is a city located in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 12,121 in 7079 households and a population density of 49 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Muroto is located in the southeastern tip of Kōchi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It occupies Cape Muroto which juts out into the Pacific Ocean. Parts of the city are within the borders of the Muroto-Anan Kaigan Quasi-National Park. The entire territory of Muroto is "Muroto Global Geopark" which is a member of the Japanese Geoparks Network and Global Geoparks Network since 2011 on account of its outstanding geological heritage, educational programs and projects, and promotion of geotourism. Geology Cape Muroto is made up of Oligocene to Pleistocene-aged sedimentary rocks and loose Holocene-aged alluvial deposits. The rocks belong to the Shimanto Supergroup, represented in the peninsula as mudstone, and the Tonohama Group made up of chiefly of sandstone and gravel. Several active, WNW-dipping, thrust faults are exposed at the western coast and southern tip of the peninsula. Off-shore west of the Cape Muroto, tip of the peninsula, there faults dips to the west. There are uplifted marine terraces at Muroto. Dating of these terraces reveal that since their formation in an interval 123 to 96 thousand years ago (k B.P.), in an epoch corresponding to the Eemian interglacial. Since then land in the tip of the peninsula has risen 1.2–1.6 meters every thousand years (m/kyr). Closer to the mainland the uplift rate has been in the order of 0.3–0.7 m/kyr. While these are long-term averages individual large non-megathrust earthquakes are known to have uplifted the coast around one meter. These earthquakes are more rare than megathrust ones occurring every 1000 to 2000 years. Uplift of the coast has left fossil tube worm colonies attached to rocks on land. Neighbouring municipalities Kōchi Prefecture Tōyō Nahari Kitagawa Climate Muroto has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa) with hot, humid summers and cool winters. There is significant precipitation throughout the year, especially during June and July. The average annual temperature in Muroto is . The average annual rainfall is with June as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Muroto was on 30 July 1942; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on