Convergent Boundaries Research Paper

Convergent boundaries with subduction zones can form different landforms and cause numerous natural events. Its background should be studied first to further understand the boundary type. The boundary type can determine what landforms it can form. Additionally, the events that are formed by these landforms will be focused on especially volcanic eruptions. Evidence will be provided to back-up the study of the boundary type.

Mount Mayon is an active stratovolcano, part of the Pacific Ring of Fire and located at Albay, Philippines. It is surrounded by eight small cities of the province Albay, far enough for the people to begin building cities. Although these are cities, they are still considered rural as it is part of a province with minimal

One of the plates is the Philippine Sea plate, an oceanic plate subducting under the Eurasian plate, a continental plate. The plates of a convergent boundary push into each other and since one of them is an oceanic plate, the Philippine Sea Plate which is denser than a continental plate, it subducts under the Eurasian plate. Subducting plates generally move at a speed between 7 and 11 centimeters per year. Convergent Boundaries featuring an oceanic and continental boundary can form different types of landforms such as volcanoes like Mount Mayon and trenches such as The Challenger Deep, a part of South Pacific’s Marianas Trench. To form these landforms, the convection currents in the lithosphere causes the tectonic plates to move towards each other. Next, the oceanic plate subducts under the continental plate. This causes trenches to be formed as the lithosphere to bend and form a deep upside-down triangle shape. To form a volcano, the surface water of the continental plate causes the melting point of the oceanic plate to decrease and as a result, rocks melt and create magma. As magma rises up due to its density, it stays near the surface of the Earth and eventually releases because of the pressure. The lava cools down on the surface of the Earth and over time, creates a volcano by more eruptions and lava

It has erupted for 50 times over the last 500 years. Most of its eruptions have major casualties but, the recent eruption this year of 2018 didn’t have any. The volcano had a similar event to the recent eruption during the year 2001. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) was able to monitor the volcano same as this year and was able to get the residents evacuated resulting in zero casualties but, has caused environmental effects similar to the recent eruption. Also, both eruptions have a great amount of pyroclastic flow.Mayon volcano’s most lethal eruption was during 1814 killing over 1,200 residents and destroying several villages and a famous historical church, Cagsawa church, which is now a tourist attraction as only the bell tower has been left after the eruption. Disasters that have happened in Albay are almost all natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and volcanic eruptions. The last major earthquake was back in 2008, it reportedly has 5.6 magnitude while the province experiences flood regularly as typhoons and monsoons usually happen in the Philippines. Similarly, volcanic activities are commonly found in Albay every few years or so because of the convergent boundary beneath it meaning that PHIVOLCS regularly monitors it and expects for future eruptions. Convergent boundaries with a subduction zone can also be found in the Washington-Oregon coastline and the