Home Again...

I am home from the tour on plate boundaries. It was really cool to see the effects that tectonics have on the world. My tour group also loved seeing the different types of boundaries. The boundary types that we visited included: convergent subduction, continental convergent, hotspots, divergent, and possible more.

For my last stop with my travel group we are climbing the Himalayan Mountains. These were formed from the Indian plate and Asian continent clashing together. It is a continental convergent boundary. The Himalayan Mountains were formed from the two continents clashing together, and then the land folded up to form them, like when you push two pieces of paper together and instead of one sliding under the other, the curve up. They were then eroded by weather to be what they are now. Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world is in the Himalayas. It is very snowy and pretty. My tour group loves it.

http://forum.belmont.edu/business/chile_santiago_andes.jpg

My 4^th stop is at Chile, which is a convergent zone. Since 1973 there have been around 13 earthquakes of great magnitude (7.0 or over). This causes mountains and a trench on the border.  The most recent earthquake was 21.7 miles under the surface, shallow, especially for a subduction earthquake. It was a magnitude of 8.8 and very devastating. The lat/long of santiago chile is 30 degrees north north, 70 degrees west.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtPRFaGxZOu6_LoIcFT1LvamZEjqgafoRgz0pziyT9fV2XRz_GfJjlkKsGLKpaUDqSi8vqQXaB-GZ2qxpVNDd0osno-dSLMsBAuJEt_5wh3hKcZh-xKsazh0zsx2y2bqOGqqk0bIJXr8U/s1600/kilimanjaro.jpg

For the third stop on the trip, I am climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with my tour group. It is on the East African Rift, a divergent boundary. This is on the African plate which is slowly splitting into two different plates, which will be called the Somali plate and the Nubian plate. Mount Kilimanjaro is made from 3 volcanic cones, and at this moment it is inactive. A divergent boundary is when two plates are spreading apart, like the sea floor spreading.

Fernandina Island

I am on Fernandina Island near the Cocos Plate (22°S 91.55°W). It is a hotspot.It creates the Galapagos Hotspot with the Malpelso tectonic plate. Fernandina is the most recent Volcano in that area. 

http://www.dailyscubadiving.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/galapagos-islands-volcano.jpg

First Stop

I am in San Francisco (37 degrees south, 18 degrees north), near the San Andreas fault line. The two sides move past each other horizontally. It is a strike-slip fault line (a transform boundary). Because of this fault line, a lake San Andreas Lake formed. The fault makes a good spot to collect the water, and smashes the rock underneath to form an impermeable layer so the water won’t seep through.  Also because of this fault line, the Black Mountain formed. The fault line on the Black Mountain changes 9 degrees. It formed a mountain because both sides lift up as the crumple while it’s dragged around the corner.  There was a recent earthquake in 1989. It was incredibly destructive and intense. There are very often earth tremors in this area because of the tectonic activity. 

http://www.unionstreetinn.com/images/sanfrancisco3.jpg

Preview to my Trip

I am a travel guide for Tectonic Travels Travel Agency. I take people around the world to different sites of tectonic plates and fault lines. We go to active volcanoes, mountain ranges, valleys and other features made by the movements of tectonic plates. I am now about to lead another tour, visiting San Francisco, Fernandina Island, and hopefully many other places.