Geography: Write Short answer Faulting and volcanism help to shape the world aro

Question

Geography: Write Short answer

Faulting and volcanism help to shape the world around us. Describe each of these processes by focusing on:
(a) Processes: How do these two items differ? How does each shape the earth?

(b)Types: What are the names of the different types of volcanoes? What are the different types of faults?

(c) Landform Creation: What landforms can be created as a result of volcanism? What landforms can be created from the different faulting types?

(d) After describing these features of volcanism and faulting, conduct additional research to locate one example (that is not included in our textbook) of each of the following: Caldera   -    Normal Fault     -     Reverse Fault

*When discussing these items be sure to identify its general location, name, and what identifies each as that type of fault/volcano. Make sure to cite your resources

Explanation / Answer

A fault is a crack across which the rocks have been offset. They range in size from micrometers to thousands of kilometers in length and tens of kilometers in depth, but they are generally much thinner than they are long or deep. In addition to variation in size and orientation, different faults can accommodate different styles of rock deformation, such as compression and extension. Not all faults intersect Earth's surface, and most earthquakes do no rupture the surface. When a fault does intersect the surface, objects may be offset or the ground may cracked, or raised, or lowered.

We call a rupture of the surface by a fault a fault scarp and identifying scarps is an important task for assessing the seismic hazards in any region. Volcanoes occur along the edges of the plates. There are two types of plates, oceanic and continental. Various types of movement occur along the different kinds of plate boundaries. Plate collisions create landforms such as coastal volcanoes, island arcs, and mountain chains. When plates move apart, they produce new ocean floor as magma from the mantle rises up through volcanoes and deposits new rock along the plate boundaries. (Eduplace.com, 2017). In some areas plates slide alongside each other, neither creating nor destroying land. The different types of faults are:

- Where the crust is being pulled apart, normal faulting occurs, in which the overlying (hanging-wall) block moves down with respect to the lower (foot wall) block.

- Where the crust is being compressed, reverse faulting occurs, in which the hanging-wall block moves up and over the footwall block – reverse slip on a gently inclined plane is referred to as thrust faulting.

- Crustal blocks may also move sideways past each other, usually along nearly-vertical faults. This ‘strike-slip’ movement is described as sinistral when the far side moves to the left, and dextral, when the far side moves to the right.

- An oblique slip involves various combinations of these basic movements, as in the 1855 Wairarapa Fault rupture, which included both reverse and dextral movement. (Foundation, 2017).

The different types of volcanoes are:

- Cinder Cone Volcanoes: These are the simplest type of volcano. They occur when particles and blobs of lava are ejected from a volcanic vent. The lava is blown violently into the air, and the pieces rain down around the vent.

- Composite Volcanoes: These volcanoes have a conduit system inside them that channels magma from deep within the Earth to the surface. They can have clusters of vents, with lava breaking through walls, or issuing from fissures on the sides of the mountain. (Cain and Cain, 2017).

- Shield Volcanoes: These are large, broad volcanoes that look like shields from above – hence the name. The lava that pours out of shield volcanoes is thin, so it can travel for great distances down the shallow slopes of the volcano.

- Lava Domes: Volcanic or lava domes are created by small masses of lava which are too viscous (thick) to flow very far. Unlike shield volcanoes, with low-viscosity lava, the magma from volcanic domes just pile up over and around the vent.

A volcano is a landform created during an event where lava comes out from the Earth’s crust. While volcanoes erupting, molten lava pushes the ground upwards until it goes out of the volcanoes vent. Continuous eruption leaves layers of lava and makes the volcano higher or wider. What a volcano actually is a hole in the Earth’s crust that lava and other Earth debris come out of a lot of the time or even hundreds of years apart. (Travelingintuscany.com, 2017) The landforms formed are:

- Volcanoes and Vents

- Lava Domes

- Lava Plateaus

- Land (Worldlandforms.com, 2017).

Tectonic landform, any of the relief features that are produced chiefly by uplift or subsidence of the Earth’s crust or by upward magmatic movements. They include mountains, plateaus, and rift valleys. Tectonic processes build landforms mainly by causing the uplift or subsidence of rock material blocks, layers, or slices of the Earth’s crust, molten lavas, and even large masses that include the entire crust and uppermost part of the planet’s mantle. In some areas, these processes create and maintain high elevations such as mountains and plateaus. In others, they produce topographic depressions. (Anon, 2017).

Caldera   -    Normal Fault     -     Reverse Fault example:

- Olympus Mons

- Dolomieu

References:

Anon, (2017). [online] Available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jgrb.50057/pdf [Accessed 18 Jun. 2017].

Cain, F. and Cain, F. (2017). What are the Different Types of Volcanoes? - Universe Today. [online] Universe Today. Available at: https://www.universetoday.com/27333/types-of-volcanoes/ [Accessed 18 Jun. 2017].

Earth Eclipse. (2017). What are Landforms and Major Types of Landforms on the Earth | Earth Eclipse. [online] Available at: http://www.eartheclipse.com/geology/what-are-landforms-and-major-types-of-landforms-on-earth.html [Accessed 18 Jun. 2017].

Eduplace.com. (2017). Volcanoes and Earthquakes. [online] Available at: http://www.eduplace.com/kids/sla/6/volcanoes.html [Accessed 18 Jun. 2017].

Foundation, C. (2017). Volcanic Landforms | CK-12 Foundation. [online] CK-12 Foundation. Available at: https://www.ck12.org/book/CK-12-Earth-Science-Concepts-For-High-School/section/6.29/ [Accessed 18 Jun. 2017].

Worldlandforms.com. (2017). Volcano - Volcano Landforms and Types of Volcanoes. [online] Available at: http://worldlandforms.com/landforms/volcano/ [Accessed 18 Jun. 2017].

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