The Restless Earth

Convection currents in the mantle and how they cause plates to move:

• The convection currents that are in the matle that cause the plate to move by the mantle getting hot (from the core) causing it to rise up, cool down and go back down.  A bit like when you boil water. 
• By it doing this it creates circular motions and makes the plates move like a treadmill. 

Destructive Subduction- when the oceanic crust sinks under the continental                                                   crust (volcano)

Destrucitve Collision- when 2 continental crusts go head to head forcing                                                them to go upwards.(fold mountains, ocean trenches)

Constructive-  When the plates are moving apart. (island) 

Conservative-  When the plates are moving side by side. (earthquakes) 

What is the difference between composite and shield volcano?

• Shield volcanos are found on constructive plate margins
• Composite volcanos are found on de-constructive(destructive) plate margins
• Shield volcanos have fast flowing lava which is why they are more flatter
• Composite volcanos have slow runny lava
• Composite volcanos are more violent becuse when it errupts it spits out ash, volcanic bombs and poisonous gasses. 
• Shield volcano eruptions are frequent but not violent 

• Pyroclastic flow- Hot gas which can melt your insides and within seconds                                   your vapourised.
• Volcanic bombs- Massive rocks
• Ash- if breathe in it goes into your lungs and goes sort of cement like. 
•          Can block out the sun

• Gasses- Sulphur dioxide gas which is poisonous, it goes into the clouds                      which creates acid rain which can burn your skin.
• Lava- Anything in it's path gets destroyed. Can burn you alive. Runny lava             can go at very high speeds. 

The role of the llama in the life of Andean residents:

• They don't loose their footing
• They can carry 25% of their body weight (200kg)
• They are use for travel
• Females nowadays are used for milk
• Very useful

The dis-advantages of a gold mine in Peru:

• Pollution
• Spray rocks with cyanide (poisonous) which they wash with water, then it goes into the river, All the animals in the water die. 
• Lots of men there so there is lot of prostitution. 
• Crime, drink, drugs
• No police, mine owners lead but they don't really care, as long as they come to work. 
• 1% of the money goes to the town, the rest goes to the government.

What is hydro-electric power?

• Water that produces electricity by water in a reservoir spinning a turbine.

Advantages:

• It's good for the Andes because to make the turbine spin there needs to be movement and if the water is whooshing down the Andes there will be lots of movement which will create lots of energy. 
• It's good because it produces no carbon dioxide so it doesn't harm the earth.

Disadvantages: 

• The only bad thing is that all the houses, plants and animals will have to be re-homed by the flooding. 
• Another bad thing is that it is very expensive to build and must be built to a high standard.

Eruption of Mount Nyiragongo:

• Erupted on 7th January 2002
• Lava split southwards in 3 streams 
• Lava reached  60 kph 
• In Democratic Republic of Congo
• Killed 45 people
• Aid came slowly because the airport was covered in lave and there was no place for airplanes to land. 
• Volcano was disturbed by the movement of plates along the East  African rift valley.
• Set off explosions especially at the airport. 
• 300,000 people went to Rowanda, then cam back 
• Cut through Goma and split it in half. 

Primary Effects:

• Lost 390m on top of the volcano
• Everything living in a zone 25km North wards of blast was wiped out 
• 57 people died 
• Most killed by poisonous gasses 
• Logging camp was destroyed 
• Roads were closed 
• All airplanes didn't fly for 1 week in America 
• Global temperature got colder for a little while because all the ash and dust covered the earth. 
• It flattened the trees

Secondary Effects: 

• Get ash off the roofs or they'll collapse
• Filter pumps and other equipment 
• Ash blocked up sewage pipes
• 12% of food didn't grow because of the ash 
• US government spent $2-3 billion because of the blast 
• Less Tourism, Less money

Long Term Responses: 

• Rebuilt all bridges
• Rebuilt all roads 
• Closer monitoring of the volcano 
• Replant all trees 
• Encouraging tourism 
• Designated ad a National Monument 
• The BIG/MASSIVE clear up 
• Encouraging natural regeneration (bringing animals back.)

People can go visit: 

• The national monument 
• New wildlife in the area
• The crater on the side of the volcano 
• To see the transformation and disruption
• To see the improvement of the area since the eruption 

Positive Effects:

• Infertile lave turns into great soil, over time you can grow crops. 
• Landscape is amazing 
• Environment is hot so you can save money on heat
• Get hot water from volcano and pumps through house 
• Free heating, electricity and water
• People sit in natural hot water pool with natural minerals in. 

How to predict a volcano:

• Look and measure any earthquakes (magma starting to move)
• Observe any bulges or changing shape (magma build up) 
• Use tilt-meter (tells you if the volcano is starting to move) 
• GPS  (Global Positioning Systems) 
• Camera 
• Satellite (shows temperature on the surface, if its hot the magma is rising)
• Check any gasses coming out of it. 
• Spider (walks up by remote)

• Super volcanoes are found on plate boundaries; 2 in New Zealand & 1 in Asia. 
• They also occur on hot-spots; 3 in North  America and 1 in Asia. 
• Super volcanoes are much more spread out than normal volcanoes
• There is only little super volcanoes

Primary Waves: Travel the fastest causing back and forth movement

Secondary Waves:  Are slower and cause movement from side to side like a                                           snake 

Surface Waves: Cause up and down movement on the surface

The Richter Scale: Measures the strength of an earthquake. (10 fold                                                      increase every time it increases by 1)

The Mercalli Scale: Says the effects/damages 

• Kobe Earthquake: 
• At 5:46am 
• 17th January 1995
• On Phillipenes Plate which shifted uneasily beneath Eurasian Plate
• 7.2 on the Richter scale 
• Lasted 20 seconds but 2 minutes on softer land. 
• Primary Effects:  
• Massive damage to transport
• Ports damaged caused by liquefaction
• Older office blocks and wooden houses collapsed
• Secondary Effects: 
• Fires, Congestion,Chaos on roads
• Closures to businesses
• Homelessness 
•  64,34 dead
• 40,000 injured 
• 300,000 homeless

Immediate Responses:  

• People searched for people in rubble
• Hospitals struggled to cope for injured 
• Allowed people to have essentials
• Telephone connections were free

Long-Term Responses: 

• 80% of railways working within 1 month 
• 80% of roads working within 1 year 
• Businesses lost 
• Cost Japan $220 Billion
• Buildings were built far apart 
• All buildings had a flexible steel frame 
• Rubber Blocks put under bridges 

• Sichuan Earthquake: 
• 12th May 2008
• At 2:28pm 
• Indian Plate and Eurasian Plate 
• 7.9 on Richter scale 
• Lasted 2 minutes (120 seconds)
• Primary Effects: 
• 69,000 dead
• 18,000 missing 
• 374,000 injured 
• 5-11 million homeless
• Secondary Effects: 
• Cost $75 million 
• Roads were blocked
• Communication were brought to a halt 
• 80% of buildings collapse in some cities 

Immediate Responses:  

• Response took 30 hours to get there 
• Slow response 
• HELP took 3 days 
• 20 helicopters for a big area 
• People parachuted down to assess the situation whilst others hiked on foot 
• Thousands of army troops were deployed after the earthquake

Long-Term Responses: 

• 1 million temporary small houses made 
• Vice governor hoped it would take 3 years to get everything rebuilt.
• Government put forward 10 million dollars (weak, poorly built houses)

Earthquake in a Rich country: 

• Emergency services straight away 
• Not many buildings collapsed because they are well built 
• Things re-built quickly 
• Everything is planned well , free communication, look for people 
• Got all the right equipment  

Earthquake in Poor Country: 

• Buildings fall down 
• Cut communication 
• Takes longer t rebuild 
• Not right equipment 
• Not well planned 
• Took long time to get help 
• Not much money to improve buildings 
• Panic 

Prediction- Attempts to forecast when and where and earthquake will happen 

• Fore-shocks- look at animals behavior
• Good because you get a rough idea of when it's going to come
• Bad because it's not precise

Protection- Constructing buildings so they are safe to live in and won't collapse

• Making earthquake resistant buildings
• Good because buildings twist and bend instead of collapsing 
• Bad because its very expensive and it can bend too much if the earthquake is big   

Preparation- Organizing activities and drills so people know what to do 

• Drills and earthquake practice
• Good because people will know how to protect themselves
• Bad because LEDC's can afford it causes by lack of equipment 

• A Tsunami is triggered by an earthquake under the sea. 
• Sumatra Earthquake: 
• Estimated 220,000 dead, 650,000 injured, 2 million homeless
• Public buildings including schools and hospitals were wiped out in areas 
• Identification of the dead on such a massive scale was a real issue, so was disease. 
• Tourism businesses went down.
• Immediate Responses: 
• Emergency & rescue teams to get people out of the rubble & find survivors 
• Water purification tablets ( to purify water) and High protein food
• Sent tents for shelter
• Medical teams and forensic scientist 
• UK government promised £75 million and public donations of £100 million 
• Long-Term Responses: 
• £372 m donated by British public, £128 m was spent by Disaster Emergency Committee
• £40m spent on Sri Lanka and Indonesia
• £190 m in second year was spent on building 20,000 houses for 100,000 homeless people (5 people per house)

Short Term Aid: Provision of support immediately after the disaster eg. website so people can donate money, give food, water and possibly clothes. 

Long Term Aid: Less about immediate survival but about rebuilding peoples lives, months and years after the disaster.