Structural Geology Essay

Underneath the earth are plate tectonics, and when the earth drifts apart the plate tectonics move and cause many things to happen. Many of our landforms were created because of this. Three examples are volcanos, earthquakes, and mountains. To begin, volcanos are a great example of landforms being created by the movement of plate tectonics. When the plate tectonics move, it causes pressure inside the earth that creates volcanoes.

Comparing rocks Minerals make up rocks. Rocks are formed in many environments upon and within the Earth's crust. There are three types of rock, each formed in a different `way. Igneous rock , formed by the cooling of magma (molten rock) inside the Earth or on the surface. Sedimentary rocks, formed from the products of weathering by cementation or precipitation on the Earth’s surface.

Due to stress they shift and cause the earthquake. that zone is more subject to seismic disasters. Tectonic, volcanic, collapse and explosion, are the four different types of earthquakes. A tectonic earthquake is one that occurs when the earth 's crust breaks due to geological forces on rocks and adjoining plates that cause physical and chemical changes. A volcanic earthquake is when a volcano erupts and shakes the plates.

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. This theory provides a reasonable explanation for how mountains formed, and why there are earthquakes and volcanoes. Additionally, this

Altogether, temperature, density, and convection currents work together to cause an earthquake. The layer of the Earth are made up of the lithosphere, asthenosphere, mesosphere, and the core. In the lithosphere, there is the upper rigid mantle, oceanic crust, and continental crust. The oceanic crust and continental crust is what makes up the lithosphere. Inside these layers, temperature and density all play a role in the layers of the Earth.

Bardarbunga is also known as being a composite volcano that produces effusive eruptions. One key concern for Bardarbunga is the risk of floods in the surrounding areas as the lava flows melt glacial ice. Fortunately, this volcano is located in a more remote area of

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). These tectonic plates are everywhere, under everything from the biggest mountain to the smallest hill. Though it is infrequent, volcanoes have been known to cause tsunamis. It happens when to volcano begins to erupt, but instead of coming out from the top of the volcano a lateral blast shoots out from the side. Next, a quickly moving avalanche of lava pours into the water near it causing the wave to travel to distant coastlines (Springer, 2005).

This type of eruption is driven by thermal contraction where the temperature difference between the two results in violent water-lava interactions. The eruption usually has bursts of tremors, geothermal activity, mushroom cloud formation, and a large amount of ash. These tremors can result in earthquakes and geothermal activity refers to the melting of the ice. When the volcano erupts, a mushroom cloud can be formed from 30 km wide and 15 km high. In addition, ash is formed by the magma and glacial ice.

It states that all natural processes that are happening now such as movements of plates, forming of volcanoes and mountains and the occurrence of earthquakes, have also happened in the past. These past movements of plates have formed the Earth to the way we know it now. By tracing back the movements which occur now, it is possible to know how earth must have looked like thousands of years ago. As these movements do not occur in a steady rate, it must

The Earth’s crust has several moving pieces. They are composed of a variety of igneous metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. The tectonic plates are always colliding or pulling apart, creating mountains. Earthquakes and volcanoes occur at the edge of these tectonic plates because of the impact of the plate movements are greatest there. What would be interesting is what if plate tectonics never existed?