1. How lines are the location patterns of earthquakes, volcanoes, and fault in N
ID: 153108 • Letter: 1
Question
1. How lines are the location patterns of earthquakes, volcanoes, and fault in North America related to its tectonic plate boundaries? What have been some of the different erosional impacts of laciers, running water, wind, and wave action on the geomorphology of the American and Canadian West? 2. 3. What are some examples that illustrate the relationship between topographic barriers and human settlement on the North American continent during the Euro-American era? 4. How do the barriers posed by high mountains influence precipitation patterns on the windward side as compared to the leeward side of a range?Explanation / Answer
1)Volcanoes are the openings through which the molten material from the earth's interior comes to the surface. These openings are intricately related to the earthquakes. These volcanoes generally occur at the types of plate settings:
Convergent boundaries,divergent boundaries and over the hot spots.
Near the state of California Gonda plate is subducting beneath the North American plate and giving rise to the volcanism of Mt Shasta and Mt. Lassen. Just a bit north of it Juan de Fuca plate is subducting under the North American plate forming a chain of volcanoes named Cascade range volcanoes. In the same state of California, along the San Andreas fault major earthquakes are concentrated. This is an example of transform strike slip fault.
In Alaska, pacific plate is subducting under the North American plate to produce the string of volcanoes of Aleutian Islands.
2) Geomorphology is study of the surface features of the earth and its relation to the weathering mediums. At the time of Pleistocene large areas of Canada, northern America and Alaska were under glacial ice. These glaciers had some serious impacts on the landforms of the area. At the central low land and the northern great planet they eroded great amount of rocks and sediments. At present vast areas of Dakotas and Nebraska are covered by the glacial debris. After their retreat, wind blown sediments(loess) were deposited at the lowlands of Nebraska. Missouri Plateau is another example of hilly region covered by the glacial debris. Hummocky terrains are found at the Columbia river basalts.
3) Although Columbus is given the major credit of discovering America, before his finding many people were already living in the continent. After his discovery Europeans rapidly occupied the areas of North America. Their occupancy was strongly dependent on the geography of the area. They mainly localized at the coastal sides of the large mountains of the area. Rocky Mountains, Sierra Madres, Appalachian Mountains are some of the examples of the land barriers that affect their population distribution over the continent.
4)When moist air comes across a mountain range,it gets obstructed by the mountain. So it follows it's way upwards along the slopes of the mountains and gets cooled. As the moist air gets cooled it condenses and forms clouds. These clouds give rise to heavy precipitation on the windward side of the mountain range. As the air crosses the mountain, it is almost out of moisture content and comes down along the slope of the mountain. As the air comes down the slope,it becomes warm and results in no precipitation. So the leeward side of the mountain range gets no precipitation and are areas of great deserts.
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