Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Ring O Fire Quakes

Ring O Fire Earthquakes
Volcanoes are not the only frequent natural disaster in the Ring Of Fire, Earthquakes are also common in the Ring of Fire. Out of today’s earthquakes (3/27/17), all most all of them have been on the Ring O Fire, and all of them are around Asia, North and South America. Most of Earth's quakes are here do to the movement of the tectonic plates. These quakes are also a result of the frequent volcanic explosions in the area. Out of all of the volcanoes on Earth, the ones around the Ring O Fire are undoubtedly the most powerful on the planet.

Shimen, China
    The earthquake in Shimen, China had a magnitude of 5.0. The location of the earthquake is 25.901°N 99.710°E. This earthquake had a depth of 28.79 km. It happened on 2017-03-26 at 23:55:06.860 UTC. This earthquake caused serious damage to over 500 houses. Thankfully, only one person was injured by falling tiles.


Earthquakes Today
There has been a total of 90 earthquakes in the past 24 hours (as of 3/28/12 @11:09 am) according to http://earthquaketrack.com/recent. The latest earthquakes happened around 4 hours ago in Northern Peru.  It had a magnitude of 4.7 and a depth of 129 km. The biggest earthquake this year was in Panguna, Bougainville, Papua Guinea and it had a magnitude of 7.9. As of yesterday, there has been a cluster of earthquake activities in Puerto Rico near the Puerto Rico Trench. Out of the 11 earthquakes that have recently shook up the area, the biggest quake was in Road Town, British Virgin Islands with a magnitude of 3.5 and depth of 93.0 km.  


History of Earthquakes
    For as long as the Earth has been in existence, there has always been earthquakes. Earthquakes are caused by the movement of tectonic plates, and the earth’s plates have always been in motion. Most of today's quakes are located in the Ring O Fire, the line around the Pacific Ocean going through Asia, North and South America. Others also occur outside of the ring, like the one in Louisa, Virginia in 2011, when a magnitude 5.8 earthquake shook the entire state and could be felt over 500km away from the epicenter in Mineral, Virginia. Over ⅓ of the US population at the time felt the quake, so it was the biggest quake in that respect in US history. In the past, Earthquakes in Japan have been devastating, killing thousands and producing volatile tsunamis, causing even more damage. Due to Fracking in Oklahoma, seawater that has been released has caused daily quakes, which will continue until fracking ends there. In human history, there has always been powerful earthquakes, and there always will be as long as the Earth is in existence.