Essay On Magnitude Scale

This earthquake caused 60 deaths, 9,000 people injured. Causing the San Fernando Valley a total pile of destruction (TheAtlantic.com). What was actually the main cause of the Northridge earthquake? Why did the Northridge earthquake caused so many destruction? The earthquake happened because of the movement from the San Andreas Fault (u-s-history.com) .This little movement from the tectonic caused big things such as earthquake, but what exactly is San Andreas Fault?

Geology of the Hawaiian Island Chain The chain of Hawaiian Islands formed as the Pacific plate moved over a hot spot in the mantle of the Earth. The plate slowly moves northwestward at a rate of about 32 miles per million years. The northwestern islands are older and generally smaller due to prolonged exposure and erosion. Plate tectonics, types of volcanoes, hot spots, and sea mounts, are all an important part of the geology of the hawaiian island chain. Plate tectonics is a theory that Earth’s crust is composed of nearly a dozen plates, which have shifted around the surface of the Earth over time.

In North Carolina many of us have been effected in some way by tornados, hurricanes, and maybe even an earthquake, but I would bet that none of us have been effected by the worse natural disaster the tsunami. Historically, tsunamis have been caused by a plethora of different events. Some of these are underwater earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides. Many people might recognize earthquakes as a violent shake in the earth’s crust and this is true, but tsunamis can be more powerful causing a greater damage. Tsunamis happen when the plates on the crust of the earth move, therefore moving the entire plate so that the water rises and is pushed forward, therefore causing a tsunami (Drohan, 2009, p.21).

In 1906, an earthquake hit San Francisco, California. More than 3,000 people died. The earthquake that hit San Francisco was one of the largest earthquakes in northern California. It struck the coast of Northern California. "Horrific Wreck of the City" by Fred Hewitt and “Comprehending the Calamity:” by Emma Burke are both about the same thing but the two authors opinion on how this disaster affected people are completely different.

What they didn’t know was that the mountain was actually an old volcano… which was erupting. Years before the famous eruption, there was some alarming seismic activity, but astonishingly, most of the citizens in the city didn’t think much of it. On the morning of august 24th, 79 AD, a very large explosion signaled the beginning of the end for this small Roman paradise. The explosion was a result of the accumulation of lava in the volcano. The explosion was estimated to be about 100,000 times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The hotspot causes active volcanos, but as they move away they become less active. Second, Yellowstone doesn't have any volcanos above ground like Hawaii. The super volcano is under all the attractions. Yellowstone does get earthquakes frequently. When a earthquake hits that's high on Richter scale people fear that the super volcano could erupt, but the chances of it erupting are very low.

This is a tactic call scorched earth where one side attacks and destroys anything that may be useful to the enemy. The fire was started in many places around Moscow. Only a few building were saved from the fire. Most of the buildings that were saved were located in the kremlin. The inner part of the city where many important buildings were were mostly not harmed.

00Earthquakes occur almost daily due to the fact that Costa Rica lies between two tectonic plates: the Carribean plate and the Coicos plate. These two plates push and shove each other causing small tremors throughout which can cause landslides,volcanic eruptions and once in a couple years, quakes with devastating results. The strongest earthquake recorded occurred in 1991 with a measure of 7.6 on the Richter scale. This earthquake left 4 dead and buildings as well as bridges and road were completely destroyed. If another Earthquake occurs, the coastal cities would be the most affected ones as they are closer to the plates.

“I saw those policemen enveloped in a shower of falling stone. Their lives must have been blotted out in an instant.” this quote was from an article called “Horrific Wreck of the City” told by a man named Fred Hewitt. He was a eye witness in the 1906 earthquake, so was a woman named Emma Burke who was also in the disaster. The earthquake in 1906 is one of the most significant earthquakes of all time, says the USGS. Thousands of people died, the city was wrecked and fires were set aflame.

A volcanic earthquake is when a volcano erupts and shakes the plates. Shallow earthquakes are between 0 and 70 km deep; and deep earthquakes, 300 - 700 km deep. In general, the term "deep-focus earthquakes" is applied to earthquakes deeper than 70 km. S-waves arrive as secondary waves at the Earth 's surface. There is another important difference between P-waves and S-waves.