Mount Suribachi
The mountain's name derives from its shape, resembling a "suribachi" or grinding bowl. It is also known as , since the volcanic gas and water vapor that rolls in from the summit, alongside the rest of the island, give the appearance of a smoking pipe when viewed from the sea. Joe Rosenthal's iconic World War II photograph, "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima", depicting United States Marines raising an American flag, was taken at the mountain's peak during the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. Ammunition ship USS "Suribachi" was named after this mountain. Geology. Geologically , the mountain is a cinder cone of andesite, formed by volcanic activity. It is thought that the mountain is a dormant vent to a still active volcano (designated Iō-tō, the name of the island as a whole). From 1889 to 1957, the Japanese government recorded sixteen eruptions on the peak. One eruption lasted for sixty-five minutes, and created a crater with a diameter of 35 meters and a depth of fifteen meters on the runway near the former airfield from World War II. The Japanese Meteorological Agency reported that on May 2, 2012, a small eruption caused water  discoloration to the northeast, and confirmed the appearance of a new fumarole. History. During World War II, the Japanese built tunnel and bunker systems in and on Mount Suribachi. In February 1945, United States Marines invaded the island and initiated a major battle. For the United States, Iwo Jima was an important strategic point between the United States and mainland Japan, needed as an airstrip for damaged B-29s returning to the Mariana Islands from bombing Japan, a status that resulted in severe fighting that took the lives of nearly 7,000 Americans and 20,000 Japanese.