Journal #4
During the
past couple of weeks, Dr. Richard had been lecturing in our class about
landform and soil and mass wasting. What I found really interesting was when he
started talking about geology. Geology is the study of planet Earth, and is
typically divided into 2 different areas: Physical and Historical Geology. From
what I learned on the PowerPoint, physical geology is the study of the material
composition of the earth, while historical geology is the study of the origin
of the earth and its evolution throughout the time. Natural hazards and
environment issues are some of the problems and issues that are addressed by
geology.
One of the
examples of the issues that were talked about that I find really interesting is
the topic of earthquakes. An earthquake is also known as a quake tremor or
tremblor. It is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth’s crust
that then creates seismic waves. These waves determine the type and size of
experienced over a period of time. Earthquakes are measured using observations
from seismometers. If the magnitude of the earthquake is larger than 5 then it
is reported for the entire globe. Magnitudes lower than 3 or lower earthquakes
are mostly weak and magnitude of 7 and over potentially cause serious damage
over large areas, depending on its depth.
Being from
California, I am definitely used to earthquakes. I am used to earthquake drills
and know what to do from there. Feeling my bed shake a little at night when an
earthquake hits doesn’t really phase me anymore because I’m so used to
earthquakes. But one experience with it
that scared me and I would never forget was during the spring of 2010. I
remember it was during Easter Sunday. I was in the parking garage with my
grandmother when all of a sudden we hear this loud noise, and all I can see
were the pipes shaking. I had no idea what was going on after. Until it hit me
and I finally realized that we are on the base level of her 10 story building
condominium and there is an earthquake. It only probably lasted for a minuet
but it honestly felt like forever. I grabbed my grandmother’s hand and we both
ran for the gate. It was so scary. It sounds really dramatic but it was one of
the scariest earthquakes that I had to experience.
The
earthquake was then called the 2010 Baja California earthquake. It was a
magnitude of 7.2 and started 16 miles south of Baja California. It occurred at
3:40 pm on April 4, 2010. It said to
have lasted for a minute and a half. The earthquake was the strongest to rock
Southern California in at least 18 years, if not longer. San Diego was said to
be situated in a very active seismic zone and surrounded by important faults.
An aftershock of 4.4 had been felt throughout southern California.
