Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Understanding plate tectonics helps to explain the cause of submarine earthquakes. The Earth's surface or lithosphere comprises tectonic plates which average approximately 80 km (50 mi) in thickness, and are continuously moving very slowly upon a bed of magma in the asthenosphere and inner mantle.
Subduction is the driving force behind plate tectonics, and without it, plate tectonics could not occur. [12] Oceanic subduction zones are located along 55,000 km (34,000 mi) of convergent plate margins, [ 13 ] almost equal to the cumulative plate formation rate 60,000 km (37,000 mi) of mid-ocean ridges.
This causes the oceanic plate to buckle and usually results in a new mid-ocean ridge forming and turning the obduction into subduction. [citation needed] Orogenic belts occur where two continental plates collide and push upwards to form large mountain ranges. These are also known as collision boundaries. Subduction zones occur where an oceanic ...
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami was triggered by a megathrust earthquake along the convergent boundary of the Indian plate and Burma microplate and killed over 200,000 people. The 2011 tsunami off the coast of Japan , which caused 16,000 deaths and did US$360 billion in damage, was caused by a magnitude 9 megathrust earthquake ...
Over 20% of all fatalities caused by volcanism during the past 250 years are estimated to have been caused by volcanogenic tsunamis. [ 48 ] Debate has persisted over the origins and source mechanisms of these types of tsunamis, such as those generated by Krakatoa in 1883, [ 48 ] and they remain lesser understood than their seismic relatives.
In the Himalayan region, where the Indian plate subducts under the Eurasian plate, the largest recorded earthquake was the 1950 Assam–Tibet earthquake, at magnitude 8.7. It is estimated that earthquakes with magnitude 9.0 or larger are expected to occur at an interval of every 800 years, with the highest boundary being a magnitude 10, though ...
Normal tsunamis result from displacement of the sea floor due to movements in the Earth's crust (plate tectonics). Powerful earthquakes may cause the sea floor to displace vertically on the order of tens of metres, which in turn displaces the water column above and leads to the formation of a tsunami.
Generated a tsunami along the Tsugaru Peninsula. [18] Twelve people killed and 164 homes destroyed. Considerable damage in Ajigasawa. [19] [20] 1802 Sado Island Earthquake (M uk 6.6) At least 19 people killed, 732 homes destroyed and 1,423 damaged. [21] Caused 2 m (6 ft 7 in) of uplift on the Ogi Peninsula, exposing pillow lava from the Miocene.