Explain The Role of Plate Tectonics in Your Chosen Disaster...
Plate tectonics play a massive role in the 79 AD eruption of Mt Vesuvius and any volcanic eruption ever.
Plate tectonics are what created the volcano in the first place. When pressure builds up from the intense heat inside the Earth’s core (approx. 6000° C), the particles of all the magma, rock, minerals etc. move very fast together and this causes the pressure under the plates of the earth to rise. The pressure and movement gets higher and stronger until the plates slip on a fault line. They either move away from each other (divergent boundary) causing mid ocean ridges or push together (convergent boundary) causing volcanoes and deep sea trenches. A convergent boundary is where two plates are pushing together on a fault line. Subduction is a relatively common pressure release to occur on fault lines during the converging of two plates, but only if one or both of the plates is oceanic lithosphere. An oceanic plate will fall back into the mantle, while the continental plate will push itself over the top and replace the oceanic plates spot. When a volcano is created, the plates push together (converge) and then one slips on top of the other (subduction). This causes an earthquake, and slowly but surely, causes the land to rise causing mountains and volcanoes. In the 79 AD Mt Vesuvius disaster, the plates converged and then slipped, causing hot magma and lava to come flowing out of the centre of the earth to inside the volcano, that had erupted many times before. Because it had erupted so many times previously, there was a large crater inside the volcano where the magma rested before erupting 15 years later. When it did erupt, the magma from the asthenosphere (refer to diagram) rose through to the lithosphere and out through the continental crust. |
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