The Most Active Area Of Our Plate Tectonics Essay

This lab uses earthquake data to construct profiles of two convergent boundaries: the Tonga Trench and the Peru-Chile Trench. Where two tectonic plates converge, if one or both of the plates is an oceanic lithosphere, a subduction zone will form. When crust is formed at a mid-ocean ridge, it is hot and buoyant meaning it has a low density. As it spreads away from the ridge and cools and contracts, or becomes denser, it is able to sink into the hotter underlying mantle. When two oceanic plates collide, the younger of the two plates, because it is less dense will ride over the edge of the older plate. The density of the

The Pacific Ring of Fire reveals a connection between subduction zones and volcanoes. Inland of each subduction zone is a chain of spouting volcanoes called a volcanic arc, such as Alaska's Aleutian Islands. The Toba volcanic eruption in Indonesia, the largest volcanic eruption in the past 25 million years, was from a subduction zone volcano.

But there are some anomalies as there are earthquakes which don’t take place on a plate boundary and it’s the same with volcanoes. An example of this is Hawaii. Hawaii is a volcanic island which is found in the middle of a tectonic plate. Hawaii is an example of a hotspot. The places known as hotspots are volcanic regions thought to be fed by underlying mantle that is anomalously hot compared with the mantle elsewhere. They may be on, near to, or far from tectonic plate boundaries. There are two hypotheses to explain them. One suggests that they are due to hot mantle plumes that rise from the core-mantle boundary. The other hypothesis postulates that it is not high

In conclusion the recent conception and development of plate tectonic theory has greatly aided our understanding of the distribution of seismic events. We now understand that there is a correlation between earthquakes/volcanoes locations and their proximity to a plate boundary plates are continually moving and earthquakes and volcanoes are found along these boundaries. Exceptions to this rule such as Hawaii also help prove tectonic theory due to their unique creation. Whilst this has helped our understanding we also recognise the fact those in LEDCs with poor access to education are unaware of plate tectonic theory so they cannot understand the hazards that some countries face, nor have the means to mitigate against them thus worsening the

According to the research report, it will cause thousands of people die, towns submerged, buildings and bridges damaged once a huge earthquake and tsunamis happened on the Pacific Northwest area near American coast. And losses will be estimated at over 5 billion dollar US dollars. This shocking article was composed by seismic safety advisory committee in Oregon. According to materials, a super-strong earthquake once happened in A.D. 1700 Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) on the Pacific Northwest coast. There are some experts forecast that another super-huge earthquake will occur in the future. The report has shown that once the earthquake occurs, the regions from North California to British Columbia Coastal region will suffer devastation, cause heavy casualties. Water and electricity shortage issues definitely follow this heavy disaster, meanwhile, communication and heating system and gas supply will definitely broken off in the light of this earthquake. The CSZ is a 1,000 km long dipping fault that stretches from Northern Vancouver Island to Cape Mendocino in northern California. It separates the Juan de Fuca (Juan

• This earthquake may not have released all of the strain stored in its rocks next to the fault this reveals a potential earthquake in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the near future. The occurrence of the earthquake showed that the Earth did not exhaust all its strain and hence other earthquakes could be expected. However, the dates could not be predicted. The extent of the damage could have been much more devastating for the region, but with the earthquake occurring near the coast this made half of the felt area westward in the Pacific Ocean. The occurrence of aftershocks ten days later reinforces the unpredictability nature and hence makes Geology to be a study that is always evolving. In conclusion, the Earth and the study of cannot be exhausted as every natural occurrence provides a new puzzle to be solved.

Over more than 50 decades there has been multiple earthquakes that have been caused by the activity that takes place beneath and above the surface of the earth. For every earthquake there are various effects and consequences, these are generally not preventable but teachable moments. As we study and explore landforms we learn and better understand how today 's structures came about, what took place decades ago and where do we go from here. Thanks to the technology and inquiring minds we are able to study past events like the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and the 1964 Alaska earthquake. In comparing these two events we can get an overview of what happened and better prepare ourselves for something like that in the future.

The tectonic setting for the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake was in the outermost shell of earth consisting of rigid plates that have been moving for hundreds of millions of years. Two of these moving plates meet in western California; the boundary between them is a zone of faults, the principal one being the San Andreas fault. The Pacific Plate (on the west) slides horizontally northwestward relative to the North American Plate (on the east), causing earthquakes along the San Andreas and associated faults. The San Andreas fault is a transform plate boundary, accommodating horizontal relative motions (usgs.gov).

In recorded history, there have been 151 earthquakes in Nevada that were a magnitude of 3.5 or higher. As previously mentioned, the mountain ranges of Nevada are typically bound on one side or the other by a fault. There are quaternary faults that range in ages from less than 150 years to around 1.8 million years in existence. The property damage in Nevada from earthquakes was .2 million dollars between 1196 and 2014 based on information from department of energy for the state. As we studied in our textbook, earthquakes can by a number of things, such as shifting faults, or volcanic

Large magnitude earthquakes occur on plate boundaries and can produce hazards such as movement along faults, landslides, and tsunamis. In North America, the western coast is an active margin, meaning that it is home to earthquakes and

Megathrust earthquakes are defined as interplate earthquakes caused by one tectonic plate being forced under another in a subduction zone. During the lifetime of a subduction zone, two plates are constantly moving towards each other, and due to the great amount of friction, these plates get “stuck” in various areas 2 (fig 1). Due to the build-up of stress in these areas, the plates eventually unlock and release a great amount of energy, resulting in a megathrust earthquake2.

For the fault zone that I chose to research for this project, I chose the Peru-Chile Trench, also known as the Chile Subduction Megathrust and as the Atacama Trench. It is called that because the area between Peru and Chile is called "The Atacama", and such was the plate named. The Peru-Chile trench is located along the western coast of Peru and Chile. It marks the zone where the Nazca plate is being subducted beneath the South American plate and is approximately 3,666 miles long. (Britannica, p.1)

Large magnitude earthquakes occur on plate boundaries and they can produce hazards such as movement along faults, landslides, and tsunamis if the earthquake occurs close to a large enough body of water. In North America, the western coast is an active margin, meaning that it is home to earthquakes and volcanoes, a physical manifestation of the plate activity occuring. On November 3rd, 2002, in South-Central Alaska, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake ruptured along three faults; the Susinta Glacier, Denali, and Totschunda faults (Eberhart-Phillips et al., 2003). The seismic hazards associated with this event included a few large aftershocks and liquefaction, which is when saturated soil losses its strength and behaves like a liquid

     Most of the worst earthquakes are associated with changes in the shape of the Earth's outermost shell, particularly the crust. These so called tectonic earthquakes are generated by the rapid release of strain energy that is stored within the rocks of the crust, which on continents is about 22 miles thick. A small proportion of earthquakes are associated with human activity. Dynamite or atomic explosions, for example, can sometimes cause mild quakes. The injection of liquid wastes deep into the Earth and the pressures

Volcanoes and Earthquakes are two of the most intriguing natural disasters that can occur on earth. Unlike hurricanes and tornadoes, they can awaken at almost any point in time throughout the year. These two natural disasters are also different from others because they occur on the layers of the earth itself. Volcanoes, while large to us, are actually small, conical patches of earth that spurt and ooze hot molten lava from the core, and can destroy areas of land triple their size. Earthquakes, on the other hand, are severe jolts felt on land due to the movement of earths tectonic plates. Some may describe earthquakes as being similar to riding a bike down a flight of stairs. The impact of an earthquakes can take down even the largest buildings and strongest structures. All natural disasters can have damaging effects on land, some more than others, and all can be measured or predicted in different ways. Although earthquakes and volcanoes are similar to each other, the two are still very comparable. A few of these similarities and differences include the cause of their occurrence, and how their occurrence impacts the environment.