Manny's Geology Blog

Japan is located at the junction of 4 tectonic plates - the Pacific, Philippine, Eurasian and North American plates, and its volcanoes are mainly located on 5 subduction-zone related volcanic arcs where the Pacific Plate descends under the North American Plate along the Kuril Trench and the Japan Trench and underneath the Philippine Sea Plate along the Izu-Bonin Trench. The Philippine Plate itself subducts beneath the Eurasian Plate at the western end, forming the Ryukyu Trench. The principal resulting volcanic ars are: - Ryukyu Arc and Southwest Honshu Arcs in the south (Philippine plate subducting beneath between the Eurasian Plate), - Izu-Bonin-Mariana Arc (subduction of Pacific plate beneath Philippine plate) - Northeast Honshu and Kurile Arc in the north (subduction of Pacific plate beneath the N-American plate)  The image above is an active volcano in Aira, Japan. The primary volcano type is Caldera. The last known eruption happened this year. It's latitude is 31.5

  Seismicity is the frequency of earthquakes in an area. According to the Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Maps in Japan, each site will be affected by an earthquake of seismic intensity 6 lower or more within 30 years. It can be seen on the images above that most of Japan's seismicity is located in the East and South. One of the reasons why Japan gets hit by so many strong earthquakes is because they are located on what's called the "Pacific Ring of Fire." This ring of fire is considered the most active earthquake belt in the world and it goes around a couple of plate boundaries. Since Japan is the country to get hit with the most frequent strong earthquakes, they are also the country that is most prepared for earthquakes. Here are some examples on how they prepare for earthquakes: Children in school are taught heavily on how to prepare for an earthquake under any scenario with monthly drills at school After the Kobe earthquake in 1995, building regulations for

  Japan is very unfortunate since they are in the middle of 4 different plate boundaries. They are surrounded by the Phillipine Plate, Eurasion Plate, North American Plate, and the Pacific Plate. Japan is also unfortunate because they are near a convergent boundary. The reason why I say Japan is unfortunate due to all of this because they are located in a spot where there lots of volcanoes located and where many strong earthquakes happen.Japan get very strong earthquakes (compared to what we are used to) because they are near a convergent boundary which are plates that move toward one another. This played a key factor on why Japan was hit by an earthquake of a magnitude of 9 and a tsunami in 2011. References: 1)   http://montessorimuddle.org/2011/03/11/plate-tectonics-and-the-earthquake-in-japan/ 2)   http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/north_asia/japan_tec.html

A Natural Hazard is a natural event that can be a potential threat to humans and their property. In my opinion, natural hazards see ms more terrifying than disasters and catastrophes because no area is considered "hazard-free" in the US. It feels like you can't get away from natural hazards. Some examples are earthquakes and volcanoes. A Disaster is considered a hazardous event that occurs over a limited time span within a defined area. Usually when a disaster occurs there are at least 10 people killed, at least 100 affected, declared stated of emergency, and there is requested international assistance. A Catastrophe is considered a massive disaster that requires significant expenditure of money and an amount of years for recovery. High income countries suffer the more economic losses but the lowest number of deaths.