Monday, November 23, 2009

Final-Essay#2 (Volcanos&Earthquakes)

VOLCANOS
Volcanoes are big raised holes in the planet that can force decent amounts of boiling lava out onto the planet's surface. Lava consists of hot magma, rock and various gases that dwell underneath the planet's surface. Once the magma comes to the planet's surface, it is considered lava. It exits out in the form of an eruption. Eruptions are dangerous and violent and can destroy anything they encounter. "Eruptions can happen one of two ways. It can be very peaceful and lava just flows along slowly, nothing to really worry about. Then there are the eruptions that are so huge and emit so much debris and gas that it can prevent the sun from shining through for many years. A scale is used to help measure and keep track of eruptions. People who study volcanoes use this scale, known as the Volcanic Explosive Index, or VEI. This scale works just like the Richter scale, which measures the amplitude of earthquakes"(1). Volcanoes are classified three different ways. The three ways are active, dormant, and extinct. Active means the volcano erupts regularly, dormant means the volcano has erupted in history but is quiet now, and extinct means it has not erupted in historical time. Chemicals that volcanoes release into the air are nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide. Volcanoes can change the hydrosphere by making acid rain and raining in the oceans and lakes. The acid rain can kill organisms and also slow down the environment. Volcanic eruptions can significantly alter the earth's climate. Volcanoes affect the Earth's atmosphere by pumping dust and various types of gases into the air when they erupt. "While larger dust particles may stay in the lower atmosphere for a few hours or days, they quickly settle out and are removed by rainfall. Smaller dust particles may be blasted up into the dry upper atmosphere (the stratosphere), however, where they will stay for several weeks or months before they finally settle out. These particles affect the earth's climate by blocking the sunlight and cooling large areas of the earth. A large number of volcanic eruptions over a short period of time may cool the earth enough to cause real problems."(4)Volcanoes sound very destructive but in actuality they aren't always bad.

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EARTHQUAKES
Earthquakes are caused by the collision of Tectonic Plates. When these Plates bump into each other the give off an energy known as Seismic Waves. These waves can be measured by using a Seismograph. Earthquakes are categorized by how powerful and ultimately destructive they are. The common earthquakes are around a level three, but there have been cases where they have been up to a level seven(1). An earthquake may also be known as a tremor or temblor.
There are three main types of fault that may cause an earthquake. The three types are normal, reverse thrust and strike-slip. Normal and reverse faulting are examples of dip-slip, where the displacement along the fault is in the direction of dip and movement on them involves a vertical component. Normal faults occur mainly in areas where the crust is being extended. Reverse faults occur in areas where the crust is being shortened. Strike-slip faults are steep structures where the two sides of the fault slip horizontally past each other.
BIB
(1)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake
(2)http://quake.usgs.gov/
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