Dangerous Places
Trenna, Ryan, Andrew, and Allyssa
Sicily Italy
Location
Sicily Italy, or also known as the football. Right next to the “Boot”. Sicily is located at 37.5 N, 140 E. But why do people want to live there? It is considered to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. The average temp in Sicily is 75 Degrees. Is the temp that draws people there or is because of the attractive view? Sicily is surrounded by water and mountains that cover its land. Sicily also has a very strong economy from its agricultural products, like lemons, olives, grapes, and oranges.Tectonic plates
Sicily Italy sits on the Anatolian plate and the Eurasian plate. These plates are divergent. Which means to move away from each other. This can cause magma to rise from the earth. These can also cause earthquakes.There is a huge “horseshoe” created by these plates. This spot is a big tourist attraction.
Why is this place Dangerous?
Is Sicily Italy known for its beautiful view or its terrify volcanoes and earthquakes that kill thousands at a time. Since 1903 earthquakes disasters have killed of 145,000 people. Volcanoes also is a big factor that kills 1000 too. The total death role from volcanoes is over 20,000. Damage is another big roll, there has been over $1 billion of damage from volcanoes and earthquakes combined.
California
Location
California is located on the West Coast of the United States. It is the third largest state in the U.S. with a population of around 38 million. People live in California because of the beaches, the city, and the warm weather that allows you to enjoy those things. There are lots of tourists attractions like Disneyland, the San Diego Zoo, and Sea World. These are a few of the many places that attract over 9 million tourists every year. Taking into consideration all the tourists that visit California, it brings lots of job openings. They need people to work in hotels, restaurants, and gift shops. Apart from the Volcano itself, geysers and hot springs attract many tourists. Another reason people live in hazardous places is because they grew up there. Sometimes there are people who live in places where volcanoes and earthquakes occur and when they grow up they don’t want to move. That is their hometown and they want to stay within their family. Volcanoes can be dormant for hundreds of years and some people live near them in hopes they won’t erupt. Volcanoes can also make the soil fertile and easy to farm with. Volcanoes produce steam and heat that is sometimes used as an energy source. Some people don't care if earthquakes are prone to the state they live in. They are willing to take the risk. We have thought about the most dangerous places due to earthquakes and volcanoes. We never thought about other things that are dangerous. There are other dangerous things. Some people might believe that living near a volcano is safer than living near something else dangerous.
Tectonic Plates
There is a small plate called the Juan De Fuca Plate that moves east-northeast at 4 centimeters per year. It used to be part of a much larger plate called the Farallon Plate. The Farallon Plate used to have the Cocos Plate included in it. The center part of the Farallon plate vanished beneath North America. It was subducted beneath California leaving the San Andreas fault system behind. The Juan de Fuca Plate is still active beneath North America. Its motion is not smooth. Fuca gets slid under North America during a big earthquake.
California has earthquakes that occur daily. Most of them aren't even felt. Nobody even knows that they happened. One in awhile you will feel them, but most likely they won’t do any damage A few of California’s earthquakes have killed over 5,000 people. One of the largest earthquakes in California's cost $42 billion in damage. There have been a lot of earthquakes with a magnitude of 7 or higher. There have also been just as many with a magnitude of 6 or lower. Focusing on one of California's most significant earthquakes it would be one that occurred in San Francisco. It happened on April 18, 1906. With a magnitude of 7.9 this earthquake killed 3,000 people. It caused $524 million in damage.
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico is a beautiful island, where majestic waves crash upon the warm sandy beaches. It is located near the virgin islands in the caribbean. Whether you are snorkeling or relaxing under the warming radiant rays of the sun, get gorgeously tanned. Around 3.667 million people live here and enjoy most of these activities, and many are perfectly happy. having a year round temperature of at least 80 degrees or more, its a perfect spot for nearly every kind of person. Its main languages are spanish and english, and is often a popular site for tourists and vacation spots in the caribbean. People often live here for its year round warmth and tropical feel and activities.
Why Is It Dangerous
To all that live here it seems like a perfectly nice place to live. However many don't know that Puerto Rico is a dangerously high tectonic area in the atlantic ocean. In fact Puerto RIco is the deepest trench in the atlantic ocean, it separates the atlantic and the caribbean sea’s. The deepest part of this trench is about 8,600 meters(5.3 miles). this trench(which is a subduction zone) often cause earthquakes, they are often to low in power to be detected. However sometimes a large earthquakes surprises all, like the one in 2004. This quake caused over 200,000 to lose their lives and cost nearly over 1 million in damage cost.
Tectonic Activity
Puerto Rico is located on the Puerto Rican plate which is right next to the north american plate. These to plate often grind against each other, causing tectonic activity in the area. IT also doesn’t help that it is a the subduction zone, which means that the north american plate(which is very heavy and dense) is being subducted underneath the lighter Puerto Rican plate. When this happen the plates mash up against each other and this causes more tectonic activity.