Download Poster on PPT

PACIFIC RING OF FIRE
Sam Franklin, Emily Snow, Scott Zeman
ABSTRACT:
Many of the most dangerous natural disasters are related to seismic
disasters, such as tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanoes. The highest
concentration of these disasters is located around the Pacific Ocean, in
what is most commonly known as the Pacific Ring of Fire. Deaths may
occur from all of these disasters, and populations in close proximity to these
natural disasters may suffer the greatest. It was expected that there would
be great population concentrations affected by these disasters all the way
around the ring. To test this hypothesis, point data was acquired for all
three disasters, and city point data was used to represent the proximity of
major populations to these disasters. It was found that Japanese cities
contain the most numerous populations affected by seismic disasters in a
concentrated region. However, in general, areas of great seismic activity do
not contain the greatest populations.
PLATE TECTONICS:
How It Was Done:
•Select Data for Tsunamis – Since 1900 and Create New Layer
•Select Data for Earthquakes – Since 1900 and Create New Layer
•Select Data for Volcanoes – Since 1900 and Create New Layer
•Buffer Layer for Tsunamis – 1 km Radius
•Buffer Layer for Earthquakes – 16 km Radius
•Buffer Layer for Volcano – 40 km Radius
•Select Data for Cities – Population > 1000000 and Create New Layer
•Generally there exists an
inverse relationship
between population and
number of seismic
disasters.
•Japan, however, contains
both highly populated cities
and high numbers of all
three types of seismic
disasters.
80
70
75
66
60
50
48
44
40
30
20
27
25
13
11
0
Cities (Population > 1 million)
Reflections:
•Buffer Layer for Cities – 100 km Radius
•Since the study was general, the general conclusions reached were
appropriate.
Data Source: HAZPAC, An Interactive Map of Pacific Rim Natural
Hazards, Population, and Infrastructure, U.S. Geological Survey,
Digital Data Series DDS-76, 2002
11
10
•Select Data for Cities – 10 Cities in Pacific Ring and Create New Layer
•Change City Buffer to Hollow to Reveal Disasters within Buffer
11
Ko
be
Ky
Lo
ot
o
s
An
ge
le
s
Na
go
ya
Hi
ro
sh
im
a
Fu
ku
ok
G
a
ua
te
m
al
a
Li
m
a
Discoveries:
TEN MOST DANGEROUS CITIES
Ka
wa
sa
ki
O
sa
ka
Source: Furhman, Chris. “Earth’s Interior
Plate Tectonics Part 1.” Lecture. GEOG
110 001. Spring 2008. April 15.
Map Created By:
Scott Zeman,
Emily Snow,
Sam Franklin,
GEOG 370 006,
April 2008
Number of Seismic Disasters (Since 1900)
Seismic disasters are rooted in plate tectonics, the study of the earth’s
crustal plates and how they interact. Since these plates move, they may hit
each other, move away from each other, or slide across each other. As it
relates to the Pacific Ring of Fire, convergent plate movements are the
most applicable to understanding the disasters in this part of the world.
Convergent plate movements are distinguished by density differences. The
crust of the earth in the oceans is normally thinner but more dense than
continental crusts, which are thicker but less dense due to age. When
crustal plates move together in convergent plate movement, the denser of
the crustal plate will slide beneath the less dense plate. Plates are most
active around the Pacific Ring of Fire, so studying the movement of these
crustal plates, by measuring the effects of the disasters they create, one
may study the effects of plate tectonics of the affected populations.
•Problems in this study include: average buffer distances rather than
distance based upon magnitude difference for seismic disasters, city buffers
generalized rather than based on population density in different regions
•Future study may best be done through the manipulation of raster data
through reclassification, joins, and suitability analysis.