Plate Tectonic-Earth Quake and Volcanoes
In the Island of Java in Indonesia, there occurred a volcanic eruption in the mountain of Kelud that left 76,000 people homeless. The region is among the active areas of volcanoes in the world. The volcanoes were accompanied by huge ash that left the airport closed and passengers stranded. The people were forced to sleep in temporary shelters after being evacuated from their homes. The disaster caused minimal damage to buildings .However; two people lost their lives after roofs collapsed under the weight of fallen ash. (Reuters,2014).
Volcanism results from volcano, which explodes leading to formation of Crater Lake. Volcanism is a result of plate tectonics .Plate tectonics is where the outer layer of the earth crust is broken down into big blocks. The blocks are known to as tectonic plates. The blocks move a few centimeters every year. Ocean to ocean convergence leads to formation of volcanic islands like the Aleutian Island. Volcanic gases causes acid rain and global warming.Volacano also leads to production of geothermal energy and rich volcanic soils.
Examples of volcanoes include shield volcano and composite volcano.75percentage of all volcanoes lie in the ring of fire since plate boundaries exist around the Pacific Rim. Volcanoes lead to hazards that include gases, lava flows, eruption clouds and the pyroclastic flows.
Volcanic eruption cause air pollution, environmental and property damage and affect temperature and climate patterns. Volcanoes are hazardous to wildlife and humans as they are associated with calamities and destruction. Some of the effects are that many people are killed and a large number of people are forced to desert their homes and land forever.
During a volcanic eruption, the best place to be would be indoors. Since the atmosphere is full of toxic chemicals, put masks over your mouth and nose, and use goggles to protect your eyes.
The region of Xinjiang in Western China was the epicenter of the earthquake that was so intense earthquake. The magnitude of the earthquake was 6.8.The area is located in mountainous region so high above the sea level. Due to its geographical location, the area is sparsely populated hence there was no reports of any causality .However few homes were shaken .Reports indicated that the police were still gathering more information to establish whether there was any unreported case of some death or injuries. Following similar incident of earthquake that took place some years back, the President and the Prime minister of the republic of China urged rapid response to rescue the current situation (Chris, 2014).
Earthquake results from two primary processes thus folding and faulting which is because of plate tectonics. Plate tectonics can be explained through several theories thus they are continental and oceanic crust. Several forces drive the plates where there is slow convection of the earth’s mantle. The convection pushes away the plates from each other .The plates interact through convergence, divergence and transform plate. Folding is where the rock is subjected to lateral compression whereas faulting involves breaking and displacement of the rock. Faults include normal, reverse and strike slip fault. Faulting occurs alongside zones of weakness in the crust where it begins as abrupt ruptures.
In case of earthquake, the safest place would be in an open ground – away from buildings and tall structures. However, if you cannot run away from your building, you can bend under some sturdy desk etc. That might provide protection against heavy objects falling on your body.
References
Chris.B (2014, Feb). Earthquake strikes remote area of China. The New York Times. Available
From http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/world/asia/earthquake-strikes-remote-area-of-china.html
Reuters (2014, Feb). Indonesia Volcano Erupts.Newsweek.Available from
http://www.newsweek.com/indonesia-volcano-erupts-76000-evacuated-most-javas-airports-shut-229175