PLATE TECTONICS


   The term "plate tectonics" sounds too sophisticated and new for someone like me until I took this class.  Oh yeah, I know about earthquakes, volcanoes, flooding and all the other natural disasters around the globe.  Yet in order to thoroughly comprehend why some of these events happen in one area than the other, one must take into consideration plate tectonics.  Such importance is accentuated by the textbook when it states that "Everything living on Earth is affected by plate tectonics. As the plates slowly move a few centimeters each year, so do the continents and ocean basins, producing zones of resources (oil, gas, and minerals), as well as earthquakes and volcanoes"  (Keller/DeVecchio, p.48).
  Now there are three distinct plate boundaries that the textbook mentions of:

• divergent (move away from each other)
• convergent (move towards each other)
• transform (plates slide past each other)

  What category does lovely Ghana fall into then?  Well, the country belongs to the African plate, which according to the WikipediA, "is a major tectonic plate straddling the equator as well as the prime meridian. It includes much of the continent Africa, as well as oceanic crust which lies between the continent and various surrounding ocean ridges."  It further adds that "The western edge of the African Plate is a divergent boundary with the North American Plate to the north and the South American Plate to the south which forms the central and southern part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge." From that perspective we now understand that Ghana is on a divergent boundary and at "divergent plate boundaries, such as along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the dominant hazards are earthquakes and volcanic eruption." (Keller/DeVecchio p.48)  See that the picture above depicts all the earthquake risk zones in the southern part of Ghana.  Now, that is quite a lot and something new I just discovered.  

    That is it for today.  Off to my next adventure in the Earth realm.  Until then, do not be alarmed of anything; but be more aware of your surrounding.  Aurevoir!

Works Cited

Keller, Edward A. & DeVecchio, Duane E.. Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes, Third Edition. New Jersey: Pearson, 2012.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Plate