Eurasian Plate

Maule Earthquake One of the largest Earthquakes in the world occurred on February 27, 2010. This Earthquake, known as the Maule Earthquake, took place on the offshore of Bio-Bio Chile with a magnitude of 8.8 (“Aftershocks of Chilean Earthquake”). Even with all the damage and destruction caused by the earthquake, the offshore of Bio-Bio, Chile was in for more destruction by the tsunami that shortly followed Maule Earthquake. As a result, Chile was impacted by the earthquake politically,…

Topic Suggestion #1: Natural Disasters and How to get Ready for It Analysis: Self: I often worry about natural disasters because I live right on the San Andrea’s Fault. Also, when I see the world news, I always hear that many people died because of natural disasters. I experienced many earthquakes, but my family was not ready for earth quakes. We do have emergency foods and lights, however, most objects in my house will fall once a major earth quake starts. When I was in middle school, around…

CHAPTER ONE 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION Pan African Orogen (PAO) was formerly introduced by Kennedy (1964) to designate the peak of a wide spread orogenic thermo-tectonic episode characterized by intense period of reactivation and crustal formation. The term Pan African Orogen was used to describe the structural differentiation of Africa into cratons and mobile belts during the Neoproterozoic to earliest Paleozoic time (Kennedy, 1964). However, Kröner (1984) reformulate…

Most of Costa Rica is dominated by the Sierra Madre mountains, literally fractured into individual ranges and valleys by violent volcanic eruptions over eons of time. Guatemala, except for the coastal areas, is a mountainous country of rolling hills, plateaus, deep river valleys, and numerous volcanoes – some still active.Speaking of volcanoes , Costa Rica’s most active one, located in the Tilaran Mountains erupts in some measure almost every day. To the southeast, the Poas, Barva, Irazu and…

Pangea! It was the supercontinent that existed about 300 million years ago. According to Alfred Wegener’s theory, long before us humans existed all of the continents used to be one large landmass. Who is Alfred Wegener you might ask? Alfred Wegener was a German polar researcher, geophysicist, and meteorologist born in Berlin on November 1, 1880. I chose to research about Alfred Wegener’s life and his struggles because we are currently focusing on the continental drift theory in science class. He…

Alfred Wegener was a german scientist who developed the theory of Continental drift. He believed all the continents were one land mass. He called this super continent “Pangea”. Wegener used evidence from three sources to support his theory. First, was fossil evidence from reptiles and plants. “Cynognathus” was a reptile that had fossils found on South Africa, and Africa. This is only possible because of continental drift, the animal couldn't have swam across a whole ocean. The next reptile is…

Geothermal energy is one of the oldest sources of energy. (Geo) a Latin root meaning earth and (thermo) a Greek root meaning heat, is where the word originates from. A simple way to phrase it would be that you are using renewable, heat energy from the earth. So what exactly does it do? According to an article by Alternative Energy Some forms of geothermal energy heats up groundwater. This heat eventually generates to hot spots surfacing near the surface of the crust. Examples of these hot…

Where Do Bacteria Grow? I had some prior knowledge about bacteria before conducting the environmental sampling lab. I knew that bacteria could be found in many different places. Also, different types of bacteria grow in different conditions. From prior experience, I remembered that to grow bacteria in a petri dish one must follow the proper technique. I chose to test how much bacteria grows on toilet handle in the bathroom. My prediction for the experiment before it was conducted was that…

The Liberty Hill pluton of South Carolina is one of twenty-four known granitoid bodies along the southern Appalachian Piedmont which possess the properties of a supergroup as described by Pitcher. The country rocks surrounding the plutons are at least mid-Paleozoic in age. Liberty Hill lies within country rocks of the Carolina Slate belt which consists of “primarily intermediate to felsic pyroclastic debris and hypabyssal intrusive bodies.” (Speer et al. 1980). The isotopic ages of…

Disasters are catastrophes that have impacted many places and people. Two examples of disasters are the Japanese Tsunami and the Peshtigo Fire. The tsunami that struck Japan was a tragic event that destroyed many homes, buildings, and vehicles. After an earthquake hit, a tsunami, or a very long and high wave, formed along the coast. The wave came and destroyed many cities and towns. The Peshtigo fire was a fire that occurred in 1871. Many fires happened for the previous days and then one night,…