1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
NW Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
First off I would like to thank you for choosing my research team and me for this
assignment. Earthquakes and volcanoes are a crucial part to nature and affect the world
we live in greatly. My research team and I found out lots of interesting information while
we researched this area of science.
Your first question stated “Where the most recent earthquakes are occurring and if they
are more likely to occur in certain locations.” The most recent earthquakes are occurring
mainly around the Pacific Ring of Fire. The Pacific Ring of Fire is located around the
Pacific Ocean. The most likely area for earthquakes to occur is in The Pacific Ring of
Fire and mainly in Alaska and California. Earthquakes also occur in Japan and off the
coast of Japan. The Philippine islands are an area that is also most likely to have
earthquakes in that area as well.
Your second question was “Whether or not there is any way to determine what parts of
the world are most prone to them.” Well, Mr. President, as a matter of fact there is a way
to determine what parts of the world are prone to earthquakes and here that is. See, there
is this thing called Plate Tectonics and basically it is all about the worlds plates. At the
edge of these plates are things called fault lines or plate boundaries. Now these plates are
not all “clean cut,” if you will, they all have crooked edges and jagged parts to them.
Because of this, they cause earthquakes. Some of the main areas that are prone to
earthquakes are California, Alaska, Japan, and The Middle East. Places like Japan and
California have earthquake safe things that are under buildings and highways and
prepared, but some areas do not have the money so fatalities are high.
Your third question states “If there is a relationship between earthquakes and volcanoes.”
Well, actually there is a relationship between earthquakes and volcanoes, so the answer is
yes. See, the earthquakes sort of cause volcanoes, I guess is a way to put it. Once again
it’s Plate Tectonics which cause the earthquakes and then that leads to volcanoes. There
are different types of plate boundaries, but this question requires one of these plate
boundaries-convergent where the two plates are crashing into each other. This type of
boundary is most common for volcanoes forming.
Your forth question could maybe have been your first question. Anyways, your forth
question states that you would like to know what is causing the earthquakes. All in all
what’s causing the earthquakes is Plate Tectonics. Plate Tectonics is all about these giant
plates moving around on the asthenosphere. Where the plates touch or meet up at are
called plate boundaries and there are several different types of plate boundaries. These
plate boundaries are called: convergent, where the plates crash into each other, divergent
where the plates separate, and transform where the plates slide past each other. All in all,
what cause earthquakes is Plate Tectonics.
Once again I would like to thank you for your time in reading this letter and picking my
team and me for this investigation. I hope this letter has been helpful.
Sincerely,
Bethany S
Lead earthquake expert in USGS