The earthquake occurred in the backarc region of the convergent boundary where the Pacific Plate subducted beneath the Eurasian Plate. The earthquake shaking caused moderately severe damage, VIII on the Mercalli scale. The jolting movement of the seabed made the water rise and fall, which set off a terrifying tsunami. The fast-moving waves spread in all directions. They hit Okushiri less than four minutes later.
(Some geologists argue that this portion of the Eurasian Plate is actually a fragment of the North American Plate called the Okhotsk microplate.) A part of the subduction zone measuring approximately 190 miles (300 km) long by 95 miles (150 km) wide lurched as much as 164 feet (50 metres) to the east-southeast and thrust upward about 33 feet (10 metres). (“Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011, 1”) A series of extremely destructive tsunami waves followed the 9.0 earthquake along with the dozens of foreshocks and aftershocks that came with it. The city of Sendai, its surrounding area and airport were pounded by a wave
Environmental Psychology Article Analysis Psychology 460 University of Phoenix October 23, 2011 ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY An earthquake so powerful that it knocks the earth off its axis and the coast drops off three feet. A tsunami follows the earthquake leaving tens of thousands of people dead. When watching a live tsunami along the Japanese coast is quite an amazing sight. It was such an extraordinary and dramatic sight to get to witness broadcasting live into the homes across the world. This is an analysis on what is known to be the largest earthquake and biggest tsunami ever to hit Japan on March 11, 2011.
The plates meet with each other, and if rough spots cause the movement to stop at the edges, the motion of the plates continue. When the rough spots can no longer hold, the sudden release of the built-up motion releases, and the sudden movement under the sea floor causes a submarine earthquake. This area of slippage both horizontally and vertically is called the epicenter, and has the highest magnitude, and causes the greatest damage. As with a continental earthquake the severity of the damage is not often caused by the earthquake at the rift zone, but rather by
Discuss the view that the impact of earthquake hazards depends primarily on human factors [40] An earthquake is a tremor or shockwave in the earth’s crust that is caused by the sudden movement of the crust, resulting in the earth shaking. Most earthquakes are a consequence of tectonic plate movement by tension causing a sudden release of energy or rubbing. These normally occur at plate margins or along fault lines and can cause hazards which need to be prevented where possible. Earthquakes can therefore occur at all plate boundaries, destructive, constructive and conservative but the most damaging tend to happen at destructive margins where the earthquakes have a high magnitude due to the rubbing of the oceanic and continental crusts. A hazard is a natural event that has the potential to effect both life and property.
When the pieces of lava collect on a steep slope, then the side of the delta crumbles often and creates a bunch of submarine landslides. Collapses like this can catch unsuspecting people and push them into the ocean and sometimes also cause big explosions. Lava deltas get wider to the sides as well as longer out into the water until a landslide happens or until the lava flow to the water is stopped. First, the pahoehoe lava is thick and slowly moves across the beach or drops over a small cliff. Waves from the ocean slosh onto the lava, causing the lava to cool at a rapid pace and break into tiny glass pieces.
Movement in this fault zone resulted in the great Hanshin earthquake. A 30-50 km long rupture of a strike-slip fault occurred close to and under downtown Kobe. The eruption towards the north ruptured towards Kobe. The earthquake’s shallow depth of 16 km and close proximity to the built-up area meant that buildings and structures were subjected to much ground-shaking and soil liquefaction On Tuesday, January 17th 1995, at 5.46 am (local time), an unexpected earthquake of magnitude 7.2 on the Richter scale struck the Kobe region of south-central Japan, the shallow depth of the focus which was only about 16 kilometres below the surface and the fact that the epicentre occurred close to a very heavily populated area caused a great destruction. Seismic shockwaves travelled from Awaji Island (the epicentre) along the Nojima Fault to the cities of Kobe and Osaka.
Earthquakes are caused by the rift and abrupt movement of two rocks that suddenly slip past one another. Earthquakes occur along faults which are fractures in the lithosphere where sections of rock move past one another. There are three important parts to an earthquake: the focus, the epicenter, and seismic waves. The focus is the point on the fault where the separation occurs and from where the seismic waves are formed. The epicenter is located directly above the focus on the earth’s surface.
The point on the Earth's surface directly above the hypocenter is called the epicenter of the earthquake. The closer you are to the epicenter of the earthquake, the more dangerous and devastating. The severity of an earthquake can be expressed in terms of both intensity and magnitude. Although the two terms are very different, they are often confused with each other. Intensity is based on the observed effects taken place during the earthquake, for instance the ground shaking underneath people, buildings, and natural features.
Geology The Loma Earthquake 1989 Name Course Date due An earthquake is a physical occurrence where vibrations are caused by underlying rocks that are breaking under a lot of stress. The rocks are situated under the earth’s crust and are mostly caused when two tectonic plates come together, and pressure is created along the fault lines. It is then released towards the earth’s surface resulting in an earthquake. In 1989, the Loma Earthquake occurred in the region of the Santa Cruz Mountains that caused a total number of 63 fatalities, 3,557 injured related cases. It also destroyed a lot of property which is estimated to be about $6 billion.