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:
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.
Akhi, I really like your blog, it really makes it better with the little touches like the flight numbers!
ReplyDeleteDavid Z