Environmental Geology Week 4 Assignment

Plate Tectonics_Zachary Alfajri Kurniawan_21040122190048

Plate Tectonics in Indonesia, plate tectonics is a theory which suggests that earths outer
shell is divided into several plates which hover over the mantle, the stony inner layer above the
core. The reason for plate tectonics moving is due to the convection in the mantle, where hot
material near the Earth’s core rises and colder mantle rock sinks. The movement forms three types
of tectonic boundaries which affect Indonesia which are convergent plates which move into each
other, divergent plates which move apart and transform plates which slides past each other
horizontally.
The Convergent boundaries form when an oceanic plate goes under a landmass. As a result,
the edge of the continental plate may fold to form a mountain range, while the oceanic plate
subducts and the rock which melts in the Earth’s hot interior may cause earthquakes on its way up
and finally forming volcanic eruption as it reaches the surface. Convergent margin is portrayed
where the earthquakes become deeper to the north and follow the plunge of the subducted plate.
A case study on Krakatoa Volcano Eruption in 1883 is an example of Convergent Boundaries,
where the volcano erupted due to the subduction of the Indo-Australian tectonic plate as it moved
northwards towards Asia. A subduction zone is the area where two tectonic plates converge, where
one bends and slides under the other, going down the mantle, a layer under the crust. With Krakatoa
approximately 9km long and 5km wide, the initial eruption at 12:53pm sent debris and gas 24km
into the air. The explosion parted the magma chamber allowing the seawater to contact hot lava.
This event is known as a phreatomagmatic event and as a result, extremely hot steam carried the
pyroclastic flows up to 40km at speeds greater than 100km/h. The severity of the eruption is further
proved by the fact that it was given a rating of 6 on the Volcanic Explosion Index which uses the
volume of pyroclastic flows, height, and duration of the volcano to perceive the impact of the
volcano. Furthermore, dawn did not return for three days and an approximate 45km^3 of debris
was released into the sky.
Environmental Geology Week 4 Assignment
Plate Tectonics_Zachary Alfajri Kurniawan_21040122190048

Transform Boundaries, where two tectonic plates slide past each other horizontally, thus
creating stress when parts of these plates get stuck at areas where they touch, and the rest of the
plates continue to move. The stress causes the rock to break or slip meaning they suddenly lurch
the plates forward and cause earthquakes. These areas of breakage are called faults, with most
Earth's faults found along the transform boundaries in the Ring of Fire. An Example of Transform
Boundaries are Sumatran Fault. The Sumatran Fault is a strike-slip fault which extends the entire
length of Sumatra and coincides geographically with the volcanic arc. The fault is heavily
segmented, with most segments less than 100km long.
The importance of these short segments is that they limit the area that can be affected by
one event, and magnitudes tend to be limited to 7.5 or less. The mountains of Sumatra form a long,
straight line which although are fertile and highly populated valleys, predominantly sit on the fault
and damaging earthquakes cause severe damage. Earthquake activity around Sumatra has multiple
sources including thrust earthquakes on the subduction fault, strike-slip earthquakes on the
Sumatran fault, volcanic earthquakes, and deeper earthquakes within the subducting lithosphere.

Divergent Boundaries, a divergent boundary marks the collision between two tectonic
plates which move slowly across the surface of Earth over millions of years. When two tectonic
plates meet at a subduction zone, one bends and goes under the other towards the mantle, the hotter
layer beneath the crust. Since subduction zones have huge boundaries, they generate exceptionally
large earthquakes as the crust may stick together in some places gathering energy which is released
in the earthquake. Subduction zones also cause tsunamis as they are usually located near coastlines.
Tsunamis are triggered after an earthquake when the sea floor suddenly moves, due to the
magnitude of the earthquake. Thirdly, subduction zones can also cause volcanoes as when the
tectonic plate slides below the mantle, heating releases fluids such as carbon dioxide and seawater
Environmental Geology Week 4 Assignment
Plate Tectonics_Zachary Alfajri Kurniawan_21040122190048

which rise into the upper plate partially melt the crust on top forming magma, which causes
volcanoes.

When the Indo-Australian plate reaches a depth larger than 100km, the water it contains
lowers the fusion point of the surrounding rocks, creating magma. This magma is hotter and less
dense than the rocks around and therefore begin to rise towards the surface, where it begins to
form subduction zones. The Sumatran chain of volcanoes is always at an approximate distance of
300km from the trench, which is the surface limit between the Eurasian and Indo-Australian plates.
This tectonic plates cause many problems that happen around the world, the problem that
the scientist are investigating relates to the impacts of plate tectonics on the country of Indonesia.
Due to the movement of these plate tectonics which make up the Earth's crust, Indonesia is being
heavily impacted with a large number of natural disasters. Our website will investigate the
problems in Indonesia that have continually arisen from these plate tectonics, by both looking into
the problem itself and the effects of it being there, both economically on the lives of people in
Indonesia. A variety of maps and diagrams will be used to more clearly explain the location of the
plates, as well as how these plates interact with each other to cause damage to the people of
Indonesia. Many graphs and charts will also be used to show trends and to compare the economic
impacts that these plate tectonics are having on Indonesia. More importantly however, we will
evaluate several responses taken by both groups and governments around the world to counteract
the problem, followed by our ideas on what could and can be done to potentially reduce the
damage.
Some advantages of tectonic plates:

• They stabilize climate over the long run, that is, over tens of millions to billions
of years. The carbonate-silicate feedback is driven by weathering due to
temperature and precipitation, and this mechanism controls CO2 accumulation
in the atmosphere over the exceptionally long run. Tectonic plate movement
brings up new silicates to be weathered, providing the fuel for this mechanism.
Environmental Geology Week 4 Assignment
Plate Tectonics_Zachary Alfajri Kurniawan_21040122190048

Otherwise, without more silicates, CO2 would have uncontrollably

accumulated in the atmosphere billions of years ago and Earth may have turned
into Venus.
• They generate land and landforms. Without tectonic plate movement there
would be no mountains. Moreover, there would eventually be no continents at
all as they would be eroded away into the seas (also continents wouldn't have
formed in the first place). Volcanic islands can form independently of tectonic
plates, but mostly there is no land without the plates.
Some disadvantages of tectonic plates:

• There are 5 famous major mass extinctions in Earth’s recent history in which
~75%-96% of all existing life was wiped out. Tectonic plates likely played a
role in all of them and are directly blamed for 2–3 of them: the Permian-
Triassic extinction, the Triassic-Jurassic extinction, and the Late Devonian
extinction all had major volcanic eruptions accompanying them. These volcanic
events are sometimes called trap volcanism, and they leave giant flood basalt
deposits. (Such extreme volcanism is caused by tectonic plate movement).
• One of the most dramatic events in Earth history, the slightly controversial
“Snowball Earth” event, during which the Earth was completely encased in a
thick layer of ice (tens of meters to kilometers thick), was likely caused by the
arrangement of the tectonic plates. A bunch of small mid-latitude (tropical)
continents is one of the most likely causes of snowball earth. This continental
configuration allows rapid silicate weathering because of large coastlines, and
higher precipitation due to a warmer tropical location. Also, continents have a
higher albedo than the ocean - they reflect more of the sun’s energy back into
space. These feedback loops caused a runaway cooldown effect, freezing the
Earth for an estimated millions of years.
So tectonic plates give us a climate in which we can survive, and they also can destabilize
that climate and make it deadly for us.