Plate Tectonics

This last section of classes I have learned a lot about plate tectonics and how our earth moves. Earth is obviously continually moving. However, not only is the earth rotating, the ground underneath us is also moving. At one point all of the continents fit together in a giant mass called Pangaea. Plate tectonics and gravitational forces have caused the continents to shift and spread apart. There are three difference types of boundaries that are seen next to the borders of the continents. There are divergent, convergent, and transform boundaries. Each are different and apply to the crust differently. Divergent boundaries creat tension for the plates and in return cause earthquakes. The tension is so great that the plates can no longer take it and they begin to shake and move. This is going to become something that I will be dealing with very soon in my life. Next year I am moving to LA where the San Andreas fault is. Los Angeles is a city that gets hit by earthquakes a lot more often than Sacramento ever will. It's going to take a lot of years but, Southern California will one day be all the way where Alaska is currently. The plates continue to move, although slowly, and in millions of years our continents will look very different than they do today.

Volcanoes

I have been to Hawaii a number of times however, I have not been to the Big Island. The Big Island is where a great number of active volcanoes are. The Volcano Disaster Assistance Program was started in order to help those who have been hurt by volcanoes. Volcanoes have killed 29,000 people, which in the long span of things does not seem like a lot. But for volcanoes which there are not a lot of it kind of is. I am very interested in volcanoes because there are still a lot that are active. Those active ones are extremely dangerous and scientists can not be completely accurate when predicting when the next eruption will be. Something else that I am concerned with is earthquakes. Earthquakes are common in California. They are especially common in Southern California which is where I am moving next year. Understanding why earthquakes occur will help me be less scared about them.

Mesothermal climates vs. Microthermal climates

In my last blog, I briefly discussed the climate of Sacramento. It is a Mediterranean type climate which fits in the category of the Mesothermal climate. This means that it has mild-calm winters and hot dry summers. I have lived in Sacramento my whole life therefore, I believe that it is a really wonderful climate. I am on Spring Break right now and unlike the rest of the college-aged youth I went to a semi-cold place for my holiday. I was in New York on Saturday and stayed there for three days. Although we have passed the Spring Equinox on March 21st, it was freezing and rainy all during my stay there. This is due to it being in a Microthermal climate. They have a much greater seasonality than to Mesothermal climates. I have become used to the short mild winter of California and not the long, cold winter of much of the East Coast. I am now in Maryland, which is also a Microthermal climate, but the weather decided to change to warmer temperatures now. I am definitely not complaining about this! Being a California girl, I can not wait to return to my warm state and our Mesothermal conditions.