page_title: Mine, Yamaguchi
section_title: Geology
hierarchical_section_title: Mine, Yamaguchi / Geology
caption_attribution_description: Stalactite called "Gold Column" at Akiyoshi Speleothem
context_page_description: Mine is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan.
  As of May 1, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 25,857 and a population density of 54.70 persons per km². The total area is 472.71 km².
context_section_description: The plateau consists of uplifted reef limestones of Paleozoic age, which  were thickened by overfolding during the Akiyoshidai orogenic movement.  Subsequent erosion has created an undulating karst landscape dimpled with many dolines and countless limestone pinnacles up to two meters in height.  Beneath the surface lie hundreds of caves, a few of them quite significant geologically.
  Numerous fossils of Pleistocene age  have been found in these caves, including those of the Japanese rhinoceros, Stegodont elephant, Naumann elephant, Young tiger, and numerous other animals from the last interglacial period.
  The area around Akiyoshidai was once heavily forested about 500,000 years ago. In the Jōmon period, the area served as a hunting ground and the bottoms of sinkholes as vegetable fields. Numerous Paleolithic artifacts have been recovered. As farming began in Japan, the local people eventually replaced the forested landscape with Japanese pampas grass for feeding their animals and thatching houses. Repeated cycles of burning the grass have kept trees from growing back since.
caption: Stalactite called "Gold Column"
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