Volcanoes have played a key role in forming the face of the earth as we know it today. Some of the most well known landmarks and locations in the world are volcanoes. From the Hawaiian Islands to Mount Vesuvius, the Earth is populated with hundreds of active and dormant volcanoes. Among these volcanoes there are multiple different types. Stratovolcanoes, the most dangerous type of volcanoes, are built by multiple eruptions over many years. Shield Volcanoes, the largest recognizable volcanoes, are characterized by being short but very broad with low sloping sides. Cinder cones, the most common type of volcano in the world, are composed of large amounts of tephra, or pyroclastic debris. The last type of volcano is supervolcanoes. Supervolcanoes are the largest volcanoes. They also have the highest potential for damage. This paper will discuss these these different types of volcano.
One of the worst natural disasters in United States history to this date occurred almost 109 years ago. On April 18, 1906 at 5:15am in San Francisco, California, the earthquake of San Francisco occurred hitting between 7.9 and 8.3M on the Richter scale. The San Andreas Fault, which is about 600 miles long, running from the Gulf of California to Cape Mendocino and is an active strike-slip fault, cut through the continental lithosphere to cause the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. An earthquake is a trembling or shaking of the ground produced by movements along a fault (Strahler, 2012). After the tension is released at a critical point, the fault or tectonic plate slips and relieves the strain and creates the seismic waves, which radiates out in all directions causing the shaking of the surface.
Earthquakes occur almost all over the world and often cause many casualties and injuries, but it is a common misconception to think that all earthquakes or even most of them cause destruction. In fact, most earthquakes aren’t even strong enough to be felt by humans and most animals, and can only be recorded by seismometers that are strategically placed in all corners of the world in order to get a reliable and precise reading on the earthquakes strength. Another common misconception about earthquakes is that people believe that the injuries and deaths that result from earthquakes are because of the earth’s shaking itself, whereas it is in fact usually because of heavy items falling from the incessant vibrations. Earthquakes can be defined as
An earthquake can be defined as vibrations produced in the earth's crust. Tectonic plates have friction between them which
Plates on the outside layer of the Earth, called tectonic plates, are always moving and are roughly one hundred kilometers in thickness. In this case, an earthquake can happen as a result of the stress and movement caused by the plates rubbing back and forth. An earthquake can happen at measurements as great as seven hundred kilometers in length, when tectonic plates bump into each other. On the other hand, California for example, a place where its tectonic plates move past one another, experience shallower earthquakes. This type of earthquake is a result of the tectonic plates resisting and moving past one another along the ridges under the sea (“What causes earthquakes?”).
Earthquakes are a natural part of the Earth’s evolution. Scientific evidence leads many geologists to believe that all of the land on Earth was at one point in time connected. Because of plate tectonic movements or earthquakes, continental drift occurred separating the one massive piece of land in to the seven major continents today. Further evidence supports this theory, starting with the Mid-Atlantic ridge, a large mass of plate tectonics, which are increasing the size of the Atlantic Ocean while shrinking the Pacific. Some scientists believe that the major plate moveme...
Mr. Adams describes the San Francisco earthquake as his most profound human suffering experience because the horror of shaking floors, parts of his mom’s house collapse to the floor, and got a broken nose from stumbling into a brick wall (Ansel Adams & The 1906 Earthquake 2008). Earthquakes are part of natural disasters of the earth and normally caused by shaking the ground and rapid movement of one block of rock slipping past another along fractures in the earth crust called faults. Faults are usually locked excluding abrupt movements with slippage that create earthquakes (Lutgens, F. & Tarbuck,
The earth is split into four layers, inner and outer core, the mantle and crust. The top of the mantle and crust make up what is like the skin of our earth (see source 2). The skin is split up like a puzzle and we call these puzzle pieces’ tectonic plates (see source 1). These plates are constantly moving and the plate boundaries (edges of the plates) move and slide past one another. Sometimes as the plates move the plate boundaries become stuck. Pressure builds up in the stuck area over time and eventually breaks. This is why earthquakes occur due to the sudden movement of the plate sliding and breaking creating a fault line to go off. The fault line is the line on which the
Understanding the plate tectonics theory is very important, especially when investigating natural disasters like earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. It is also gives scientists the ability to understand how mountains were formed between two tectonic plates. There are three types of interactions between plate boundaries: convergent, divergent and transform. Looking back at the history of these three different interactions, earthquakes, like the one in Haiti, volcanic eruptions, like at Mount St. Helens, and the creation of mountain belts, like the Mid-Atlantic Oceanic ridge, gives information on future consequences of tectonic movement, and what can happen when the plates interact with each other.
They are the earth’s crust; they move very slowly every year. As the tectonic plates slide over each other they cause earthquakes. Earthquakes produce various damaging effects this includes damage to structures of buildings, bridges and other standing formations which then...
An earthquake is what happens when two blocks of the earth suddenly slip past one another. The surface where they slip is called the fault or fault plane. The location below the earth’s surface where the earthquake starts is called the hypocenter, and the location directly above it on the surface of the earth is called the epicenter.
An earthquake is a vibration of the Earths surface that follows a release of energy in the Earths crust. There are various ways this energy is released. Manmade explosions, dislocation of segments of the crust or volcanic eruptions are all triggers for an Earthquake; however, most are caused by a slippage of faults. A fault is a fracture in the Earths crust along which two blocks of the crust have slipped within one another. These faults are grouped into three categories (normal, thrust and strike-slip) and are located all over the Earth.
An earthquake is the shaking of the ground caused by sudden release of energy inside the earth's crust. It's the breaking and moving of tectonic plates along a fault line. Earthquakes can range in size from weak where we don't feel them to extremely violent where they actually thow people around and destroy cities. They may be a result of geological faults or other activites such as volcanoes, landslides, mine blasts and nuclear tests. An earthquake is not always naturally caused.
Before examining the Northridge event, understanding the naturally occurring hazard that is an earthquake will help to better understand exactly what happened and why it was such an important geological event. With four distinct layers, two layers, the crust and upper portion of the mantle, compose the skin that is the surface layer of the Earth. The crust is not a single, continuous piece. It is actually several different pieces, or plates, that come together to form the puzzle that comprises the surface of the Earth. These plates are in constant motion rubbing against one another. These areas, known as fault lines, where the plates rub up against one another have spots where one plate ”gets stuck while the rest of the plate keeps moving. When the plate has moved far enough, the edges unstick and is how most of the earthquakes around the world occur” (Wald, 2012). The energy stored from the friction of the two plate...