Around 100 meters along the road after the gate next to a signboard is an outcrop where limestone has been mined out. The stepped greyish-black strata here are sandstone and mudstone, but also include whitish limestone blocks. This is a typical mélange – a mixture of different rocks as seen at Geosite E2.
As in Geosite E1, limestone arrived in this area on a plate from far-off southern seas. The Pacific Plate moves around 10 centimeters a year, and the distance between Hawaii and Japan is about 6,400 km. It therefore takes a mind-boggling 64 million years for coral in Hawaii to become limestone and reach Japan.
Although the fossils haven’t been found in this limestone field, from a close stratum that contain limestone, the fossils classified as conodont were found which was similar in appearance to lampreys occurred in roughly 200 million years ago.
