Week 2: Tectonic Plate Boundaries

Week 2: What are Tectonic Plates?

Tectonic plates are huge, irregular slabs of solid rock which is usually made up of continental and oceanic lithosphere, the outermost shell on Earth. These plates can cause many different type of things such as earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain building, etc. According to the USGS, tectonic plate size and thickness varies for each single plate making them different with the plate sizes ranging from "a few hundred to thousands of kilometers across" and the thickness ranging from "less than 15 km for young oceanic lithosphere to about 200 km or more ancient continental lithosphere".

Side-Impact Tectonics Created Colombia's Strange Geology


Tectonic plates actually created the Isthmus of Panama. According to Donovan, it's stated that instead of the isthmus "rising and subsiding ocean levels or existing as a string of islands as scientists previously believed, the Isthmus of Panama was first a peninsula of Southern Central America before the underlying tectonic plates merged it with South America 4 million years ago". Earthquakes are a common occurrence in Panama where it was stated by Salas that there has been "more than 2,500 earthquakes registered in Panama" in 2018. The largest earthquake recorded in Panama was the 1882 Panama earthquake which occurred in San Blas Islands, Panama.

Baru, the Panamanian volcano that sleeps and controls two seas

Panama has two Holocene volcanoes which are both stratovolcanoes, cone-shaped volcanoes. These volcanoes are named Baru and El Valle and only the Baru volcano is relatively considered as active since it last erupted in 1550 compared to the El Valle volcano which last erupted thousands of years ago.


References:

Donovan, Kelly. “Isthmus of Panama Formed as Result of Plate Tectonics.” Research News, 5 June 2020, www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/isthmus-of-panama-formed-as-result-of-plate-tectonics/#:~:text=As%20tectonic%20plate%20movement%20joined,into%20the%20Gulf%20Stream%20current. 

Salas, Erick Burgueño. “Panama: Annual Number of Earthquakes.” Statista, 17 Apr. 2023, www.statista.com/statistics/717153/number-earthquakes-registered-panama/. 

“Earthquakes in Panama.” Earthquakes in Central America, 2 Oct. 2018, www.satcaweb.org/panama/. 

“Global Volcanism Program: Panama Volcanoes.” Smithsonian Institution | Global Volcanism Program, volcano.si.edu/volcanolist_countries.cfm?country=Panama. Accessed 2 Sept. 2023. 

“What Is a Tectonic Plate?” USGS, 5 May 1999, pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/tectonic.html. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 10: Extreme Weather Events in Panama

Image
Week 10: Extreme Weather Events   In Panama, there are many extreme weather events that occur in the country such as intense and protracted rainfalls, windstorms, floods, droughts, wildfires, earthquakes, landslides, tropical cyclones, and tsunamis. The most common extreme weather event that occurs in Panama would be rainfalls which causes floods and landslides. In Panama, this is called the hurricane/rainy season which happens from June to November. Panama isn't usually directly impacted by hurricanes, but these hurricanes cause heavy rainfall and other hazards to inhabit the country. The people and country of Panama deal with many extreme weather events as Panama ranks 14th among countries most exposed to multiple hazards based on land area. One of the extreme weather events Panama goes through are floods because of the common occurrence of heavy rainfall. On November 21, 2021, there was a deadly flash flood warning in Panama which took the lives of two people with one gone missi
Read more

Week 4: Volcanic History in Panama

Image
Week 4: Volcanoes In Panama, there are a total of four volcanoes which isn't as many compared to other countries. Two of these volcanoes are Holocene while the other two are considered as Pleistocene volcanoes. Going more into detail, Holocene volcanoes are volcanoes that were active in the past 11,700 years while Pleistocene volcanoes are volcanoes that were active from 11,700 to 2.5 million years ago. The Tisingal and La Yeguada volcanoes are the two Pleistocene volcanoes that are located in Panama which aren't active. However, the Baru and El Valle volcanoes are the two Holocene volcanoes that are located in Panama which are active. The El Valle volcano is considered to be a still active volcano, but there hasn't been any recorded evidence of when it last erupted. However, the Baru volcano is the youngest major volcano located in Panama and the most recently active which it last erupted around 500 years ago in 1550. In 770 AD, the Baru volcano largely erupted which destr
Read more

Week 13: Coastal Erosion in Panama

Image
  Week 13: Coastal Erosion In Panama, there are some parts of the country where coastal erosion occurs. According to the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, coastal erosion is when "local sea level rise, strong wave action, and coastal flooding wear down or carry away rocks, soil, and/or sands along the coast. Coastal erosion occurs when there are strong currents and high waves which erodes the coast by breaking off sediment particles or moving rocks. Since Panama gets a good amount of extreme weather events including storms and flooding, this causes the country to have coastal erosions. Furthermore, climate change and human activities plays a role in the creation of coastal erosion as well. Gardi Sugdub, also known as Crab Island, is a tiny island off Panama's coast and has been a home to Guna Indigenous people for over 100 years. They have faced many problems and coastal erosion is one of them with floods and storms causing a rise in sea levels. Not only are floods and storms c
Read more