Danger Zones
By: Sidnie, Damien, Nathan and Koby
Welcome to the Danger Zones!
Earth is such a beautiful place, but it's what happens under the earth's crust that is really dangerous. Under the crust the tectonic plates are crashing into each other and creating problems here's why...
Japan By: Sidnie
Welcome to Japan
There are many amazing pros of living in Japan. With a low unemployment rate it is easy to get a job as a teacher, which over there all you have to do is be able to speak English! Japan as a great culture, food is a prime example. Sushi is the main dish in Japan. Japan also has a great public transportation system. Which makes it a great location.
Danger Zone
Speaking of location, Japan is right in the middle of 4 tectonic plates. Those plates are the Pacific, Philippine, North American, and Eurasian. All of these plates have a convergent boundary. They are all sub-ducting each other, or in other words one is slowly moving over the other. By the movement of the plates sub-ducting, it causes the ground to shift and break which leads to devastating earthquakes. Mountains and volcanoes have been formed here by pressure being forced on plate boundaries to a point where they break and scrunch together to be mountains and sub-duct to make vents for lava to come up through and start layering up to make a volcano. Cinder cone and composite volcanoes are formed on this boundary. Cinder cone volcanoes are dangerous because they spray lava into the air, composite volcanoes are dangerous also because they have a large volcanic explosion. An example of a composite volcano is mount Fuji which is in Japan. Both volcanoes, composite and cinder cone which are both located here, are very powerful and dangerous.
You’ve been warned
Japan is a very dangerous place to live. It has had many tsunamis and landslides. With having the highest elevation of 3665 feet it is a risk for landslides and being an island it is also at risk for tsunamis. The highest earthquake it has ever had was a 9.3/10 on the richter scale, along with a highest of 4.0/8 and the VEI. Japan had a devastating tsunami in 2011 which caused $213,000,000 worth of damage. It has daily earthquake tremors and currently has an erupting volcano. Japan is part of the ring of fire, and with a population of 123.7 million people, with a list of 72 major earthquakes over a 5.0/10 on the richter scale, with the last major recorded earthquake occurring May 30th, 2015 with a 7.8 on the richter scale, I guess they must like living on their toes.
Alaska By: Nathan
Alaska The Beautiful
1st - Alaska is such a beautiful country there is so many opportunities there. First off the land is so beautifully sculpted there are islands that you can live on, and there are mountains that you can travel up and live on. In Alaska you could explore and feel like a real pioneer. There are the most beautiful stargazing locations in Alaska, you could go and watch the Northern Lights drift through the sky. The animals in Alaska are very docile they will wander into a city and sit down in a public area without any problem, and the people don't care if the animals are there either. There's even a few days where the sun doesn't go down and people play games and party, but there also is the time where the sun doesn't come up for a few days, most people sleep most of the time. Alaska is a very beautiful place to live, and you won't regret living there.
Under the Mask
2nd - Alaska is such a beautiful place above ground, but the more dangerous things are what is happening under the ground. The two plates who created this earthquake were the North American plate and the Pacific Plate. The Pacific Plate went under the North American Plate nine meters or 30 feet. This type of plate movement is Convergent which means that the plates crash into each other and one goes up the other goes down. Subduction creates earthquakes by having the plates rub against each other creating stress between them then it when the stress builds up to much it creates an earthquake. This was the second biggest earthquake ever which means that the plates really had to crash together. The Aleutian island is an island made of these plates crashing into each other the island and the Aleutian Trench was made when this happened. In a result to these plates crashing together they caused tons of problems.
The Truth Hurts
3rd - With a magnitude of 9.2 the 1964, Alaskan earthquake stands of the top of the ranking for the U.S. for the biggest earthquake recorded. The rupture of the earthquake lasted four minutes. After the rupture there were over 20 aftershocks with a 6.0 magnitude or higher. When the earthquake hit there were landslides and even avalanches. There were 300-400 million dollars in repairs (1964 Dollars). The death toll was surprising low for this big of an earthquake, mostly because of low population, time of day, the fact that it was a holiday, and there were 115 deaths in Alaska, and 16 in Washington and Oregon. The tsunami wave size was over 70 meters tall, the giant waves killed over 82 people. The giant waves even grounded a 10,000 ton cargo ship. But all that happened back 50 years, it is still very dangerous in Alaska. For starters three of the six largest earthquakes have happened in Alaska. Alaska has had 52% of earthquakes that have occurred in the U.S. Alaska can have up to 25,000 earthquakes a year but most of them are little one that you would not be able to feel.
Volcanoes are also very dangerous. There are over 130 active volcanoes in Alaska.
Hawaii By: Koby
All About Hawaii
Hawaii is a colossal yet fair sized island. It is made up of eight islands it is a very elegant place to be. It is located exactly 3,791 miles from Harlan IA. It looks absolutely exquisite, and many people chose to live their because of the beautiful view, warm weather, and all of the activities people can do. It is a perfect place to live or go on vacation.
The plates in Hawaii
It is an absolutely outstanding place to visit. Hawaii currently sits on the pacific plate. A hotspot forms when one of Earth's outer tectonic plates moves over a hot part of the Earth's mantle. Then large amounts of magma rise up and go through the plates and produce large volcanic eruptions at the Earth’s surface. Earthquakes accompany the movement of magma in and under active volcanoes. These volcanoes influence Hawaii’s seismicity, and their heavyweight can make the Pacific lithosphere trigger an earthquake. Kīlauea has been shaped by lava by drying up and hardening over and over.
Hawaii and its dangers
This place is dangerous because the whole island is basically a volcano. Although its highest VEI was a four, it's still very dangerous. Hawaii's highest mountain is 13,000ft in elevation, which means lava can still make it to towns and buildings. And its highest richter scale rating was a 6.7, and a 6.0 to a 6.9 is a very strong earthquake and can do some serious damage. The richter scale says that an earthquake like that can do some moderate damage to strong structures. Thousands of earthquakes occur every year in Hawaii. As for volcanoes, Hawaii will get one from Kīlauea around every four years. And tsunamis happen around every ten years at around 7.0 to 8.0 on the Richter scale. Hawaii is a colossal yet fair sized island, but it can still be dangerous.
Philippines By: Damien
Luzon, Philippines
Sweet sensation
Luzon, Philippines would be the best place to go on a vacation! It has mountains with a lake on the top of it. has an island on an island. Has nature parks and sightseeing. Has amusement parks, aquariums, and zoos with the animals people have never seen before. See the ocean it is very big over there. People live there because it hot and they have a cool ocean right next to their homes so they just go to the beach because it is really hot in the Philippines.
The waves of change
Luzon is inland so it might not be affected by tsunamis but it will be affected by the rain and the winds from the tsunamis that happen by or on the coast. Then with all the rain and winds they could be starting a landslide or mudslide. Because of seismic and volcanic activity associated with tectonic plate boundaries along the Pacific Ring of Fire, tsunamis occur most frequently in the Pacific Ocean, but are a worldwide natural phenomena. All of the earthquakes and tsunamis that Philippines have is because of the active fault line they are on.
Hot topics
Luzon has earthquakes 3 to 4 years. the largest volcano they had was in 1990 and it was Taal that erupted which is the most explosive volcano in Luzon. They have 11 volcanoes in the area. The population in Luzon is 48.52 million. An estimate of 1,621 people were killed in Luzon Philippines. Taal Volcano is a complex volcano located on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. Taal the volcano is the most violent volcano on the Philippine islands. It is a big mountain with a dip in it and then a huge lake.