Erosion is a concern in many coastal areas, but is particularly serious to island economies that rely heavily on the tourist industry (oceanexplorer.noaa.gov).” Geological studies of the islands indicate that the western portion of the island has high risk of damaging ground motion, equal to that of Seattle, Washington. The Caribbean and North American plates only have a slight component of subduction as movement takes place. “The Caribbean plate is roughly rectangular, and it slides eastward at about 2 cm/yr relative to the North American plate. Motion along
Travel Issue Paper Acqua Alta – High Waters in Venice There are many issues around the world that are affecting tourism. However, there is currently the issue of “Acqua Alta”, Italian for “High Water” affecting Venice, Italy and its surrounding areas. “Acqua Alta”, according to Trip Advisor, is the name given to water levels that are higher than usual and essentially invade the city of Venice, flooding most (if not all) streets and walkways. Durant Imboden, in his article High Tides and Flooding in Venice, states that this phenomenon is most likely to occur during late September to mid October. The cause of the flooding is attributed to high tide, low atmospheric pressure, and wind patterns.
It is this side-to-side load which causes the worst damage, often collapsing poor buildings on the first shake. The side-to-side load can be worse if the shocks come in waves, and some bigger buildings can vibrate like a huge tuning fork, each new sway bigger than the last, until failure. This series of waves is more likely to happen where the building is built on deep soft ground, like Mexico City. A taller or shorter building nearby may not oscillate much at the same frequency. Often more weight has been added to a building or structure at most frequently at greater heights; say another floor and another over that; walls built round open balconies and inside partitions to make more, smaller, rooms; rocks piled on roofs to stop them blowing away; storage inside.
On the positive side the dam is a renewable energy source but environmentally speaking it has done more damage than good. The construction of the TGD has had a huge negative impact on the environment all along the river. The controlled water flow has caused a decrease in water quality and changed the niche of many wild life species. Fish can’t simply swim up and downstream freely anymore which can affect their diet and matting patterns. The water behind the reservoir has destabilized some of the steep hills on the edges of the water causing landslides that can be very dangerous.
With the recent surge of construction all over Roseville, especially along Route 65, many of the important wetlands have been replaced by buildings, and roads that are pollution sources producing runoff that flows directly into the remaining wetland habitat. Impermeable surfaces like roads and streets can be major sources of runoff pollution, which can directly affect and degrade amphibian breeding
The areas namely: Embarcadero Freeway, Nimitz Freeway, which is in Highway 10, Oakland and the Interstate 280. Several communities that were also affected and experienced heavy damage include Los Gatos, Watsonville, and Santa Cruz. The process of liquefaction that was evidently identified by the occurrence of slumping, lateral settling and sand boils that were located in areas more than 110 kilometers starting from the origin of the earthquake. The liquefaction resulted in massive destruction of buildings and other facilities in the San Francisco Marina district. It spread to the coastal region of Alameda and
Below the vast swelling body of water lays another world filled with many species of sea animals from the dawn of creation and more that are still left to be discovered. However, this fascinating place is also contaminated with horrifying inventions against nature which must be sought to be protected and conserved. There is a tremendous amount of trash produced each day that can end up in the ocean and further pollute it. A specific focus is placed on the many particles of plastic debris that end up maneuvering through the water. Shockingly, there will result in more plastic in the ocean than fish by the year 2050.
They are born from tropic waters that affect quite a few across the world but in the Gulf of Mexico they tend to wreak particular havoc. These storms have potential for mass devastation through storm surges that flood the coastline often taking lives and possible contamination of water supplies, heavy rain which contributes to flooding situations and high winds coupling with tornadoes that destroy property, Storm surges are among one of the worst factors of a hurricane. Often, at the time, people do not even realize the impacts a storm surge can have and do not head authorities warnings to evacuate the coastline, which can result in a high death toll. As Jay Barnes notes in his research: As a hurricane churns across the open sea, the combined effects of the storm’s lowered barometric pressure and strong, inward-spiraling winds create a deep, swirling column of water beneath the ocean’s surface. This effect causes the sea level to rise in the vicinity of the storm, creating a dome of water that may be a few feet high in the center and a hundred miles wide.
6.1. Flood Prone Areas The areas, which are prone to flood-risks are : • places, which have a history of flooding (most important) • areas receiving heavy rainfall, with not much naturally sloping landscape • areas at the lower levels of naturally sloping landscape – where, the higher areas are receiving heavy rainfall • areas around sea-coasts, or, river banks • areas downstream of dams etc. As water level upstream of dams might rise, the dam authorities might be forced to release water (to safeguard the dam) – which might cause flooding of downstream
Furthermore, such hypoxic events are particularly common in marine coastal environments surrounding large, nutrient-rich rivers (e.g., Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico; Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay) and have been shown to affect more than 245,000 square kilometers in over 400 near-shore systems (Diaz & Rosenberg 2008). Hypoxia and anoxia as a result of eutrophication continue to threaten lucrative commercial and recreational fisheries worldwide. Figure 3 Helisoma trivolvis (left) and Physa acuta (right) are two of the most common freshwater snails in North America. Both species use chemical cues to detect predators such as molluscivorous fish and typically respond by hiding under rocks and logs or in shallow water. © 2013 Nature