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Sumatra both a beauty and a beast
Beauty
Sumatra offers a fresh new look at all that is green and growing. An island known for its beautiful clear ocean, it's wonderful forest, and its extravagant mountains. Also gets recognized for its rugged tropical terrain, wildlife and smoldering volcanoes. Sumatra really is the place to go for a coastal vacation. Sumatra offers many beautiful plants and housing structures that could become an everyday sight. Sumatra is a western island in the Indonesian chain of islands and is part of the spice trade.
Beast
Sumatra is not just beauty it also has its dangers. It was were 2 of the largest earthquake recorded has occurred. Also Sumatra has an active volcano right on it that often erupts covering the island in ash. Sumatra is located on the Indian/ Australian plate. Depending on location on the island, depends on what type of boundary is near. There are 2 types just on the island, there's a transform boundary and a divergent boundary. The divergent boundary is along the northern edge of the island pulling the plates apart. The transform boundary is along the western area of the island, the plates are rubbing back and forth there creating small islands around the large island. This rubbing and pulling action creates the signature volcano for the island. The dangerous volcano is from many decades ago when the plates were sliding. The motion of the plates are what cause these earthquakes to vibrate violently. It slides them along and when they slide the whole island slides.
Where the beast meets the beauty
Sumatra’s beast is shocking because of the earthquakes that occur at least 3 times a week with a Richter scale of 2 or more. The highest earthquake on this island has been recorded was a 9.4 and proven the second most dangerous earthquake yet. It affected the island and smaller islands around it with this massive shake. While the whole island has an elevation of 24 meters there is one very large volcano in the middle of the island. This volcano goes off every 2 years causing ash to cover the island. While most of the island is safe there has been a total of 50,000 missing people reports caused by these violent earthquakes and volcanoes. Considering that its 50,000 out of 50.37 million people living on this island there is a concern for safety. Studies have proven that this island has two of the five worst earthquakes ever recorded. The island is also prone to having landslides and mud slides due to these earthquakes constantly shifting the rocks.
Emily
Works Cited
"Indonesia's Sumatra Alive to Quake and Tsunami Risks - BBC News." BBC News. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.
"Indonesia's Sumatra Alive to Quake and Tsunami Risks - BBC News." BBC News. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.
"The Naked Scientists." The Tectonics Of The Sumatran Earthquakes. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.
"Recent Earthquakes Near Indonesia Sorted: Recent Recent Quakes Biggest Quakes Filter By Magnitude No Filter 2 Mag 3 Mag 4 Mag 5 Mag 6 Mag 7 Mag 8 Mag Nearby Places Southeast Asia Asia Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia Northern Territory East Nusa Tenggara East Java West Nusa Tenggara Bali Sunda Strait, Indonesia Java, Indonesia Christmas Island, Australia South Of Java, Indonesia Southern Sumatra, Indonesia Java Sea Kep. Mentawai, Indonesia Bali, Indonesia Bali Sea South Of Bali, Indonesia Lombok, Indonesia Northern Sumatra, Indonesia." Today's Earthquakes in Indonesia. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.