Sunday, March 13, 2011

How Shifting Plates Caused the Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

Shifting plates and rising water
The sudden movement of the Pacific tectonic plate under the North American plate caused a massive earthquake and a tsunami.


Magnitude of shaking.
An 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck the coast of Japan on Friday at a depth of about 17 miles below the earth's surface. Dozens of aftershocks, some of magnitude 6.0 or greater, were felt after the quake.

Source: U.S. Geological Survey


Predicted tsunami wave heights.
The tsunami set off warnings for much of the Pacific basin including the west coast of the United States and South America. Officials say waves have not caused major damage in Hawaii and pose no flooding danger in California.

Source: NOAA Center for Tsunami Research, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory


By JOE BURGESS, JONATHAN CORUM, AMANDA COX, MATTHEW ERICSON, XAQUÍN G.V., ALAN McLEAN, TOMOEH MURAKAMI-TSE, HAEYOUN PARK, GRAHAM ROBERTS, AMY SCHOENFELD, ARCHIE TSE, JOE WARD and JEREMY WHITE

No comments:

Post a Comment