earth science

Mount Suribachi

Mount Suribachi is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mount Suribachi rather than just read about it. In short: Mount Suribachi (摺鉢山, Suribachiyama) is a 169-metre (554 ft)-high hill on the southwest end of Iwo Jima in the northwest Pacific Ocean under the administration of Ogasawara Subprefecture, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. The hill's name derives from its shape, resembling a suribachi or grinding bowl.

Key takeaways

Mount Suribachi belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mount Suribachi to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mount Suribachi from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mount Suribachi (摺鉢山, Suribachiyama) is a 169-metre (554 ft)-high hill on the southwest end of Iwo Jima in the northwest Pacific Ocean under the administration of Ogasawara Subprefecture, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. The hill's name derives from its shape, resembling a suribachi or grinding bowl. It is also known as "Mount Pipe" (パイプ山, paipu-yama), 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 Japan 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 for its close proximity to Japan as an airstrip for supporting aircraft in Japanese mainland bombing operations but became useful for damaged B-29s returning to the Mariana Islands from bombing Japan, a status that resulted in severe fighting that led to over 20,000 American casualties and close to 20,000 Japanese killed.

In popular culture

During the Battle of Iwo Jima, Marines captured Mount Suribachi and raised a small American flag. Their officers ordered it replaced with a larger one, and photographer Joe Rosenthal took his famous picture Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima. The photograph has become an iconic image and is depicted as a large statue at the Marine Corps War Memorial. The 1949 film Sands of Iwo Jima, directed by Allan Dwan and starring John Wayne, follows a United States Marine rifle squad preparing for battle at Iwo Jima. The 2006 films Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers, directed by Clint Eastwood, treat the theme of this Pacific battle and present the positions of both belligerents in this conflict.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mount Suribachi

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mount Suribachi claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mount Suribachi before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mount Suribachi ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mount Suribachi

In research: Mount Suribachi appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mount Suribachi in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mount Suribachi is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Active volcanoes, Cinder cones, Iwo Jima, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mount Suribachi outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mount Suribachi in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mount Suribachi means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mount Suribachi out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mount Suribachi in simple terms?

Why does Mount Suribachi matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mount Suribachi?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mount Suribachi.