see
the section of layers.

Ｃ1/2

5730 years oldHowever, the amount of 14C is differentdepending on the period.

14Wakasa Mikata Jomon MuseumＣＡ

Torihama shell mound in the upstream of Lake Miakta isa time capsule from Jomon Period (ca. 16,000 – 2500years ago).
Many well-preserved
artefacts were found.
The museum explains
the lives of JomonPeople.

Ｂ(years old)

ＣSo, the amount of 14C from different period will
not be the same even the same period haspast. We cannot know accurate dates.
A leaf from 13,927th layer of varved sedimentfrom Lake Suigetsu indicates 12,300 years ago
by radiocarbon dating. But the real date is
13,927 years ago.
12,300 years oldby 14C dating

Calibrated to13,927 years ago

A leaf from 13,927th layer

We can calibrate using the data of
Lake Suigetsu.

How to get to Varve museum
JR Shinkansen+express
via Maibara
about 3 hTokyo

JR express
about 1h20min. Tsuruga sta.

OsakaKanazawa

JR express
about 1h15min.

JR Obama line
about 30 min.

Mikata sta.

Taxi
about 5 min.
Rental bicycle
About 10 min.

Rental car
about 35 min.

VarveMuseum

So, when the relics in other site shows 12,300years ago by radiocarbon dating, the real dateis 13,927 years ago.
The data sets from Lake Suigetsu have been
incorporated in IntCal 13 which is the world
standard 14C calibration curve. The data sets
improved the accuracy of radiocarbon dating.
Therefore, it is“Global Standard of
Geological Time Scale”.
It took 6 years to counting the 70,000
layers and measuring 14C of almost
1000 leaves.

Location 122-12-1 Torihama, Wakasa-cho,
Mikatakaminaka-gun, Fukui Prefecture 919-1331, JAPANinside Jomon Roman Park(adjacent to Wakasa Mikata Jomon Museum)

VarveMuseum
Lake Suigetsu

Opening hours 9:00～17:00(Entrance gate closes at 16:30.)●Kanazawa● Tokyo●Osaka

Closed days every Tuesday & Year-end and New Yearholidays (12/29 to 1/2)
Admission fee
Adults: 500 yen / Students (aged 6 to 18): 200 yen※ Combo ticket covering Wakasa Mikata Jomon
Museum is 30 percent off.

Varve Museum●※ A group over 20 people is 20 percent off.

JRMikata
StationWorld of Lake Suigetsu varves
Let’s go to see 45m, 70,000 year stripes of sediment.

TEL +81-770-45-0456
URL http://varve-museum.
pref.fukui.lg.jp/

Fukui Prefecture