4 Deadly Places
Volcanoes and Earthquakes
Mt. Tambora, Nevado del Ruiz, Great Chilean Earthquake, Aceh Earthquake
Mt. Tambora
Island of Indonesia, Sumbawa Not So Safe?
People live in Sumbawa because it has a lot of great sights. If you live on the mountain and look out your window you can see the whole island. It is just an amazing sight. There are many activities to do, like hiking, fishing, swimming, surfing, sailing, and many more. It is just a beautiful island. It has so many mountains that you can climb. It makes the experience of living there a lot more amazing.
Indonesia, Sumbawa is not the safest place to live because Mt, Tambora was formed from a subduction zone. A subduction zone is formed at a convergent boundary, (one plate moving under another plate). The top 4,000 feet of the mountain was obliterated when it erupted. Tons of dust and smoke flew out of it when it erupted. After that the year was known as “The Year Without A Summer”. It killed thousands of people and destroyed many homes and villages.
Indonesia, Sumbawa is a very dangerous place because Mt. Tambora is still a active volcano. It is also a very massive volcano. In the last 10,000 years this volcano has had the biggest eruption in recorded history. It killed at least 100,000 people, it ranked 7 in the VEI, (volcanic explosivity index) the global temperatures decreased, and it had an eruption column 45 km tall. There were many other volcano eruptions in 1814 but this was the biggest.
Nevado del Ruiz
Why do People live here?
The Nevado Del Ruiz is in Colombia, South America. There are a lot of People that live in Colombia. People choose to live here because there is not a lot of political fragment in the government. People also live here to see the Nevado del Ruiz. It is in North West Colombia and is an Attraction. People also live here because there is no large buildings unless in the cities. So it is just a quiet area with green trees and grass. The Nevado Del Ruiz is just outside of the city where anybody could see it. It looks like a tall mountain but really is a volcano.
What kind of tectonic Activity is there?
The Nevado Del Ruiz is on a convergent boundary. This is exactly where the continental and the oceanic crust come together and then is driven below into the mantle and is melted. Then that pressured plate comes back up and forms the volcano. The Nevado del Ruiz is also located on the South American plate. The South American plate rubs against the Nazca plate and the Cocos plate and makes the magma rise to the surface and the volcano erupts.
Why is this volcano Dangerous?
This Volcano is very, very dangerous. It’s had 17 eruptions in history and most of them were deadly. One eruption in 1985 was a deadly eruption. It killed 23,000 people from the eruption. It wasn’t a huge eruption, but it had a huge mudflow that totally destroyed the town of Armero. This eruption was named the 4th most deadly volcanic eruption ever in the world. This volcano also had this same eruption 2 eruptions before this one. In 1595, this same thing happened. It didn’t have a huge eruption but had an extravagant mudflow throughout the volcano. It swept down to the valleys of the River Guali, and the River Lagunilles, killing 636 people. Also in 1845 a mudflow went down the River Lagunilles and killed over 1000 people. Then Armero was built on top of the mudflow deposit and became a vibrant town. Then history repeated itself in the eruption of 1985. It was the third time in 400 years that mudflows came from this volcano. So therefore, this volcano is very deadly and is also so powerful, it could happen again sometime.
The Great Chilean Earthquake
Location
Valdivia is a city found along the coast of southern Chile. It is known as the city of rivers. The city is named after its founder, Pedro Valdivia. It has many great art attractions, amusement parks and restaurants as well. Valdivia is an all-season resort. Its warm summers last from the beginning of April to the end of November. People love to live here because of the warm weather, low crime rates and its just beautiful.
Tectonic Activity
While most places have trenches where two large tectonic plates meet, Chile is one of the few places like where three major plates meet. This is called a triple junction. The tectonic plate chile is in is called the Nazca Plate. The Nazca Plate has been moving 3.7 cm per year. It is known as one of the fastest moving plate. The activity causing this is the lighter continental South American plate is riding up over the heavier oceanic Nazca plate. Deep down in the leading edge of the Nazca plate is diving down under the South American plate and it's making contact with the molten magma of the earth's mantle.
The Great Chilean EarthquakeAs much as Chile is a beautiful place it is also known as the most dangerous by scientist all around the world when it comes to earthquakes. In 1960 the biggest earthquake in chile history happened. It is known as the Great Chilean Earthquake. More than 2,000 people were killed in this earthquake. The damage was over 550 million dollars. Tsunami broke out around the pacific ocean which caused 2,000,000 people to become homeless. There was mid change in weather.
Port Au Prince, Haiti
Location
Haiti a small island shared with the Dominican Republic South of the United States. Haiti is slightly smaller then Maryland. It has a tropical climate with rough hills and mountainous areas. Haiti is the most dangerous place too live, due to earthquakes and tsunamis. Haiti lays in the hurricane belt so it suffers powerful storms from the ocean. Haiti has no volcanic activity but Montserrat an island a 1000 miles away has some volcanic activity. Unless the volcano is deadly enough Haiti won’t be affected.
Economy/Why people live there?
Although Haiti is a dangerous place to live its also somewhat important. Haiti makes its money off of forestry, fishing and other agriculture jobs. With Haiti rich in minerals they are able to have a mining industry. They mine minerals to the amount of 13 million dollars in U.S. money which creates jobs for Haitians.
Tectonic Activity
Haiti sits on the Caribbean plate which is a transform boundary with the North American plate. These plates moving creates deadly earthquakes. In 2010 a 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti killing over 300,000 people with 52 aftershocks with magnitudes over 4.0. Since Haiti doesn’t sit on a divergent or a convergent plate volcanoes can’t be established. The shearing from the continent plate and the ocean plate creates pressure and then releases creating the earthquake.
Resources
"Geography of Haiti - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." 2003. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Haiti>
"Is Haiti a volcanic island? - WebAnswers.com." 2012. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://www.webanswers.com/science/earth-sciences-geology/is-haiti-a-volcanic-island-4ae3fd>
"2010 Haiti earthquake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." 2010. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Haiti_earthquake>
"Economy of Haiti - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." 2003. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Haiti>
"Nevado del Ruiz Volcano, Colombia - facts ... - VolcanoDiscovery." 2011. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/nevado_del_ruiz.html>
"What plate boundary is Nevado del Ruiz located on - Wiki Answers." 2009. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_plate_boundary_is_Nevado_del_Ruiz_located_on>
"Largest Earthquake in the World - Historic Earthquakes." 2009. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/events/1960_05_22.php>
"Valdivia Chile." 2009. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://www.allsouthernchile.com/valdivia-chile.html>
"Nazca Plate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." 2004. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazca_Plate>
"Nazca Plate - Kids Science." 2010. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://www.kids-fun-science.com/nazca-plate.html>
"Mount Tambora - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." 2003. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tambora>
"1815 eruption of Mount Tambora - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." 2010. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1815_eruption_of_Mount_Tambora>
"Mount Tambora Volcano, Sumbawa Island, Indonesia - NASA Earth ..." 2009. 25 Feb. 2013 <http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=39412>