Week 3: Earthquakes!

           Being on the California coast I always would here about the San Andreas fault line and the danger of an Earthquake at any time. But what really causes the shakes? It's when two plate boundaries undergo strain or deformation the longer the strain builds up the greater the chance of those fault lines losing grip of each other thus cause a ripple of shaking to spread through to area. My country is England and while it doesn't sit on a fault line it does have a seismicity of a moderate rate.

This map includes every earthquake since the 1980's due to, "the expansion of the nuclear power program in the UK led to increased activity in revaluating historical seismicity" (British Geological Survey). This should be taken into context because Britain has never had an earthquake reaching more than 6.5 on the Richter scale. The British government has taken steps to reinforce building with earthquake safe technology and to keep educating the public about what to do in case of an emergency.  However, I must say this a pretty low agenda item on the British citizens' to-do list. Other pressing matters take president over this geological phenomenon. 

Links:
      British Geology Survey, "Seismicity and Earthquake Hazard in the UK." SEISMICITY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD IN THE UK. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2016.

  Keller, Edward A., and Robert H. Blodgett. Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2006. Print.

Week Two: Tectonics!
           This week we learned about the different plate tectonics that make the Earth's crust move. As you know my country of choice is England. It sits right in the middle of the Eurasian Plate and not on a tectonic border. There are a wide range of plate boundaries that form in relation to one other. The divergent boundary are usually ocean plates that causes when the spreading of two plates move away from each other (Keller). The closest boundary to my humble country is the Mid-Atlantic ridge. It sits, quite appropriately named, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. As the borders start to spread apart new lithosphere is added creating new sea floor (Keller).  Pretty cool right? It does come with a price however. Side effects of this movement can be recorded as light to moderate earthquakes and nonexplosive eruptions (Keller). These might sound like scary events but they are perfectly normal and are the natural progression of the Earth's movement. Thank you and until next time, take care.

                Keller, Edward A., and Robert H. Blodgett. Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2006. Print.

England's Unknown Attributes

             England is seen as the counter-part or great-grandfather to the USA. It only makes sense to be

curious about our founding fathers' native land. It's wide range of landscapes, from rolling hill to it's

densely populated metropolitan cities, it makes this country very attractive to many people. However, 

there are some natural events such as hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, tornados and even 

avalanches that may have travelers thinking twice. 

               Now we should define the clear distinction between hazards, disasters, and 

catastrophes. Hazards can be defined as a natural process or event that has the potential threat to 

human life and property. Disasters are explained as a hazardous event that occurs over a limited time 

span within a defined area. The ordeal in Flint, Mighican can be described as a disaster because it's 

very hazardous to have lead in public water but, it was only retained to that area. Next, a catastrophe 

is defined as a massive disaster that requires significant expenditure of money and a long time (years) 

for recovery. As given in the powerpoint the best example would be Hurricane Katrina. Till next 

time.