Eurasian Plate

It is important to acknowledge that without the critical state, interesting phenomena cannot occur. The non-critical state is at equilibrium, where Gibb’s free energy is equal to zero, and there are no avalanches. Therefore, the critical state is not at equilibrium, this is only an illusion society sees as a result of the nature of self-organized critical systems. During the intermittent periods between avalanches, society cannot detect any changes, so it is assumed that nothing is happening,…

The second most abundant element in the Earth’s crust other than oxygen is silicon which if by mass is around 25.7g or 23%. However in nature, silicon never exist as a free or pure element but instead it mostly combines with the most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, oxygen, hence producing silica (SiO₂) or silicate minerals. The most prominent charge of Si in the crust is +4 rather than +2 which involve a silicon atom to bond in a tetrahedral manner with 4 other oxygen atoms giving rise to…

On January 17th 1994, at 4:31am, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, killing more than 60, injuring more than 9,000, and causing widespread damage (Taylor, 2014). With the vast amount of damage, loss of life, and injuries it is easy to understand how the local and state responders would have quickly been overwhelmed in their response measures. This is the exact sort of emergency that the Stafford Act was developed for. According to (Hunter, 2009),…

The Sequoia Forest is one of the most beautiful places in California, and is a must-see for nature lovers everywhere. We already learned some amazing facts about the place in part one of this article, and now we're back to tell you some more with part two. Number Eight: Endangered Species, and Others The national park boasts an extensive variety of wildlife, including 5 types of fish unique to the area, 200 different bird species, and 26 different types of reptile. There are some endangered…

greatest and worst creations – Life and Death. The strongest and oldest was Ragnorok, the god of earth. He is responsible for the way the earth is shaped; he can move mountains with his bare hands, open canyons with a single step, and disrupt tectonic plates by thinking too much. He was the most conceded of them all. He thought himself to be invincible and immortal, for as he had never known the feeling of pain. He would test his might on his brethren to only come up top of them every time. He…

Earth’s surface and the inhabitants thereof. Earth’s surface changes through geoprocesses including volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Firstly, volcanoes are one example of geoprocesses that affect earth’s surface. Volcanoes happen when tectonic plates sink down into the mantle, made up of molten rock, melting the rock, which will make its way up to the surface through a series of cracks in the earth. This changes the surface by renewing the materials around which can form new lands, such as…

The swelling indicates that the underlying magma chamber is refilling once again. But people have other questions, how was this volcano formed? Usually volcanoes are formed between two tectonic plates but Yellowstone is unusual because it lies right in the middle of the North American plate. “That means scientists need a new explanation for Yellowstone’s origins” says Lijun Liu, a geodynamicist. Scientists believed…

Earthquakes have now been reported in states that rarely, if ever, get earthquakes ever since fracking has been doing water injections. Water injections consist of putting the wastewater from fracking into an empty water well and leaving it there. There have been studies after studies showing that earthquakes, and unusually large ones, were suddenly occurring in low to minimal seismic activity states. In an article by Newsweek Global called “The Earth Moved, And It’s Our Fault” says, “But in…

The Pinturas Formation (Middle Miocene) includes a sedimentary succession exposed at the Río Pinturas valley, Santa Cruz province, Argentina. It is separated in three members. The lower and the upper ones were dominated by ashfall episodes with paleosol formation during stability times; while the middle member is represented by desert eolian deposits. Mentioned palaeosols bears a moderately diverse ichnofauna. Trace fossils presents are Coprinisphaera murguiai, C. ispp., Loloichnus baqueroensis,…

SOILS AND EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE Create a Google Doc titled “Soil Types and the Danger of Earthquakes”. At the top of the page include your full name, period, and date. Place the assignment title underneath. Then use the links provided to answer the accompanying prompts using not less than five sentences each. Use 12 or 14 pt. Arial font and organize your answers into four distinct sections corresponding to each prompt. Add graphics if you wish, just keep them reasonable in size. Your…