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Molly McT
May 12, 2017
President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Dear Mr. President,
About a month ago, you assigned a project to me and my team of scientists.
You asked us some questions that required a lot of data and research. We
have answered the questions in the following paragraphs.
The
most recent earthquakes
are occurring
at plate boundaries.
Specifically, convergent and transform boundaries. I noticed that all the
data was plotted on islands, mountains, faults, and coastlines.
Earthquakes are most likely to occur on coastlines, faults, and mountains.
This would mean that some places where earthquakes could happen in the
United States are California, Washington, and Missouri. These states all
have mountains, faults, or are on a coastline.
The areas of the world that are most prone to earthquakes are the areas on
convergent and transform plate boundaries. All the earthquakes I plotted
were on coastlines, islands, or mountain ranges. Any place that has had an
earthquake can expect to have another. This does not mean an earthquake
will happen any minute, so do not worry. However, people need to prepare
because earthquake prone areas will most likely have another in your
lifetime.
Earthquakes and volcanoes are not really related. Although some locations
have earthquakes and volcanoes this is only because of the plate boundary
they are on. Like I have said, earthquakes will happen on convergent and
transform plate boundaries.
Volcanoes occur in subduction zones.
Subduction zones happen when one plate is denser than the other so, the
denser plate descends into the mantle.
Therefore, if an Oceanic and
Convergent plate collide you get a subduction zone, volcanoes, and
earthquakes. An example of this is the Cascade Mountains.
The cause of earthquakes is tectonic forces. When stress is on rocks they
will bend and twist. When the stress becomes too great, the rocks can no
longer handle the pressure and they snap.
This causes vibrations that
travel to the crust. These vibrations are what we call earthquakes.
I hope these answers provide the information you need for the Earthquake
Research Project.
Sincerely,
Molly McTaggart
USGS Lead Scientist-Earthquakes