Breeana Coons
Geography 1000
E Portfolio
Earthquakes
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Magnitude:6.9 Location: Near the coast of Peru Date and Time: Friday October 28, 2011 6:64pm
Depth of focus: 14.85 miles deep
Plate Boundary: near subduction zone with oceanic – continental also near continental rift
boundary it was group with many other earthquakes in the same general area
Forces: When the oceanic and continental plates collide and the denser ocean plates below,
creating a subduction zone. This pressure cause melting and forcing magma upward causing this
seismic activity.
Breeana Coons
Geography 1000
E Portfolio
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Magnitude: 4.8 Location: Kepulauan Barat Daya, Indonesia Date and Time: Nov. 4 at 9:05 pm
Depth of focus: 189 .89miles deep
Plate Boundary: Oceanic-Oceanic convergence
Forces: These two oceanic plates came together causing this earthquake, and most likey
created a trench. The extremely high depth of the focus also links toward a trench being
created because they create a deep-focus earthquake when they are formed.
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Magnitude:4.9 Location: New Guinea, Papua New Guinea Date and Time: October 28, 4:50 pm
Depth of Focus: 6.21 miles deep
Plate Boundary: Continental convergence boundary
Forces: The tension that was building up between these two continental plates was finally too
much so they finally converged up, causing this earthquake.
Breeana Coons
Geography 1000
E Portfolio
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Magnitude: 4.7 Location: South Sumatra Indonesia Date and Time: October 20 2:14am
Depth at Focus: 11.56 miles deep
Boundary Type: Continental Transform Boundary Fault
Forces: These two continental plates tension caused them to finally slip past each other and
caused this earthquake, but unlike the rest it did not destroy or create new crust it just caused
deformation of things like rivers, roads and fences.
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Magnitude: 5.1 Location: Southern East Pacific Rise Date and Time: October 31, 4:45pm
Depth of Focus: 6.21 miles deep
Boundary Type: Divergent Spreading Ocean Rift
Forces: This divergent boundary resulted in the ocean spreading and causing this earthquake.
You can tell this not only from the boundary type but the depth of the focus, it is shallow and
that is what is seen in mid-oceanic ridges.
Breeana Coons
Geography 1000
E Portfolio
Volcanoes
Name: Ardoukôba
Volcano Type: Cinder Cone
Plate Boundary (or hot spot): Continental Rift Boundary
Forces: The continental rift boundary in this area caused this volcano. When the plates
diverge the land spreads this cinder cone volcano formed.
Name: Zukur
Volcano Type: Shield Volcano
Breeana Coons
Geography 1000
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Plate Boundary (or hot spot): Hot Spot Forces: As the plates move away from each
other they leave hot spots that form volcanoes over the plume.
Name: Masaraga
Volcano Type: Stratovolcano
Plate Boundary Type ( or hot spot): near subduction zone
Forces: As one plate subducts under the other we can get volcanoes. That is how this one
was formed and it got its shape from the pyroclastic material that built up , creating its
steep slopes.
Name: Concepción
Volcano Type: Caldera
Breeana Coons
Geography 1000
E Portfolio
Plate Boundary Type ( or hot spot): Hot Spot
Forces: After a volcano was formed over a plume after the plates had diverted, it
collapsed or exploded creating this caldera volcano.
Reflection
Earthquakes and volcanoes are related in terms of plate tectonics because when
plates move the effect is earthquakes and volcanoes. They are the result of all the built
up tension being released and the asthenosphere coming up through the surface. There
is a reason most earthquakes and volcanoes happen on plate boundaries. As the heat
within the core cause convection in the mantle it is moving the plates. Once the tension
has built up enough the plates diverge, converge, slip, or sub duct depending on the
location and plate type. When they do this they form mountains, destroy lands, create
trenches, volcanoes, etc. So without plate tectonics we wouldn’t have earthquakes or
Breeana Coons
Geography 1000
E Portfolio
volcanoes, which some people might think was a good thing. But without them our
earth isn’t being built up and our beautiful landscapes are not being formed.
The spatial relationship and distribution between volcanoes and earthquakes is
easy to see looking at them both on Google Earth. What I noticed is that where there is
a clump of earthquakes there is also volcanoes in that same area. However, it does not
go both ways. There are volcanoes but no earthquakes around, not to say that for
every earthquake there is a volcano. The pattern I observed is that where there is a lot
of seismic activity volcanoes are also there usually at a plate boundary.
During this course to be honest almost everything you taught us about both
earthquakes and volcanoes I did not know. I had no idea what caused either of these to
take place, let alone all the different types. Now every-day when I look at our
mountains, I’m not thinking about how beautiful they are, I am thinking about how
they were formed. They are so big now, but they have been so worn down by
weathering and erosion I cannot imagine how big they were 7,000 years ago. The
massive earthquakes that must have happened to create all of our surrounding
mountains must have been amazing. I enjoyed learning about Yellowstone Park being
a super volcano. I had no idea what was going on up there, I have been there once and
would love to go again with my new perspective. Another thing I will take away from
this class is how important the cycle of the earth being built up and eroded away is. We
are so lucky to live with such natural beauty we take advantage of the fact that it took
millions of years to look like this.
Breeana Coons
Geography 1000
E Portfolio
Now that I have a strong scientific understanding, my worldview about natural
disasters has changed because now I can understand what I am hearing on the news,
or reading in a newspaper. Before if I heard a 5.0 earthquake happened in California,
I was wondering if that was bad, how bad. Now I know about the magnitudes and the
damage each can do. I am no longer in the dark on these disasters; I will know what
caused them and how much damage was probably done. This will help me be more
empathetic towards places that have gone through a natural disaster because I have a
scientific understanding of it instead of an uneducated guess.