Back in Seattle!

Hi!
Let me start off with what happened after I last blogged. We took a flight from Christchurch to Singapore which departed at 10:50 AM and arrived at 5:40 PM in Singapore. We then took a flight to Hong Kong airport at 5:50 PM  which arrived there at 9:35 PM (SQ 2). We had to run between gates at Singapore. From Hong Kong we took a flight to San Francisco at 10:45 PM which arrived at 8:25 PM (SQ 2). Our last flight was from San Francisco to Seattle at 10:33 PM which arrived in Seattle at 12:30 AM (UA 351). I am happy to be back in Seattle, but sad that we don't get to visit any more places and learn more about plate tectonics. Plate tectonics sound boring on paper or on a computer screen and are way better to learn about by actually visiting the places. There is even some plate tectonic activity going on near Seattle. The Cascade range in Washington state is caused by plate subduction. I will end my travel blog with an image of Mt. Rainier:

Transform!

Hi!

So after we left the Christchurch airport we took a bus which stopped at various places along the route from Christchurch to Haast. We had a chance to take a look at the Southern Alps. Here is a picture:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Alps

We also saw how the Southern Alps are uneven and how one side is at a higher elevation than the other. Here is a picture that makes it clear:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alpine_Fault_SRTM.jpg

As you can see there is a clear line running through New Zealand which splits it into two halves. After we arrived in the city of Haast at around 11 PM we took a bus back to Christchurch. We got to Christchurch around 6 AM. Right now we are Christchurch airport waiting for out flight back to Singapore which departs at 10:50 AM.

New Zealand!

Hi!
The flight from Singapore finally departed at 7:45 PM and arrived in Christchurch at 9:25 AM (SQ 297). I am in Christchurch airport. We are about to take a road trip around New Zealand which will highlight some of the geographic features of New Zealand. New Zealand has a transform plate boundary running through it. This is when two plates move in opposite directions and are next to each other. In this case the plates are the Pacific plate and the Indo-Australian plate. Here is a diagram of a transform boundary:

http://www.divediscover.whoi.edu/tectonics/tectonics-slide.html

In New Zealand the plates rub against each other at a slight angle which causes the Southern Alps. One of the two plates is above the other so part of the Southern Alps is higher than the other side.There is a lot of tectonic activity due to plate movement here. There were 21 earthquakes above magnitude 6 in New Zealand which indicates very high tectonic activity. In the past 5 years there were 3 earthquakes above magnitude 7. In 2011 there was a magnitude 6.3 earthquake which killed 185 people. In 1931 there was a magnitude 7.8 earthquake which killed 256 people. This was the second worst disaster in New Zealand's history. The first was an airplane accident. There many volcanoes in New Zealand, mostly on its northern island. There are mostly small eruptions spaced a few years apart. There are no major eruptions like in Iceland. 

Collision!

Hi!
Let me start with where I left off again. So the morning after we arrived in Zurich we left for Swiss national park in a bus at 7 AM and arrived there at about 10 AM. Here is what we saw:

http://www.wsl.ch/mmv-3/program/ex-napa.ehtml

As I said previously this is the result of the Eurasian and African plates colliding. We also saw a lot of wildlife. This was somewhat similar to the Andes mountains which I wrote about in previous posts. What is interesting is that it was created in a different way. After spending most of the day there we took a bus from there back to Zurich at 7 PM. The bus arrived at 10 PM  and we went to the same hotel in Zurich. After spending the night there we went to the airport and took a flight to Singapore which departed at 11:45 AM and arrived in Singapore at 5:55 AM (SQ 345). We are in Singapore airport right now. Our flight to Christchurch in New Zealand is at 7:45 PM. Anyway this airport is amazing! This airport is way better than the Zurich airport! Exploring the airport can only keep us occupied for some time however. I am very bored.

Switzerland!

Hi!

Let me say what happened after I last left off on my previous blog entry. First we took the flight to Paris arriving there at 11:25 AM (AF 401). Then we took a flight to Zurich in Switzerland at 2:55 PM which arrived there at 4:10 PM (LX 639). The airport is amazing! There are free Swiss chocolate samples at almost every store in the airport. Anyway right now we are in a hotel in Zurich. Tomorrow we will visit the Swiss national park. That is the site of a collision plate boundary. They are formed when two continental plates collide. In this case we will be seeing the collision of the African and Eurasian plates. Here is a diagram of a collision boundary:

http://www.divediscover.whoi.edu/tectonics/tectonics-collide.html

As you can see the two plates collide and push each other up to create a mountain chain. The plates basically fuse together at collision boundaries. Earthquake activity is pretty low here compared to other areas. There has not even been one magnitude 6 or above earthquake in the Swiss Alps and the largest magnitude earthquake nearby is in the French Alps in 1909. There is no volcanic activity at all in Switzerland. There is however a volcanic activity in Italy which is nearby. There are 3 active volcanoes in Italy including Mount Vesuvius which erupted in 79 destroying Pompeii.

Subduction!

Hi!
It feels like I haven't been blogging for a long time. Anyway, after we landed in Santiago we took a flight to Punta Arenas (LA 097) which arrived at 5:20PM. Then we stayed at a hotel there until midnight when we took a bus from there to go to Torres del Paine National Park. The bus arrived at about 6 AM. We then looked around the national park and saw this:

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/photos/plate-tectonics-gallery/#/andes-mountains_814_600x450.jpg

This is caused by subduction of the Nazca plate under the South american plate as I explained in my previous post. The mountains will keep growing taller as the plates continue to subduct. We looked around the national park for almost the whole day and then at 11 PM we took the bus back to Punta Arenas airport which arrived there at 5 AM. Then we took a flight back to Santiago which    arrived at 9:25 AM (LA 096). We are here in Pudahuel airport right now waiting for our flight to Paris which departs at 3:50 PM. There is nothing to do but blog and explore the airport. 

Chile!

Hi!

Yesterday we woke up early and went to the airport to go to Chile, the location of a convergent plate boundary! Our first flight was from Reykjavik to Paris (FI 542) which departed at 7:40 AM Reykjavik time, and arrived at 1 PM Paris time. We then waited in Paris for 10 hours (in which I should have done something productive but didn't) until 11:20 PM. We explored the airport for a while and watched TV and surprisingly the time went by really fast. We then took the 14 hour flight to Pudahuel airport near Santiago (AF409) which arrived at 7:30 today. That is where we are right now. We will visit Torres Del Paine national park where we will be able to see the Andes mountains clearly. The Andes mountain range was created by a subduction boundary between the South American and Nazca plate. The Nazca Plate is subducting under the South American Plate. Here is a picture of a subduction plate boundary:

http://www.divediscover.whoi.edu/tectonics/tectonics-subduct.html

We will not actually be near a plate boundary. =( The Andes mountains are formed because of a plate boundary, but are not at a plate boundary. As you can see in the diagram the Nazca plate subducting causes molten rock to rise up into the South American plate creating a volcanic mountain chain. Earthquake activity in Chile is very high. In fact one of the highest magnitude earthquakes ever happened in Chile in 2010 with a magnitude of 8.8. The highest magnitude earthquake recorded happened in Chile in 1960 with a magnitude of 9.5. It is also a moderately volcanic area. The Puyehue volcano erupted in 2011 causing flight cancellations. It also erupted in 1960 right after the 9.5 magnitude earthquake.