2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake

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The 9.0 magnitude Indian Ocean earthquake was caused by subduction under the Indian Ocean. Earthquakes are usually caused by convection currents leading to subduction/convergent currents. Convection currents is caused by magma rising from the deepest part of the earth, then slowly cooling, sinking again then re-heating, then rising upwards basically repeating the rising and cooling then re-heating cycle over and over again. The plates are separated from each other and they move apart, the plates then obviously hit another plate right next to it causing subduction. This earthquake was caused on the Oceanic crust, in the Indian Ocean, creating tsunamis that caused disasters and thousands of life loss throughout the Indian Ocean basin. The earthquake was caused when the Burma plate subducted the Indian plate. Subduction is the process that happens at convergent boundaries. One tectonic plate slides under another plate and sinks into the mantle of the earth as the plates meet. The energy released by the earthquake was estimated at 26 megatons of TNT.

Where:

At 00:58:53 on December 26th 2004, a disastrous earthquake occurred under the Indian Ocean, in Sumatra, Indonesia just off the coast. The earthquake created great tsunamis that caused thousands of lives to be lost and great destruction throughout the Indian Ocean, throughout the event within several hours.

Effects:

How does this disaster affect the people and the environment?

Earthquakes are natural disasters that are extremely dangerous. Thousands of lives have been lost caused by natural disasters.

No one can stop an earthquake but the impact can be reduced. The forest, where there are trees to produce oxygen for people to live will be destroyed due to the earth’s c...

... middle of paper ...

...ies, n.d. Web. 01 Mar.

2014. .

"Japan Meteorological Agency." Japan Meteorological Agency. 2012 Japan Meteorological

Agency, 2012. Web. 01 Mar. 2014.

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McNamee, Gregory. "The Indian Ocean Earthquake & Tsunami of 2004: Will History Repeat

Itself?" Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 Dec. 2008. Web. 01 Mar. 2014

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Wikipedia contributors. "Subduction." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 4 Mar. 2014. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.

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