Vulcano

Fun Fact: Volcano in Italian is Vulcano


There are currently THREE active Volcanoes in Italy. According to a website called Understanding Italy, "Italy is home to three active volcanoes, all located in the south of the country. Mount Vesuvius, in Naples, is the only active volcano on mainland Europe. It is famous for the destruction of the Roman towns of Pompei and Herculaneum in 79 BC, an event described in great detail by Pliny the Younger" (http://www.understandingitaly.com/profile-content/volcanoes.html).

According to an article posted on BBC News Europe, In 2003 Efforts were made to put in a warning system that would warn the Island where Vesuvius is and people up the coast of Italy as well, including the warning of people if a Tidal Wave is coming, "within 10 minutes, we will have alerted the whole coast" Says Emergency Official, Elvezio Galanti.  

To Read the full BBC article click here. 

Active Volcanoes in Italy

Name	Height (m)	Last Activity
Mount Etna	3,329	Continuous
Stromboli	926	Continuous
Mount Vesuvius	1,281	1944

Image of MT Edna

Dormant Volcanoes in Italy

Name	Height (m)	Last Activity
Pantelleria	836	1891
Vulcano	500	1890
Campi Flegrei	458	1538
Ischia	789	1302
Larderello	500	1282
Lipari	602	729
Vulsini	800	104 BC
Colli Albani	950	5,000 BC

- See more here

Citations:
"BBC NEWS | Europe | Early Warning System for Stromboli." BBC News. BBC, 07 Jan. 2003. Web. 23 Sept. 2016.

"Italian Volcanoes, Volcanoes in Italy, Volcanic Activity Italy, Mount Etna, Mount Vesuvius, Stromboli,active, Dormant, Extinct Volcanoes." Italian Volcanoes, Volcanoes in Italy, Volcanic Activity Italy, Mount Etna, Mount Vesuvius, Stromboli,active, Dormant, Extinct Volcanoes. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2016.

Eeeaaarrrtthhhqquaaaaaaake

 This week we are discussing Seismicity which refers to the occurence or frequency of earthquakes in a region.

 Italy has experienced several earthquakes over the last couple of months. The following is a link to view all the recent earthquakes in Italy: http://ds.iris.edu/seismon/eventlist/index.phtml?region=Europe&lon=13.1&lat=42.88.

On August 24, 2016 292 people died from a 6.2 earthquake and several large after shocks that followed.

Italy has been very slow to put measures in place to protect it's people.

On August 31st the Italian Prime Minister introduced some major plans for disaster preparedness saying, "The national plan will be called Casa Italia and will include making structures earthquake-proof across the country and a range of other environmental measures." To read the full article click here.

 Seismic Zones in Italy








This picture was taken from a basic google image search

Citation:
"Italy Commits to Long Term Earthquake Preparedness." Http://reliefweb.int/report/italy/italy-commits-long-term-earthquake-preparedness. N.p., 31 Aug. 2016. Web. 8 Aug. 2016. <http://reliefweb.int/report/italy/italy-commits-long-term-earthquake-preparedness>.

Is Italy the glue between tectonic plates??????

Italy is located on the edge of the Eurasion plate with the southern tip being on the African plate. It is a convergent boundary.

In the textbook Natural Hazards, by Keller and Blodgett, it is stated that "Convergent boundaries occur where plates are colliding" (Natural Hazards 10). The Appennine Mountains, a large range running all the way down the nation, were formed due to a process called subduction. In the text Natural Hazard the authors refer to subduction as "the process of one tectonic plate sinking below the other" (Natural Hazards 10).

In her article published on the Smithsonian website about the recent 6.2 magnitude earthquake in Italy, Erin Blakemore quotes Jonathan Amos a reporter for the BBC saying, "Tyrrhenian basin, which is located beneath the western Mediterranean Sea, is opening up slowly—over a tenth of an inch each year. That spread is complicated by counter-clockwise movement in the Adriatic Plate, which sits right at the boundary between the Eurasian and African plates 'Italy is literally being pushed and pulled every way,' concludes Amos—and he’s not the only one. The USGS calls the area “tectonically and geologically comple”(Blakemore).

I found all of this to be very interesting, people say California has it bad but Geologically speaking things are not looking good in Italy. To read the full article by Blakemore click this link http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/geology-behind-italys-catastrophic-quake-180960233/#8iyIWJ5wsHb1uCMV.99




Note the pictures used in this post were taken from a basic image search of Italian tectonic plates and are assumed to be public.

Citations:


Blakemore, Erin. "The Geology Behind Italy’s Catastrophic Quake." Www.smithsonianmag.com. N.p., 24 Aug. 2016. Web. 09 Sept. 2016. <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/geology-behind-italys-catastrophic-quake-180960233/?no-ist>.

 Keller, Edward A., and Robert H. Blodgett. Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2006. N. pag. Print.

The difference between hazards, disasters, and catastrophes.

Hello all I seemed to have missed where it said to do this assignment so it is a little late.


By definition:

"A hazard is any natural process that poses a threat to human life or property."

"A disaster is the effect of a hazard on society, usually as an even that occurs over a limited time span in a defined geographic area."

And lastly, "A Catastrophe is a massive disaster, requiring significant expenditure of time and money for recovery."

I would say the differences are pretty clear and lies within the severity of their effects on society. Hazards are your run of the mill things expected in your region like tsunamis, wildfires, storms, droughts etc., disasters are kind of the middle of the road giving us earth quakes floods and hurricanes, and last but definitely not least we have catastrophes giving us the severe versions of all of the above creating the most damage many times resulting in local governments calling for state of emergency like they have for our current wildfires burning in CA.


 Keller, Edward A., and Robert H. Blodgett. "Introduction To Natural Hazards." Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2006. N. pag. Print.