Earthquakes
Magnitude: 6.6
Off the East coast of Honshu, Japan
Tuesday, March 22 2011 5:18 PM
Depth: 16.47 Miles
Oceanic to Oceanic plate boundary
This Earthquake was located at a convergent Boundary on the Mariana trench. There is alot of subduction here as well, a prime place for Tsunami generating earthquakes. As pressure builds up and one of the plates gives way huge energy is created and demonstrated by generating Tsunamis. This is a thrust type of fault, the denser plate is being subducted back into the earths mantle.
Magnitude: 5.1
Kashmir-Xinjiang border region
Wednesday March 23 2011
Depth: 49.21 Miles
Continental to Continental plate boundary
This earthquake was at a reverse fault in the Himalayan Mountains. A reverse fault is when two plates collide together and one is forced to rise above another, thus creating this huge mountain range. The pressure generated here can force plates vertically, creating mountains.
Magnitude: 4.7
Reykjanes Ridge
Thursday March 24th 2011
Depth: 5.41 Miles
Oceanic to Oceanic plate boundary
This divergent area runs straight through Iceland, the ocean floor is being pulled apart and new crust is constantly being formed. As the two plates pull apart, normal faults develop on both sides of the rift and the central blocks slide downwards. Earthquakes occur as a result of this fracturing and movement. (http://geology.com/nsta/divergent-plate-boundaries.shtml)
Magnitude: 4.6
South Island of New Zealand
Sunday March 20th 2011
Depth: 6.28 Miles
Oceanic to Continental plate boundary
New Zealand has some of the most beautiful and unique landscapes on the planet. A large part of it is the plate tectonic movement that happens along the Alpine Ridge. The escarpment is so large that you can see it from satellite pictures. There are even more earthquakes on this Transform boundary than on the world famous San Andreas fault in California (http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/geowissenschaften/bericht-32555.html)
Magnitude: 5.0
South Sandwich Islands
Tuesday March 22nd 2011
Depth 52.21 Miles
Oceanic to Oceanic plate boundary
The south sandwich islands are created by nothing more than plate tectonic movement and volcanoes. They are the sole reason that these islands exist. The combination of being forced up from plate tectonic pressure along with eruptions from volcanoes to continually build up these islands makes them tall enough to stand above the ocean. This creates a reverse fault underwater.
Volcanoes
Micheal
Composite / Strato
Occurs on Oceanic to Oceanic (Convergent) boundary
The volcano Micheal (One of the Sandwich Islands) is made close to a thrust fault on the Scotia plate.
Mauna Kea
Shield Volcano
Occurs on Hotspot
Hawaii is one of the Mid-Ocean island chains to not be located on a plate boundary and created primarily by a hot spot under the ocean floor. Constant, gentle flowings of lava continue to build this island chain.
Chacana
Caldera
Convergent (Reverse fault)
The Chacana volcano makes its home in the impressive Andes mountain range. The Nazca plate is pressing against the south American plate and causes these mountains to form.
Milbanke Sound Group
Cinder
Convergent (Thrust Fault)
This volcano occurs near an oceanic to continental plate boundary. The
Reflection
The correlation between plate tectonics and earthquakes that I learned during this assignment were unexpected and surprising. I initially though that all volcanoes were only a product of random hotspots distributed around the world at random. I was also reminded the driving force behind the plate tectonic movement, once I read it again I remembered again. The correlation between volcanoes and plate tectonics is overlooked in my opinion. It is the magma that drives the plates around but it also the magma that is released in the cracks between the plates that is caused by their initial movement and deformation of the earths surface.
The spatial relationship between earthquakes and volcanoes is very similar upon further studying. The ring of fire, the most known string of volcanoes is on the borders of the worlds largest plate. Coincidence? I don't think so. Looking at an overlay of the earths plate tectonics and volcanoes on top of each other you can quickly see that almost all of the volcanoes in the world are on a plate boundary. These are such impressive forces that should be appreciated but also recognized with some fear by everyone. It gives me perspective that with all our technology and our interconnected planet that we can do nothing to divert these forces or even predict when they will release.
Something I learned during this project was not much dry knowledge but a deeper understanding and respect for these forces of nature. After watching a video about Pinatubo in the Philippines I saw how large of an area that a volcano can affect. It even lowered the earths temperature. I feel the same way about Earthquakes, again not so much dry knowledge but a respect for their force. Recently Japan has been hit by a tsunami that was caused by a massive earthquake. Even Japan, one of the technology superstations in the world could not do anything to stop it. We need to respect and learn as much as we can about something that even 6 billion people cannot even control or even slightly alter.
This assignment has made me more aware of the world and the power that it has. I think everyone needs to be more aware of the spatial relationship they are in regarding volcanoes and fault-lines. I don't mean to try and scare everyone but it should be recognized and understood. We should also have plans to be prepared for anything that can come our way. I think it would be a good idea considering we can't control it at all and we are at the mercy of it. We all live on the same planet so we should take care of it and use it as best we can.
