Earthquakes are the most lethal of all natural disasters. What causes them?Geologists explain them in terms of a theory known as plate tectonics. Continents floating apart from each other; this is referred to as the continental drift. Aboutsixty miles below the surface of the sea, there is a semimolten bed of rock overwhich plates, or slabs, carry continents and sea floors at a rate of several inchesa year. As the plates separate from each other, a new sea floor is formed by themolten matter that was formerly beneath. Volcanic islands and large mountainranges are created by this type of movement. The collision of plates causesgeological instability such as that in California called the San Andreas Fault,located between the Pacific and North American plates. The plates there areconstantly pushing and pulling adjacent plates, thereby creating constant tremorsand a potential for earthquakes in the area Geologists would like to be able to predict earthquakes accurately. Using laserbeams, seismographs, gravity-measuring devices, and radio telescopes, they arepresently studying the San Andreas Fault to determine the rate of strain and theamount of ground slippage. Calculations indicate that sometime in the future,California will be struck by a major earthquake.In spite of the geologists’ theory of plate tectonics, there are still gaps in man’sunderstanding and knowledge of the causes of earthquakes. Powerful earth-quakes have occurred in places where plate boundaries are hundreds of milesaway. In the 1800s New Madrid, Missouri, and Charleston, South Carolina, wereshaken by earthquakes that no one had foreseen.Certain areas of the world are quake prone. Italy, Yugoslavia, and Algeria haveexperienced many quakes. In November 1980, Naples was struck by an especiallydevastating quake. China and Japan have also been hit by horrendous quakes. In1923, Tokyo and Yokohama were reduced to rubble by gigantic tremors that werefollowed by fires, tornadoes, and finally a thirty-four-foot tsunami, or tidal wave,which was caused by the earth’s drop into the waters of Tokyo BayWhat effects have geologists’ predictions of earthquakes had? The Chinese inHaicheng in 1974 were warned that an earthquake might occur within the nextyear or two. With the help of amateur seismologists’ observations of animalbehavior and the rise and fall of water in wells and measurements of quantities ofradioactive gas in water, professional geologists were able, in January 1975, topredict an earthquake within the next six months. On February 4, Haicheng wasdestroyed, but because its residents had been evacuated, very few people werekilled. In California, where earthquake is an ever-present menace, building codesnow require quakeproof structures, and Civil Defense units have intensified theirtraining in how to deal with disaster should it strike or, perhaps more accurately,when it strikes
đang được dịch, vui lòng đợi..