Mass movements are when huge masses of various materials such as soil, rock, debris, etc. move normally down hills. The main cause of mass movements is gravity.
The constant pull of gravity is the immediate power behind erosion. It causes downward and outward movements of landslides as well as the downward collapse of ground.
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Monday, May 18, 2015
Should the movie title be changed to Puente Hills?
The movie "San Andreas" should not have its title changed as the movie is about the entirety of the San Andreas Fault going off in a mega quake rather than just focusing on L.A. It even shows the Hoover Dam collapsing, and that's in Nevada.
L.A. over a century overdue for a mega quake as the last mega quake to occur was in the 1680s.
Dr. Jones is a 59 year old US geological seismologist that rose to fame after the occurrence of a 6.7 magnitude earthquake 20 years ago, which killed 50 people and caused over $20 billion in damage.
Dr. Jones is worried about L.A. should 'the big one' occur as many of the buildings in L.A. were built in the 50s and 60s, where there were major issues in design and didn't compensate for earthquakes. This means that those buildings could topple or collapse in on itself should an earthquake occur.
'Retrofitting' is the process in which a building is reinforced with stronger materials that help the building withstand earthquakes such as steel braces.
If there were to be a 7.5 magnitude earthquake to occur on Puente Hills, it is estimated that it would kill 18,000 people make Several million homeless, and cause up to $250 billion in damage due to it being right under downtown L.A.
Puente Hills is more of a risk to L.A. because there is a much higher concentration of people living there and it would cause more damage to L.A.
A picture of LA and its dense population
http://socialventurepartners.org.s3.amazonaws.com/www.socialventurepartners.org/sites/49/2013/05/Los-Angeles-Slider1.jpg
A picture of the earthquake's damage in Haiti
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Haiti_earthquake_damage.jpg
L.A. over a century overdue for a mega quake as the last mega quake to occur was in the 1680s.
Dr. Jones is a 59 year old US geological seismologist that rose to fame after the occurrence of a 6.7 magnitude earthquake 20 years ago, which killed 50 people and caused over $20 billion in damage.
Dr. Jones is worried about L.A. should 'the big one' occur as many of the buildings in L.A. were built in the 50s and 60s, where there were major issues in design and didn't compensate for earthquakes. This means that those buildings could topple or collapse in on itself should an earthquake occur.
'Retrofitting' is the process in which a building is reinforced with stronger materials that help the building withstand earthquakes such as steel braces.
If there were to be a 7.5 magnitude earthquake to occur on Puente Hills, it is estimated that it would kill 18,000 people make Several million homeless, and cause up to $250 billion in damage due to it being right under downtown L.A.
Puente Hills is more of a risk to L.A. because there is a much higher concentration of people living there and it would cause more damage to L.A.
A picture of LA and its dense population
http://socialventurepartners.org.s3.amazonaws.com/www.socialventurepartners.org/sites/49/2013/05/Los-Angeles-Slider1.jpg
A picture of the earthquake's damage in Haiti
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Haiti_earthquake_damage.jpg
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Sea level rise
It's possible to link sea level rise to the recent CO2 boom because the atmosphere and ocean communicate via exchange of gases. The increased amount of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere increases its overall amount, meaning that it gives more CO2 to the ocean inadvertently incurring sea level rise.
Oceans height is determined by many factors, as it is not a flat mass of water, so it is affected by many things. The melting of land based glaciers increases sea level, winds and the tide change it as well due to them moving water around in a specific way. Gravity changes the density of water, which means that the more gravity there is the more compact the water is, changing its height.
Scientists have managed to find a way to accurately determine sea level with the use of current technology. Satellites allow scientists to measure sea level from directly above, with satellites emitting a radio wave that acts as a sonar wave like bats. The satellite measures the time in which it takes for the radio wave to bounce back, meaning that it can accurately measure the height of the oceans granted that it was calibrated and coded properly with only a tolerance for mistake of one to two centimeters.
I have made a graph on infogr.am that displays the sea levels of Hawaii and San Diego over the course of fifteen years. Click here to view this graph
Sea level change due to increase in temperature that was caused by CO2
Oceans height is determined by many factors, as it is not a flat mass of water, so it is affected by many things. The melting of land based glaciers increases sea level, winds and the tide change it as well due to them moving water around in a specific way. Gravity changes the density of water, which means that the more gravity there is the more compact the water is, changing its height.
Scientists have managed to find a way to accurately determine sea level with the use of current technology. Satellites allow scientists to measure sea level from directly above, with satellites emitting a radio wave that acts as a sonar wave like bats. The satellite measures the time in which it takes for the radio wave to bounce back, meaning that it can accurately measure the height of the oceans granted that it was calibrated and coded properly with only a tolerance for mistake of one to two centimeters.
I have made a graph on infogr.am that displays the sea levels of Hawaii and San Diego over the course of fifteen years. Click here to view this graph
Sea level change due to increase in temperature that was caused by CO2
Recent sea level rise that compares a three year average with satellite altimetry
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Ocean Acidification
Ocean Acidification is the process in which the Earth's oceans absorb more carbon dioxide, increasing its acidity. Carbon dioxide dissolves into water and turns into carbonic acid, and the way that oceans get carbonic acid is when it communicates with the atmosphere, and the atmosphere has had a huge increase in carbon dioxide as of late. This results in more carbon dioxide transferring into the oceans, making them more and more acidic. There is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere due to humanities meddling in technology, and this technology requiring fossil fuels that burn through carbon dioxide as fast and often as we breathe air. CO2 is a much stronger greenhouse gas than water vapor because it can absorb much more heat than water vapor. This means that it can re-emit more heat onto Earth, contributing much more to the greenhouse effect. The ocean is having a pH deficiency, making the ocean more acidic and has less material for shelled creatures to create their sheLos, resulting in smaller shelled animals. Acids and bases are measured in pH. A low pH means that it has a higher acidic effect, while a higher pH means it's more of a base. Having the chemistry of the ocean changed affects the biology of the creatures residing there.
The pH scale
http://www.naturalalliance.org/images/ph_scale2.jpg
A picture of the pH in the sea
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/WOA05_GLODAP_del_pH_AYool.png
The pH scale
A picture of the pH in the sea
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/WOA05_GLODAP_del_pH_AYool.png
Friday, April 17, 2015
Human Footprint, Carbon & Sustainability
The five low impact areas that I chose are Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Alaska, Yukon, and The city Timmins. These areas are low impact because they have a sparse population only in a few concentrated areas, and are much less developed than cities like San Diego or Detroit. This means that nature is more abundant in these areas.
The five high impact areas I chose are San Diego, Detroit, Jacksonville, Vancouver, and New York. I chose these areas because they're urban, have an extremely high density population, and emit most of the world's carbon dioxide with millions of cars in each city. They also contribute to most of the world's light pollution and are pretty much huge blocks of concrete.
Here is the link to my map that details everything
A picture of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere
http://www.redorbit.com/media/uploads/2012/07/1176525841-617x416.jpg
http://modernsurvivalblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/usa-population-density-map-flat.jpg
The five high impact areas I chose are San Diego, Detroit, Jacksonville, Vancouver, and New York. I chose these areas because they're urban, have an extremely high density population, and emit most of the world's carbon dioxide with millions of cars in each city. They also contribute to most of the world's light pollution and are pretty much huge blocks of concrete.
Here is the link to my map that details everything
A picture of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere
http://modernsurvivalblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/usa-population-density-map-flat.jpg
A picture of population density in the U.S.
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Carbon & I
Carbon has been a present element on Earth since its very beginning. The Carbon Cycle represents all of the ways that carbon travels through the biotic and abiotic (living and non-living ecosystems) sections of the world as it changes states.
There are many ways that carbon ends up in the carbon cycle, one way is through sedimentation, plants and animals being buried under layers and layers of dirt, soil, rocks, etc. and being compressed over millions of years into fossil fuels such as coal, oil or natural gas.
Another way that carbon stumbles onto the carbon cycle is through respiration, the process in which animals inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide into the world where plants absorb it and release oxygen, in a never-ending cycle.
Fossil fuels are made of living organisms that died millions of years ago such as plants and animals that eventually convert their energy and carbon into what we know as crude oil and coal. The process in which living organisms turn into fossil fuels takes millions upon millions of years, while humans are burning through Earth's supply of it over the course of hundreds of years. This means that fossil fuels are an unsustainable resource yet we are already reliant on them even though we will eventually run out of it with no way to replenish our supply.
Carbon in the modern world has both positive and negative effects. A positive aspect of carbon is that it allows us to advance technology and culture, with most of our tech such as phones, clothes, and other various pieces of technology that we take for granted today. A negative effect of carbon is that it essentially overloads Earth's supply of carbon in the atmosphere, which increased the greenhouse effect increasing the global temperature, ultimately devastating many species of animals and plants that have adapted over millions of years and are temperature specific.
I took a survey online that shows how much carbon that I'm saving throughout my life, and I found out that I'm saving 6,371 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year compared to the average American. For some odd reason it also told me that that is the equivalent to a car driving 6,796 miles.
The Carbon Cycle in action
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Carbon_cycle.jpg/1215px-Carbon_cycle.jpg
A graph showcasing annual carbon emissions by region per year
http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/files/2014/06/Emission_by_Region-RRohde.png
Click here to go to a graph showcasing our carbon dioxide emissions throughout the years.
There are many ways that carbon ends up in the carbon cycle, one way is through sedimentation, plants and animals being buried under layers and layers of dirt, soil, rocks, etc. and being compressed over millions of years into fossil fuels such as coal, oil or natural gas.
Another way that carbon stumbles onto the carbon cycle is through respiration, the process in which animals inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide into the world where plants absorb it and release oxygen, in a never-ending cycle.
Fossil fuels are made of living organisms that died millions of years ago such as plants and animals that eventually convert their energy and carbon into what we know as crude oil and coal. The process in which living organisms turn into fossil fuels takes millions upon millions of years, while humans are burning through Earth's supply of it over the course of hundreds of years. This means that fossil fuels are an unsustainable resource yet we are already reliant on them even though we will eventually run out of it with no way to replenish our supply.
Carbon in the modern world has both positive and negative effects. A positive aspect of carbon is that it allows us to advance technology and culture, with most of our tech such as phones, clothes, and other various pieces of technology that we take for granted today. A negative effect of carbon is that it essentially overloads Earth's supply of carbon in the atmosphere, which increased the greenhouse effect increasing the global temperature, ultimately devastating many species of animals and plants that have adapted over millions of years and are temperature specific.
I took a survey online that shows how much carbon that I'm saving throughout my life, and I found out that I'm saving 6,371 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year compared to the average American. For some odd reason it also told me that that is the equivalent to a car driving 6,796 miles.
The Carbon Cycle in action
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Carbon_cycle.jpg/1215px-Carbon_cycle.jpg
A graph showcasing annual carbon emissions by region per year
http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/files/2014/06/Emission_by_Region-RRohde.png
Click here to go to a graph showcasing our carbon dioxide emissions throughout the years.
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