Using the Geopark as a Study and Research Tool

In early August of this year, the Itoigawa Global Geopark was happy to host the Seismological Society of Japan’s Teacher’s Recertification Seminar and 18th Teacher’s Summer School.

Dr. Takenouchi of the Itoigawa Global Geopark lectures on the Sandstone-Mudstone Strata of the Nechi Region

After the success of the children’s summer school event held in Itoigawa last year, members of the Seismological Society of Japan contacted the Itoigawa Global Geopark about including the Geopark in their Teacher’s Recertification Seminar and Summer School program. They believe the Itoigawa Global Geopark, with its vast array of geological and topographical features coupled with an extensive regional disaster education program, is an ideal tool to be used not only for the education of children, but adult professionals as well.

24 teachers from across the country, ranging from elementary school through university, visited the Itoigawa Global Geopark as part of this program. While here, they visited the Nechi region of Itoigawa to inspect the alternating strata prominent throughout the region as well as the exposed portion of the Itoigawa-Shizuoka Tectonic Line which divides the Japanese Archipelago between the Eurasian and North American continental plates. They also visited the Fossa Magna Museum, where they learned more about the formation of the Japanese Archipelago and attended lectures about the natural disasters that affect Itoigawa and how they are related to the unique geology of the region as well as lectures about the Geopark itself and its activities.

As a member of the Global Geopark Network, and one of Japan’s premier geoparks, we at the Itoigawa Global Geopark are working to expand such programs and increase awareness of the role geoparks can play in education and research.

Program participants inspect and identify varieties of rocks along Itoigawa’s shoreline