How EARTHQUAKES affect the environment

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How EARTHQUAKES affect the environment.
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Standard 2.3

• Use information about the impact of human actions
  or natural disasters on the environment to
  support a simple hypothesis, make a prediction,
  or draw a conclusion.

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First The Question

• How does an Earthquake affect the environment of
  living things?
• Second Research and Observation

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Earthquake

• A sudden movement of the earth's crust caused by
  the release of stress collected along faults or
  by volcanic activity
• Earthquake Statistics http//neic.usgs.gov/neis/e
  qlists/eqstats.html
• Earthquake Video http//video.nationalgeographic.
  com/video/player/environment/environment-natural-d
  isasters/earthquakes/earthquake-101.html

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Richter Earthquake Magnitudes Effects
Less than 3.5 Generally not felt, but recorded.
3.5-5.4 Often felt, but rarely causes damage.
Under 6.0 At most slight damage to well-designed buildings. Can cause major damage to poorly constructed buildings over small regions.
6.1-6.9 Can be destructive in areas up to about 100 kilometers across where people live.
7.0-7.9 Major earthquake. Can cause serious damage over larger areas.
8 or greater Great earthquake. Can cause serious damage in areas several hundred kilometers across.
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Frequency of Occurrence of Earthquakes
Magnitude Average Annually
8 and higher 1
7 - 7.9 17
6 - 6.9 134
5 - 5.9 1319
4 - 4.9 13,000 (estimated)
3 - 3.9 130,000 (estimated)
2 - 2.9 1,300,000  (estimated)
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Worldwide Earthquake Related Deaths for 2000 -
2009
                     
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
                     
EstimatedDeaths 231 21357 1685 33819 228802 82364 6605 712 88011 369
 
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4 of the10 'Worst' Natural Disasters

• October 8, 2005 magnitude 7.6 earthquake in
  Pakistan
• 1976 earthquake magnitude 8 China
• New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-12 in southern
  Missouri
• Mass extinction 65 million years ago We are
  unsure of what caused this

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The New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811-1812

• During the strongest of the quakes, great cracks
  opened and spewed out sand and water. Gaping
  crevices formed, some twelve feet wide and deep
  and more than twenty feet in length.
• Low waterfalls developed at points along the
  Mississippi in the vicinity of New Madrid.
• The quakes caused waves to rush over river banks.
  Return currents washed countless limbs and even
  whole trees into the main channels.   

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• Many boats capsized, and cargoes and crews were
  never seen again. Seasoned riverboat pilots had
  to deal with whole new rivers. Cracks and
  fissures, downed trees, and other obstacles made
  roads and trails impassable.
• Massive landslides occurred along the Mississippi
  and Ohio River bluffs from Memphis to Indiana.
• Some ground areas rose or fell as much as twenty
  feet relative to the surrounding landscape.

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• An eighteen- to twenty-acre area near Piney River
  in Tennessee sank so low that the tops of the
  trees were at the same level as the surrounding
  ground.
• Whole forests sank below their original level and
  filled with water to form swamps and shallow
  lakes.

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• Reelfoot Lake was naturally formed through a
  series of earthquakes in 1811-1812, which caused
  the Mississippi River to run backwards and fill
  the area with water.
• In other areas, lakes and swamps rose to higher
  elevations.
• Soon their waters drained away or evaporated. In
  time they evolved into prairies and upland
  forests.
• Much of this land now supports Tennessee cotton
  and soybeans.

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A first person point of view of these
earthquakesJohn Bradbury was on the Mississippi
River on Dec. 15th, 1811

• After supper. we went to sleep as usual about
  ten o'clock, and in the night I was awakened by
  the most tremendous noise, accompanied by an
  agitation of the boat so violent, that it
  appeared in danger of upsetting...I could
  distinctly see the river as if agitated by a
  storm and although the noise was inconceivably
  loud and terrific, I could distinctly hear the
  crash of falling trees, and the screaming of the
  wild fowl on the river, but found that the boat
  was still safe at her moorings... By the time we
  could get to our fire. which was on a large flag,
  in the stern of the boat, the shock had ceased
  but immediately the perpendicular banks, both
  above and below us, began to fall into the river
  in such vast masses, as to nearly sink our boat
  by the swell they occasioned . . . At day-light
  we had counted twenty-seven shocks . . .

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Reel foot lake now
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They say we could have another massive Earthquake
soon.we have small ones all the time.

• http//folkworm.ceri.memphis.edu/recenteqs/Quakes/
  quakes0.html

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4000 earthquakes since 1974
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Now.

• Use your new Dry Erase Board to answer the next
  question.
• I will come see what you came up with

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How Earthquakes Impact the Environment

• collapsing buildings
• property damage
• mud slides
• fires
• floods
• tsunamis
• loss of power