Cameron Howard Plate Tectonics Project

Wellington, NZ Plate Tectonic Activity

Types of Plate Tectonic Activity

Volcanoes

New Zealand is on top of a Plate Boundary, which is also located in the ring of fire, the movement from the plate causes tons of earthquakes and volcanoes. Volcanoes can be active, ( they erupt every few years ), dormant, ( a volcano that doesn’t erupt, but will eventually. ) or an extinct volcano, ( it will never erupt, one hasn’t erupted for 11 million years. )

Earthquakes

There are 5 different places in an earthquake, on the seismic waves, which let the earthquake travel, the focus, also known as the epicenter, where there’s more impact than the other places, and the faults and surface ruptures are where the mantle has taken damage. New Zealand has earthquakes because New Zealand lies on the boundary between the Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate. Along these plates there are many faults, such as the Alpine Fault and the Wellington Fault. Earthquakes are measured in 2 ways, the mercalli scale, and the magnitude scale.

Landslides

This is a landslide, and there are a lot of factors that increase the risk of them MAJORLY. So avoid making these happen, first, there’s deforestation, there’s also 4 others, they’re weak rock and steep slopes, road-works hillslides, heavy rainstorms, and as said above, earthquakes.

There are 2 types of landslides, those that move super fast, and those who move only a few centimeters a year. They happen a lot in New Zealand.

Tsunamis

Most tsunamis are confused with Tidal Waves, but those are a completely different story. A tsunami is a small wave, around 6 to 8 feet tall, and once it hits the shore, it won’t stop. It will run about a mile longer and lasts about 30 minutes. Tsunamis don’t hit New Zealand much though, only hitting them about 12 times every century. They mostly happen in the pacific because of earthquakes underwater and volcanoes over there.

Daily Life

Most people in New Zealand live an outdoor life because of the fantastic weather they get, besides all of the natural disasters listed above. You usually aren’t far from the ocean, mountains. This means, that in one day you

could probably mountain bike, snowboard, and surf! It really is a wonderful life.

Economics

As you can see, New Zealand has a terrible economy just like America. They haven’t gone up much, they do but it’s mostly going down. Heck, they’re almost off

the chart! Just wait a few years. By the way this is a chart made by a New Zealand economist.

Disaster Preparedness These are how to prepare for disasters in New Zealand, I would explain to you, but I think pictures would explain it better.

But for a tsunami, here’s an explanation. Ok, so when a tsunami comes, you only have up to a few minutes of a warning. The warning will tell you to get about a mile away from the water, or to get on top of something about 15 feet tall and it has to be sturdy. If you do this, you should survive.

To prepare for a volcanic eruption, You must be in a sturdy structure and all windows and doors should be shut. If you are outside, get in a shelter, and if you can’t, hold a tissue over your nose or a gasmask and have something to hold over your head, and then get on a roof. When the eruption ends, check on friends and neighbors to see if they need help.

Landslides aren’t so serious, but you need to be cautious. If you are near where the landslide is going to hit and will be effected, take your pets and livestock ( farm animals ) to a safe place with you and get in a secure structure. After the landslide stops, check on

friends and neighbors, and wait to go to the affected areas until the officials say you are allowed there.

Geologic Info There are so many earthquakes and landslides in New Zealand, but tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, not so much. You see, thousands of earthquakes happen every day, but about 99,999/100,000 of them aren’t felt.

So they aren’t too impactful. New Zealand, like the rest of the world is moving from earthquakes, but very slowly, about as fast as your fingernails. Landslides haven’t been too devastating over the past century, but tsunamis usually happen only about 12 times a century, but take a toll. You usually get 1215 hours of warning for a tsunami in new Zealand, but if an earthquake happens

under the water near the coast, you only get a few minutes of warning, and that’s not good because you don’t have much time to plan. Volcanic eruptions don’t happen too much either, but take a very devastating toll, like one in the 1800’s.

Well I hope you learned a lot from my project, thanks for reading.