Earthquakes Essay -- Natural Science

EarthquakesThroughout history, man has made many advancements. These advancements have been made to make life easier. The one thing man cant do is to control father Nature. Mother Nature can cause many things such as earthquakes. The causes of earthquakes have been theorized in many ways. According to the book Predicting Earthquakes by Gregory Vogt, the Hellenics, blamed the earthquakes on Poseidon, god of the sea(25). The Hindu believed that the earth was a plat engineer that rested on the back of eight nifty elephants. When one of the elephants grew weary, it lowered and shook its mentality causing the ground above to tremble(Vogt 25). Margaret Poynter writes many primitive people thought that the earth rested upon the back of some sort of animal. When that animal became restless, great cracks appeared in the ground, and tall trees swayed and fell. In South America, the animal was a whale. In Japan, it was a great black spider or giant catfish. One ancient tribe thought that fo ur bulls supported the earth on their horns. To amuse themselves, they sometimes tossed it from one to another(6). In the same book, Poynter says The Chinese believed that monsters lived in the caves inner(a) the earth. When the creatures fought, the surface of the earth trembled (6). In Greece, it was not an animal, but a titan named Atlas who was condemned to support the world upon his shoulders. Later, about the third century B.C., a Greek philosopher, Aristotle, had a more scientific explanation. He thought that earthquakes occurred only when hot air masses tried to escape from the center of the earth. Two centuries later, Lucretius, a Roman, wrote that opposition landslides caused the earths surface to move(Poynter 7).2 Today, scientists have found a more logical reason to earthquakes. Scientists say almost 600 million years ago, all the continents were connected to form a huge super continent called Pangaea. At about 220 million years ago, Pangaea began to break up into sub- blocks. According to the book Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and the Formation of Continents, these sub-blocks were called Gondwana (which corresponds approximately to the continents of the donation southern hemisphere) and Laurasia (the northern hemisphere) (Kohler 15). According to Pierre Kohler, The earths surface is divided into 13 plates seven large ones (the largest corresponding to the Pa... ...te long-term predictions of where earthquakes will occur. They know, for example, that about 80 portion of the worlds major earthquakes happen along a belt encircling the Pacific Ocean. This belt is sometimes called the Ring of Fire because it has many volcanoes, earthquakes, and other geologic practise (Earthquakes Karen C. McNally 38). WORKS CITED Aylesworth, Thomas G. Geological Disasters Franklin Watts 1979 14-15. The New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia Grolier Electronic Publishing Inc. 1993 No Johnson, Thomas P. When Nature Runs Wild Creative Education compaction 1986 12-14. Kohler , Pierre Volcanoes Earthquakes and the Formation of Continents Barrons Educational Series, Inc. 1987 14-22. Marcus, Rebecca B. The First Book of Volcanoes & Earthquakes Franklin Watts, Inc. 1972 62-64. Poynter, Margaret Earthquakes Enslow Publishers, Inc. 1990 6-7. Putnam, William C. Geology Oxford University Press 1964 439-450. Vogt, Gregory Predicting Earthquakes Franklin Watts 1989 24-25. Walker, Bryce Earthquakes Time Life Books 1982 94-100. Karen C. McNally Earthquakes World Book Encyclopedia World Book Inc. 1994 38-39.