For the “In The News” assignment from a Geography site, an article from the United States Geological Survey website was found to be extremely relevant. The article covers the recent earthquake in Japan that occured last Thursday, April 14th 2016. The earthquake in question had a magnitude of 6.2 and occurred North of Kumamoto, on the island Kyushu in Southwestern Japan. This is considered a moderate/strong earthquake. To put this into context, the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti had a magnitude of 7.0. The United States Geography Survey determined the earthquake to be a result of Strike Slip faulting one either a left-lateral strike faulting to the north-west or a right lateral strike faulting the North-east. Due to the Ryukyu Trench, which marks the boundary where the Philippine Sea Plate meets the Eurasia plates, the faulting actions of this earthquake suggests that it occurred within a crustal fault of the Eurasia plate. Thirteen shallow earthquakes, like the April 14th activity, with a seismic rating of 5.0 or more have occurred in Kyushu in the past century but have only caused injury to both people and the environment, no deaths.7 aftershocks have been located due to this earthquake. This article exhibits the real life effects of plate tectonics that we’ve been studying in class. The strike slip fault that between the continental Eurasia plate and the oceanic Philippine Sea plate exhibited exactly the real life outcomes that can occur presented in the textbook.
Geography 250
Does this earthquake or the strike-slip fault itself have any impact on the later earthquake in Ecuador? I ask since they are both on the Ring of Fire.
This article is really interesting. It is devastating for Japan to be hit by an earthquake, but it is also so relevant to what we have been talking about in class. Just like the San Andreas fault we discussed, the Japanese earthquake was caused by a strike-slip fault. I hope everyone is able to recover quickly from this storm.
This article was very interesting, especially because my family is from Japan. Usually I only know the magnitude of the earthquake, if it has done any damage, and make sure that my family is okay. My family was affected by the 2011 earthquake so this is a serious issue for me. Your article helped me to learn more, thank you!