Plate Tectonics: Italy

   Italy is know to be one of the most vulnerable countries when it comes to earthquakes. This is due to the country being on top of two fault lines, the North South fault and the East West faults. Italy already having to fault they have to the with being in the middle of two tectonic plates which are the African and Eurasian Plates. Their plate is know as the Adria microplate which is next to the other plates I mentioned. Italy is constantly pulled and pushed by these two plates and it is the reason for their many earthquakes and deaths over the years. I believe that they are very close to their tectonic plate boundary because of the research I have done and the maps that are shown in the websites I have seen. This a convergent boundary; a convergent boundary is when neither plate is not sinking into the asthenosphere because they are not dense enough  it will lead to a compression as a result. Which lead to major earthquakes.                                                                                                                                          These are links that I used if you guys want to read more

Blakemore, Erin. “The Geology Behind Italy's Catastrophic Quake.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 24 Aug. 2016, www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/geology-behind-italys-catastrophic-quake-180960233/.           

             Ravilious, Kate. “The Geology That Causes Italy's Spine to Quake.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 6 Nov. 2016, www.theguardian.com/science/2016/nov/06/geology-italy-earthquakes-apennines-tectonic-plates-norcia-terrawatch.           

Comments

  1. AnaGGSeptember 1, 2017 at 12:56 PM

    Nice post and good research links. As you say, Italy's tectonic setting is really complicated, and with lots of faults dissecting the middle of the country. Lots to talk about next week in quakes...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousSeptember 2, 2017 at 4:28 PM

      Hi Andrew, great post. I wasn't aware that Italy is one of the most vulnerable countries when it comes to earthquakes. I've always wanted to visit, so it's good to know what hazards, such as an earthquake, can occur at any given moment.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 5, 2017 at 11:59 PM

    Hi there Andrew! After looking at the map, I knew I had to read your take on this week's topic. In my post, I mentioned how my country, the Netherlands, is near some plate boundaries and how it experiences some of runoff damage from them it. However, I feel like Italy is probably feeling the greatest impact from those boundaries, with it being right in the middle of everything. I can imagine it experiences similar flooding incidents with it's location. I can't wait to read more about how this country is doing.. I just love Italy!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Earthquakes: Italy

Earthquakes are the most common natural hazards around the world, they can be very deadly not only to buildings and roads, but to human lives. Earthquakes are measured by the Richter scale which was invent back in the 1930's. It measures the amplitude of the seismic waves to an arbitrary minor amplitude, which shows in a standard distances on a standardized seismograph. Italy which has been around for 2500 years has had 30000 medium and high intensity earthquakes. That falls in the range of IV/V in the Mercalli scale, which is used to measure the effect of the earthquake. 560 high intensity earthquake over VIII; this helps them to know what areas are the highest prone for earthquakes. The have help ready for after a earthquake hits if it is high. They recommend hiding under a beam or low-bearing wall. They want people to stay inside if they can this is all during an earthquake. If you want to learn more Ill leave the link: “Civil Protection Departmen...
Read more

Italy: Mass wasting

Image
     Mass wasting usually happens when their are floods or large amount of rainfalls. Then the pressure of the water loosens the dirt and then causes a mud slide carrying other debris and materials along with it. It can cause loss to human life  to unsuspected citizens as well as property damage. In Italy in a town called La Spezia a land slide happened and it cause a truck to be pushed of the road and rolled down the hill. It was due to a large amount of rain about 400mm of rainfall and loosened the dirt causing this event. This can happen in a split second and if you do not listen to the news for information it can be very deadly. Being very cautious when it is rainy and being aware of what is being said about the weather and help save lives and hopefully help this from being more dangerous than it already is. Links is down below for more information: http://mocevicgeog.blogspot.com/2012/10/mass-wasting.html
Read more

What I learned

I have learned a lot through the course of the semester, I know how many countries including our own prepares for natural disasters. Every country has there own hazards that occurs in their own country, that range from floods to volcanic eruptions. I know how earthquakes occur, and the different boundaries like, Divergent, Convergent, Transform. There are many plates involved when it come to Convergent boundaries such as ocean-ocean, ocean- continent, and continent-continent, they all have their own dynamics and end result. This natural hazard occur often and cause a lot of damage to property and loos of human life when an earthquake hits high on the Richter scale. Every country has their way of educating their citizens on how to get through earthquakes and the events that happen afterwards. Thing that can occur after are tsunamis or when the seafloor sits on top of the Earth's crust and shifts up or down during a earthquake. These ...
Read more