2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake

927 Words2 Pages

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.

.

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

.

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

Show More
Related

  • Major Earthquakes are Inevitable in Indiana’s Future

    1293 Words  | 3 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Thromas By Zeta Stevens Why Do Earthquakes Occur?

    1145 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Earthquake of 1987

    1588 Words  | 4 Pages

    Earthquakes in California are certainly not a surprise. What is a surprise is their unpredictability and randomness. Geologists say there is roughly a 50 percent chance that a magnitude 8 or more quake will hit the Los Angeles area sometime over the next 30 years. And, over the past twenty years, the Los Angeles area has witnessed several earthquakes, and in particular, two that were quite devastating; the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, and the January 17, 1994, Northridge Earthquake. Given the certainty that earthquakes will occur, they still seem to come as a surprise, and leave many communities unprepared to deal with their aftermath.

    Read More

  • The Cause Of The Sumatra Tsunami

    1424 Words  | 3 Pages

    The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami took place on December 26th, 2004 and had a magnitude of 9.15. The cause of the Sumatra Tsunami was due to the sliding of two tectonic plates. Sumatra, an island in Indonesia, is situated on the boundary of the two plates; part of Sumatra is situated on the India/Australian plate and the other part is on the Eurasian plate. The Indian/Australian plate and Eurasian plate connect on the ocean floor at the boundary, a little over 100 miles off the short of Sumatra. Sumatra was one among the many countries that was impacted by these natural disasters. To fully understand the Sumatra Tsunami one must examine the events that led up to it, what a tsunami is, and the damage caused.

    Read More

  • The Tohoku Earthquake In Japan

    1793 Words  | 4 Pages

    TOHOKU, Japan, Friday, Mar. 11 -Yesterday, a 9.0 magnitude Earthquake struck the east of Tohoku, Japan. The epicentre of the earthquake was located approximately 72 km east of Tohoku (38.3 degrees North latitude and 142.4 degrees East longitude), or 130 km east of Sendai as shown by the X in figure 3 below. The focus of the earthquake was 24.4 km under the epicentre. The earthquake therefore caused a tsunami due to the displacing of water above the Pacific Plate. The earthquake and tsunami together have caused approximately 20,000 deaths, 6152 injuries and 2500 people missing. Approximately 90% of these deaths were by drowning. Approximately 140,000 people have been displaced and over 500,000 buildings and structures have been destroyed or damaged. The early warning system of Japan stopped many bullet trains, and many residents received texted warnings of the earthquake and tsunami on their mobile phones giving them time to evacuate. Figures 1 and 2 show exactly how destructive the tsunami caused by the Tohoku Earthquake was.

    Read More

  • The Symlar San Fernando Valley Earthquake of 1971

    1771 Words  | 4 Pages

    Earthquakes are best described as a shaking or vibration of the ground caused by breaking of rock. Sometimes they are very strong and other times you would hardly notice them. This shaking occurs when stress that builds up in the crust is suddenly released as the crust breaks free and/or slides against the other pieces of crust. Earthquakes may also be thought of as the breaking of a popsicle stick by applying pressure to both ends at the same time. Should you try this experiment , you will feel the pressure build up as you apply more force until the stick snaps. When the stick snaps you will feel an instant of pain at your fingers as the stress reduces and energy waves move throughout the stick. When the earth's crust is placed under similar types of stress, binding as the stress builds, it will also snap and release the energy into the surrounding rocks, 'ooch'. Thinking about earthquakes will become more clear if you try another experiment.

    Read More

  • The San Francisco Earthquake Of 1906

    986 Words  | 2 Pages

    From studying the science behind the San Francisco earthquake, scientists have made a number of important discoveries involving how earthquakes function. At 5:12 on a fateful April morning in 1906, the mammoth Pacific and North American plates sheared each other at an incredible twenty-one feet along the San Andreas fault, surpassing the annual average of two inches (“San Francisco Earthquake of 1906”) (“The Great 1906 Earthquake and Fires”). A few seconds later, the destructive earthquake occurred. The ground shifted at almost five feet per second, and the shaking could be felt all the way from southern Oregon to southern Los Angeles to central Nevada (“Quick”) (“The Great 1906 San Francisco Earthquake”). In fact, the earthquake could be registered in a seismograph on Capetown, South Africa, an astounding 10,236 miles away...

    Read More

  • The Bay Area and Earthquakes

    340 Words  | 1 Pages

    benchmark for the future, and integrated investigation into the effects of earthquakes in the U.S.

    Read More

  • The Great Alaska Earthquake

    921 Words  | 2 Pages

    Additionally, this earthquake occurred on a thrust fault. This fault was a subduction zone slip which occurred primarily beneath the ocean were the Pacific plate plunges underneath the North American plate. This sudden upward movement of the sea floor along the rupturing fault generated a massive tsunami. This vertical deformation

    Read More

  • The Great Tohoku Earthquake

    1226 Words  | 3 Pages

    An earthquake occurs abruptly and causes severs damage to people, property, landscape and more. A great mega-thrust earthquake, known as the Great Tohoku Earthquake has shaken Japan at 5:46:24 UTC on March 11, 2011. It caused a severe disaster, including tsunami and nuclear radiation exposure.. This mega-quake located at the latitude 38.297 degree North and longitude of 142.372 degree East, near the east coast of Honshu, Japan (USGS, 2013). An earthquake and tsunami waves caused widespread damage to many areas of Japan. People in Japan are still recovering from the damages.

    Read More

  • Earthquake Engineering

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    Earthquakes are vibrations felt at the surface of the earth which are caused by disturbances of the energy in the earth's interior. These vibrations are known as seismic waves. (Skinner Robinson McVerry 1) There are different type sof seisimc waves such as Primary (P) waves, whcih travel the fastest, Secondary (S) waves which cause the earth to vibrate vertically, Surface (L) waves. P and S waves are "affected by changes in the density and the rigidity of the materials through which they pass." (Columbia Encyclopedia) Earthquakes vary in their intensity and duration. Often times they are strong enough to cause massive destriction. Tall buildings often suffer as a result of these natural disasters. In recent years this has become a larger and larger threat with both the number of large buildings, and their number of occupants increasing. In an effort to try to minimize the damage caused by earthquakes many some engineers focus primarily on designing and constructing earthquake resistant buildings. Earthquake engineers have gathered much of their information from analyzing past earthquakes, and learning which buildings can and can't withstand the tremors. The goals of these engineers is to design buildings that can withstand moderate earthquakes and obtain minimal damage, and that the buildings will not collapse lowering the probability of human deaths.

    Read More

  • The Indian Ocean Tsunami

    2303 Words  | 5 Pages

    "Indian Ocean Tsunami Death Toll Approaches Quarter Million." Spacedaily.com. 19 Jan. 2005. Web. 03 Dec. 2011.

    Read More

  • The San Andreas Earthquake

    942 Words  | 2 Pages

    Earthquakes are one of the most mysterious natural disasters that we deal with to his day. That is the thriller of earthquakes, is the fact that they are so strange and bizarre that it keeps us guessing when the next one is to come. The San Andreas Fault earthquake is the most mysterious, dangerous, and soon to come earthquakes that we still do not necessarily have a date on towards when it will happen.

    Read More

  • Tsunami

    630 Words  | 2 Pages

    earthquake can cause and how a tremor in the ocean can develop a tsunami. I was aware

    Read More

  • Earthquakes Hazards And Disaster

    1192 Words  | 3 Pages

    Earthquakes belong to the class of most disastrous natural hazards. They result in unexpected and tremendous earth movements. These movements results from dissemination of an enormous amount of intense energy in form of seismic waves which are detected by use of seismograms. The impact of earthquakes leaves behind several landmarks including: destruction of property, extensive disruption of services like sewer and water lines, loss of life, and causes instability in both economic and social components of the affected nation (Webcache 2).

    Read More

More about 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake

Open Document