Week 2: Tectonic Plates and Boundaries

The Maldives are located in the western part of the Indian tectonic plate, which has a transform boundary with the Arabian plate and a divergent boundary with Africa. The Indian tectonic plate continues to shift northeast into the Eurasian plate, resulting in 2 mm of landmass lost per year. The Maldives are typically not prone to earthquakes, although southern parts of the country, like Seenu, Gaafu, Alifu, etc., have a higher likelihood. It would be more likely to feel the aftershocks of earthquakes potentially nearby.

The Maldives were actually a result of two plated ramming into each other. India began to move up North and banged itself into Asia, which resulted in where India is located now and Africa was not too far behind. This Indian tectonic shift opened a rift in the Earth's crust, which allowed the formation of volcanic peaks to grow and rise out of the Indian Ocean. This mountain range of volcanoes (the Maldives Ridge) spans just about 1,300 miles and is what created the Maldives.

References:

https://dtmag.com/thelibrary/the-maldives-jewels-of-the-indian-ocean/#:~:text=The%20Maldives%20were%20created%20from,after%20the%20India%2FAsia%20pileup.

https://www.ndtv.com/science/indian-tectonic-plate-moving-below-himalayas-could-be-splitting-tibet-study-4928539

https://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/education/ITTI/usgs/seismic-tsunami-training-maldives/Tsunami_&_EQ.ppt


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 3:Earthquakes

Image
        The Maldives are less prone to any seismic activity and are somewhat considered rare. On average, this country only experiences about one/two earthquakes per year. If there was to be more earthquake activity, it would most likely take place in the southern part of the country, as that part is closer to an area with more seismic activity. Since the 1970s, this country has only had 45 quakes with magnitudes higher than 4, which is considered rare as the earthquakes they do experience are quite small.           As the Maldives don't really have to worry about any serious earthquakes, they still have general precautions for hazards that may take place there. One safety measure is community emergency response teams (CERTs), which are supported by UNICEF and the NDMA and plan and respond to emergencies/hazards on each island. These organizations also work with the government to conduct disaster management planning workshops with the pu...
Read more

Week 13: Coastal Erosion

Image
          The Maldives is made up of about a thousand islands, meaning they are quite susceptible and vulnerable to coastal erosion and the destruction of their land/homes that come with it. Looking at this country's coastal erosion, more than 90% of islands within this country have been affected by some level of erosion, and being islands, every inch of land they have is considered vital. There are a couple main factors contributing to this happening. The one that seems to be speeding up this process the most is global warming/climate change. As the temperatures warm, so do the oceans and frozen glaciers. This effectively creates more water in our oceans, and since that water has no where to go, it pushes onto the shorelines, breaking down the land and sand previously there. This country also having less than a five-foot elevation is another big problem. With such low elevation, there is nothing protecting or blocking the water from reaching the land. This...
Read more