Suruga Bay

Coordinates: 34°51′N 138°33′E / 34.850°N 138.550°E / 34.850; 138.550
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Mount Fuji and Suruga Bay

Suruga Bay (駿河湾, Suruga-wan) is a bay on the

Honshū in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.[1] It is situated north of a straight line from Omaezaki Point to Irōzaki Point at the tip of the Izu Peninsula and surrounded by Honshū to the southwest and west and the Izu Peninsula to the east.[2]

Geology

Suruga Bay is located in Shizuoka Prefecture
Suruga Bay
Suruga
Bay
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Location of Suruga Bay

Suruga Bay is a place of contrasts. Japan's loftiest peak,

Shizuoka to Numazu, are characterized by sandy beaches such as those at Yuigahama and Tagonoura, whereas the eastern and northeastern stretches from Numazu down the southwestern coast of the Izu Peninsula to Irōzaki, are generally rocky.

Suruga, Satta no Kaijō (The sea off Satta, Suruga), woodblock print by Hiroshige

The bay is open to the Philippine Sea/Pacific Ocean to the south, but is mostly protected from oceanic waves by Izu Peninsula. This, coupled with the seabed and water characteristics mentioned above, results in conditions favorable to fishing, sailing, windsurfing, swimming, and research on deep-sea organisms.[3]

An undersea plateau at the bay's southwest end, known as Senoumi, is especially well known as a rich fishing ground.

Suruga Bay was formed by

tectonic subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate at the Suruga Trough, making it a source of considerable seismic activity,[4][5]
and giving the bay its extreme depth.

Environmental pollution

Ever since the post-war industrial boom of Japan, the bay has suffered from severe industrial pollution. By 1970, local paper mills produced so much that the small city of Fuji (1970 pop. 180,000) produced 2.4 million short tons (2.2 Mt) of waste water every day – equivalent to the daily sewage of Tokyo at the time (1970 pop. 9 million). The sulphur-laden sludge was so thick that it threatened to block the harbour, requiring dredging that severely damaged the marine life. Protests from local citizens and fishermen in the area put pressure on the government to take action.[6] Despite subsequent regulations, surveys of local sea life in the mid-2010s continue to show intense PCB and PBDE contamination.[7]

The pollution of Suruga Bay became so infamous that it featured in the 1971 film Godzilla vs. Hedorah. The name of the titular monster is derived from hedoro, the Japanese word for 'mud', and the creature fed off heavy pollution in the bay.

Transport

Suruga Bay can be reached by car from Tokyo via Numazu in two to five hours depending on traffic conditions on the Tōmei Expressway or in Numazu.

References

  1. ^ "静岡県／駿河湾早わかりガイド". www.pref.shizuoka.jp. Retrieved 2021-07-26.
  2. ^ 第２版, 日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ),デジタル大辞泉,ブリタニカ国際大百科事典 小項目事典,百科事典マイペディア,精選版 日本国語大辞典,世界大百科事典. "駿河湾とは". コトバンク (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-07-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. doi:10.1021/es970032v
    .
  4. Bibcode:2005AGUFM.G41A0349S
    .
  5. Bibcode:2004AGUFM.G21A0146S
    .
  6. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived
    from the original on 4 July 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2017. Every day 2.4 million tons of waste water are discharged by the 380 paper and pulp factories of this industrial city through sewers and streams into Tagonoura Harbor.
  7. ^ Rincon, Paul (13 February 2017). "Banned chemicals persist in deep ocean". BBC. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2020. Chemicals banned in the 1970s have been found in the deepest reaches of the Pacific Ocean, a new study shows. Scientists were surprised by the relatively high concentrations of pollutants like PCBs and PBDEs in deep sea ecosystems.

External links

Media related to Suruga Bay at Wikimedia Commons

34°51′N 138°33′E / 34.850°N 138.550°E / 34.850; 138.550

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