But Seriously: An Intro to Plates
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It turns out that we East Coasters live in the middle of the North American tectonic plate, which extends basically from California (although in the north it extends as far as Siberia) in the west to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in the east. The San Andreas fault represents the western edge of the plate, and the eastern edge is marked by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is a deep gash in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean floor.
In the north, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge extends to Iceland, so you can actually see it:
Because our earthquakes are within-plate earthquakes, they're little. Places where two plates meet (like California) get the biggies.
Note: I started my editing career on the Journal of the Seismological Society of America, where you are NOT allowed to use the word "quakes." To this day, I cannot do it.
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It turns out that we East Coasters live in the middle of the North American tectonic plate, which extends basically from California (although in the north it extends as far as Siberia) in the west to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in the east. The San Andreas fault represents the western edge of the plate, and the eastern edge is marked by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is a deep gash in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean floor.
In the north, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge extends to Iceland, so you can actually see it:
Because our earthquakes are within-plate earthquakes, they're little. Places where two plates meet (like California) get the biggies.
Note: I started my editing career on the Journal of the Seismological Society of America, where you are NOT allowed to use the word "quakes." To this day, I cannot do it.
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1 Comments:
i am just *fascinated* by plate tectonics.
. . .
that's it. i didn't have anything else to say.
. . .
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