Earthquakes are a sudden release of energy from movement within the earth's crust. They are most common at plate boundaries. There are thousands of earthquakes across the globe every day but most are too small to be detected without special equipment, although big ones can cause massive destruction. Have a look at the resources mentioned here to help you understand the causes and effects of this natural disaster.
A good place to start is the BBC website which has a great selection of resources on earthquakes. Still with the BBC, Bitesize has a good revision section on earthquakes, as does S-Cool and Cool Geography. If you want to find out more about measuring earthquakes then have a look at the Geography Site.
Have a look at this video too to help you understand the phenomena.
Yellowstone park sits on top of one of the biggest volcanoes on earth - in fact it is a supervolcano that has erupted several times with massive force over the course of the last two million years. Geysers like Old Faithful are a tell-tale sign that volcanic activity is going on just beneath the surface. The Independent published an article on supervolcanoes earlier this year.
Click on the following links from the National Park to find out more about the Yellowstone Volcano. The ingredients of a geyser. What is driving the geyser. Where is the Volcano? Old Faithful Webcam.
Mount St Helens in Washington State in the western United States erupted in May 1980 after two months of earthquakes and steam venting. The eruption caused the entire north face of the mountain to collapse, with the pyroclastic flow destroying everything in its path, melting glaciers on the mountain and then causing massive mud slides (lahars). The volcanic cloud spread across the USA in just three days and encircled the earth in two weeks. This National Geographic video provides a great introduction to the topic, explaining how volcanoes are formed. Then take a look at this Discovery Channel video about the effects and this clip on the devastating effects of the Mount St Helens eruption.
The idea that the earth's plates are in constant movement can be a confusing notion, but this extract from the series "Earth, the Power of the Planet" by Dr Iain Stewart gives an excellent explanation of the processes that are taking place.
The earthquake and Tsunami in Japan has had devastating effects on the country, killing over 10,000 people and severely damaging one of the country's nuclear power stations with the very real danger of a catastrophic meltdown. Take a look at this interactive map from Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail to examine the effects of this disaster and look at the for the latest on the situation. Also have a look at the excellent and regularly updated BBC site on the earthquake. Below is a video clip of the effects of the disaster using before and after photographs of some of the affected areas.
For the causes of earthquakes and tsunamis and for information on related natural disasters, take a look at the other posts on this subject on the blog.
For a very detailed and informative explanation of plate tectonics and the structure of the earth try these two links on the Moorlands School website. For some beautiful satellite images of volcanoes have a look at the NASA site.
After nearly 200 years of inactivity, Mount St Helens in Washington state in the USA erupted in May 1980. The explosion, which was estimated to have the equivalent power of 500 atomic bombs, killed 57 people in this sparsely populated area and had a devastating effect on local wildlife, destroying thousands of deer, elk and bear as well as countless birds and small mammals. For further details on the eruption look at the following website.
Here is an informative video on the eruption and a useful animation about how volcanoes are formed.
We will be starting a new topic on earthquakes and volcanoes in Year 8. So here are a selection of videos to provide a taster of what we will be studying.
