The San Francisco 1989 Earthquake.
The San Francisco 1989 Earthquake The Loma Prieta Earthquake On Tuesday October 17, 1989 at 5:04 PM the Loma Prieta earthquake struck the San Francisco, Monterey Bay, and Silicon Valley areas. Those were no the only areas affected. Many areas up to 70 and 00 miles away could feel the tremble of the quake. The epicenter of the quake was in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The quake measured a magnitude of 7.1. The initial quake lasted 15 seconds. The USGS first thought the magnitude of the quake would be about 6.9 but it increased to 7.1. The quake destroyed many buildings and freeways. A section of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge collapsed. The power was out in many places and the telephone lines were out also. This was the first time the power had been out since the 1906 earthquake. The earthquake killed 68 people and injured 3,757 people. The cost of the quake was estimated at $6 to $7 billion dollars. The quake happened during the 1989 World Series. The San Francisco Giants were playing the Oakland Athletics. The match up was called the "Bay Bridge" World Series. The game was postponed for a month. They were playing at Candlestick Park. Airports were closed for inspection or repairs. Ceiling Tiles and broken glass were the main reason for the airports being closed. After a while the airports reopened and some local pilots helped fly emergency
Why Does the Same Hazard Event Verify In Its Severity From Place To Place?
Why does the same hazard event verify in its severity from place to place? Discuss with reference to relevant examples. Natural Hazards are dangers arising from geological or weather-related occurrences, such as earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and tsunamis. Earthquakes are a natural hazard and become a danger when human life and man made structures interact with natural events like earthquakes. As you can see the diagram above shows that when an earthquake occurs it doesn't cause any danger to human life as the area has no human presence. However the diagram below shows that when the two systems contact each other and an event like an earthquake takes place it is considered a hazard because of the potential risk to the destruction of property and loss of life. Earthquakes nearly all the time occur on plate boundaries, These tectonic plates rub together and cause friction, which causes an earthquake . I will now compare an MEDC and a LEDC, which was hit by an earthquake to roughly the same Richter scale and show how the severity was different. On The 17th of January 1994, an earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale hit Los Angeles in the USA causing 57 fatalities. There was limited damage to the surrounding building Volcanic eruptions can obviously cause serious human, economic and environmental impacts, but volcanoes can also be rich in
Evidence for Plate Tectonics.
Evidence for Plate Tectonics Into the 1900's, many scientists believed that as the earth cooled after the Big Bang, the planet's surface contracted and wrinkled like the skin of a raisin. The 'raisin' theory implied that mountain ranges like the Himalayas were forced up by the wrinkling process. This theory assumed that all of the features on earth had formed during one cooling event and that the planet was relatively static, changing little as the cooling (and wrinkling) slowed to a halt over billions of years. Alfred Wegener, a German geophysicist and meteorologist, was not satisfied by this explanation. His ideas drew on the widely recognized fact that Africa and South America appeared to fit together like jigsaw puzzle pieces. He collected data from the continents on both sides of the Atlantic, finding that fossils and rock types along the eastern coast of South America matched those on the western coast of Africa. When he added the northern continents to the puzzle, Wegener realized that the chain of Appalachian Mountains in North America continued as the Caledonian Mountains in northern Europe. To explain these data, Wegener proposed the theory of continental drift in his book The Origins of the Continents and the Oceans, published in German in 1915. His theory stated that all of the continents had originally been joined together in a super continent called
Bangledesh Floods
Bangladesh Floods 1998 The country of Bangladesh experienced severe flooding between July and September 1998 caused by excess water in the major rivers which flow through Bangladesh. With such a high percentage of the country affected the flood had severe effects on the people and environment of Bangladesh. These floods severely affected over 30 million people and cost $3 billion, money that Bangladesh could not afford. Causes The 1998 flood was very severe with about 75% of the country submerged including large areas of the capital city Dhaka. The flooding in July and August was caused by heavy intense monsoon rainfall accompanied by snowmelt, closely followed by heavy rains over Bangladesh in September which raised the already high discharge in the three rivers even further. This can be seen in the changes to the depths of the rivers. - The depth of the Ganges in July was 13m, just below the flood level of 14m but rose to 15m in August. - The Brahmaputra exceeded its flood level of 15m in July and again in August and September - The Brahmaputra exceeded its flood level of 15m in July and again in August and September The level of the sea in the Bay of Bengal was also high (a record 5.5m above average sea level on 10th September) and this slowed down the normal flow of water which resulted in higher depths in the rivers. The result was that the duration of the
A Destructive Plate boundary - Mt St Helens
A Destructive Plate boundary Mt St Helens The eruption in May 1980 of Mount St. Helens, Washington State, astounded the world with its violence. A gigantic explosion tore much of the volcano's summit to fragments; the energy released was equal to that of 500 nuclear bombs. The event occurred along the boundary of two of the moving plates that make up the earth's crust. They meet at the junction of the North American continent and the Pacific Ocean. One edge of the continental North American plate over-rides the oceanic Juan de Fuca micro-plate, producing the volcanic Cascade Range that includes Mounts Baker, Rainier and Hood, and Lassen Peak as well as Mount St. Helens. According to geological evidence found by the United States Geological Survey, there had been two major eruptions of Mount St. Helens in the recent past: around 1900 B.C., and about A.D.1500. On March 27, 1980, a few clouds of smoke formed above the summit, and slight tremors were felt. On the 28th, larger and darker clouds, consisting of gas and ashes, emerged and climbed as high as 20,000 feet. In April a slight lull ensued, but the volcanologists remained pessimistic. Then, in early May the Northern flank of the mountain bulged, and the summit rose by 500 feet. On the 18th May at 8:32 a Nuee Ardente erupted from Mt St Helens leaving the mountain 1300 feet shorter than it
Economic, Social and Environmental Cost Associated With Earthquake Activity in LEDCs & MEDCs.
Economic, Social and Environmental Cost Associated With Earthquake Activity in LEDCs & MEDCs Economic: MEDCs: The damage to MEDCs done by earthquakes can be enormous, not only for the state but for the people living/working there, but the thing is, is that the state can afford it, although it may costs billions they can still do it. For example in Kobe the damage amounted to several billions, but it was all sorted and paid for. All the roads were retard, buildings rebuilt, people re-housed. They had the money and technology to find people hidden under rubble. Hospitals were able to cope because of the size of the countries economic status. LEDCs: For LEDCs it's a different matter all together, LEDCs are poor and not as technologically developed to cope with the effects. Not only are the people living there are poor, but the state is worse off than they are, being billions of pounds in debt. That means that if or when a earthquake strikes, they wont be able to rebuild and buy the materials, and wont have the services, or rather not enough to cope with the injured, lost, homeless, like for example in India, not only were they expecting an earthquake never to occur there, they also didn't have the means or money to get a quick rescue team out. Social: MEDCs: In an earthquake people may become homeless, but either they or the state will rebuild their old house or relocate,
Mt St. Helens earthquake.
Mt St. Helens earthquake Mt St. Helens was a spot of beauty and nature it was just above Sprit Lake in Washington and was a very common spot for holidays. No one remembered that is was an active volcano and would soon once again erupt like it had done hundreds of times before. This stated happening on March 20th 1980. There was a small earthquake as the magma started to work its way up to the surface. The magma had been formed with pressure 8miles down. Its way was blocked with old hardened magma, this meant that the new magma could not get out and was directed to the north flank of mountain. On the 28th march the volcano started to thrown out ash people stared to release that the volcano was going to erupt. The magma kept been directed to the north of the mountain and began to form a bulge under the ground. On the 31st march the state declared that nobody was to go in a 20mile zone because they thought it was going to erupt soon. Harry Truman refused to move she said 'this lake is my life' and 'this is all way over exaggerated'. Hundreds of tourists came to see it. Everybody stared to lose interest when it did not erupt, so David Johnston was left all alone to keep and eye on it. The bulge (krytodome) was growing faster by 6feet a day its finally go 2 a size of 1km square there were thousands of small earthquakes going on each time that magma tried to get up. At
Monserrat - geological uncertanty
Monserrat A long time ago in the southern Caribbean (latitude 16.72 north and longitude 62.18 west, for those of you with maps) an undersea volcano erupted from the ocean's floor. Spewing its lava (molten rock), the volcano built an undersea mountain that grew higher and higher, eventually growing above the surface of the sea. This was the beginning of the island we now call "Montserrat". Eventually the volcano calmed down and life colonized this tropical paradise. Many years later the volcano became active again, this time slightly to the north of its older vent. These eruptions were very large and produced most of the rest of the island. The new volcanic mountain reached 1.4 kilometers into the sky! (That's over 3/4 of a mile high!) About 500 years ago this second series of eruptions stopped and the Montserrat volcano appeared to have calmed down. A couple hundred years later Europeans and their African slaves colonized this tiny (13 x 8 km) tropical island. They called the high part on the south side of the island "Soufriére Hills" (sometimes called "North Soufriére Hills" to distinguish it from the older dead volcano next to it). For generations nobody thought much about the fact that their home was volcanic, but there were reminders, warnings and rumblings. A hundred years ago the island stirred with a noticeable shake, an earthquake! However, there was little
Hazards threatening the city of Los Angeles.
Earthquakes LA is built upon a mass of faults in the Earth's crust. These include: the Santa Monica fault, the San Fernando fault, the Santa Barbara fault, and of course, the infamous San Andreas fault, which is a conservative plate boundary. The most violent earthquakes seen occur on the San Andreas Fault, although small movements are observed among the other fault lines. The most recent (of 11 earthquakes in total to have affected LA since 1970) occurred in January 1994, with its focus found in the Northridge area. It registered at a shocking 6.7 on the Richter scale and lasted around 30 seconds. The aftershocks lasted several days. This earthquake killed 60 people, injured many thousand and also caused buildings and sections of freeway to collapse. It caused fires to start due to a gas leak and explosion in the Granada Hills area, and also left half a million homes without power and 200 000 homes without water. The LA public are somewhat indifferent towards earthquake risks. They understand the dangers, but feel that it won't happen to them. There currently aren't any plans to fund complete structural improvements, simply because in order to do this, taxes would have to be raised. This would cause outrage among the people. The local governments in LA are have an assertive stance concerning the legislation of new buildings and developments. The structures have to be
![Volcanic and seismic events are major pieces of evidence towards proving that plate-tectonics theory is valid Discuss the extent to which you agree with this statement. [40 marks]](https://mbt-essays-prod-public.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/1201436/listing/1201436_1.jpg)
Volcanic and seismic events are major pieces of evidence towards proving that plate-tectonics theory is valid Discuss the extent to which you agree with this statement. [40 marks]
“Volcanic and seismic events are major pieces of evidence towards proving that plate-tectonics theory is valid” Discuss the extent to which you agree with this statement. [40 marks] Definition 1. This approach turned out to be plate tectonics—the theory that the continents are carried along on huge slabs, or plates, of the Earth’s outermost layer. In other places plates have been slowly converging, forming compressional features like huge mountain ranges. In other places plates have been moving apart, forming expansional features like the great rift valleys. The theory of plate tectonics provided, for the first time, a coherent, unified explanation for all of these features of the Earth’s surface. Continental drift – Jigsaw model 1. In 1910, Alfred Wegener began lecturing and writing scientific papers about continental drift. The continental drift hypothesis suggested that the continents have not always been in their present locations but instead have “drifted” and changed positions. Wegener’s idea was that the continents had once been joined together in a single “supercontinent,” which he called Pangaea (pronounced PanJEE-ah), meaning “all lands” (Fig. 4.1). He suggested that Pangaea had split into fragments like pieces of ice floating on a pond and that the continental fragments had slowly drifted to their present locations. But Wegeners main
