UNIVERSITY SAN JOSE RECOLETOS
SINOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
BASAK-PARDO, CEBU CITY
Project Overview: The aim of this project is to design a well-rounded, interesting and easy to navigate site to teach the public who are the effects of ungula movement, in particular its social and environmental aspects. This will include information on tectonic happenings and how they change the lay of the land and most importantly how they affect people. As such, the platform aims to help emerging awareness of the dynamic phenomenon with a view to fostering appreciation towards protection of the environment, and also promote the principle of sustainable development.
Tectonic plates refer to the massive and rigid sections of the Earth's lithosphere (the outer crust of the planet) which is located above the hot semi-plastic asthenosphere layer. These plates differ in sizes, but they are constantly on the move albeit at a very slow pace due to the convection currents in the mantle. The tectonic plate movement accounts for different geological activities including seismic activities, volcanic activities, and the formation of mountain ranges.
Plate boundaries can generally be classified into three types:
Divergent plate boundaries:
Places where two tectonic plates separate. New crust is often formed at the boundary where the plates come apart (for example, mid-ocean ridges).
Convergent plate boundaries:
The tectonic plates that make up the Earth's surface crash together. This can lead to subduction (one plate going under another) or uplift, such as mountain building (ex. Himalayas).
Transform plate boundaries:
Two plates slide past each other without much vertical motion causing earthquakes (for example: San Andreas Fault).
Such forces play a vital role in the permanent alteration of the earth’s surface shell by either formation or destruction of reliefs in different geological epochs.
Vision Statement:
Understanding of the tectonic concepts and its consequences in terms of environment and society is our aim. We understand that communities need to appreciate the science of plate tectonics and the dangers that come with it so that they appreciate how active the Earth is. Based on this understanding, we encourage sustainability and disaster reduction, such as the preparedness and prevention of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other earthquake-related hazards that pose threats to people. All of these efforts are towards forming communities that are flexible enough to withstand the dynamics of the changing surface of the Earth.
Social Impacts of Tectonic Plate Movements
Earthquakes:
- Cause: Sudden release of energy from the Earth's crust due to the movement of tectonic plates, especially at faults.
- Impact: Ground shaking, building collapses, landslides, and tsunamis.
Volcanic Eruptions:
- Cause: Magma from beneath the Earth's surface erupts through cracks in the crust, often at divergent or convergent plate boundaries.
- Impact: Lava flows, ash clouds, pyroclastic flows, and the destruction of nearby habitats and infrastructure.
Tsunamis:
- Cause: Underwater earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or landslides that displace large amounts of water, generating powerful waves.
- Impact: Coastal flooding, widespread destruction, and loss of life.
Landslides:
- Cause: Triggered by earthquakes, volcanic activity, heavy rainfall, or human activity (e.g., deforestation).
- Impact: Burial of communities, destruction of infrastructure, and soil erosion.
Floods:
- Cause: Heavy rainfall, rapid snowmelt, or dam failures, often exacerbated by human factors like urbanization.
- Impact: Property damage, displacement of people, waterborne diseases, and crop destruction.
Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones:
- Cause: Powerful storms that form over warm ocean waters, driven by atmospheric conditions.
- Impact: High winds, heavy rains, storm surges, and widespread flooding.
Environmental Impacts of Tectonic Plate Movements
- Landscape Changes: Tectonic activity shapes mountains, valleys, and ocean basins, influencing biodiversity and ecosystems.
- Resource Formation: Tectonics help create natural resources like minerals, fossil fuels, and geothermal energy, emphasizing the need for sustainable management.
- Climate & Ecosystems: Tectonic events can influence climate by altering ocean currents and atmospheric patterns, while volcanic eruptions can disrupt ecosystems but also create new fertile land.
The physical processes that go on within the earth's crust are quite a number and one of them is the tectonic activity. This process not only helps in shaping the landforms, but it also alters the climatic conditions and provides the natural resources which are essential for the further disintegration of the human civilization. It includes the formation of various geological structures such as mountains, hills, valleys and ocean basins and even extends to the formation of minerals like coal, petroleum and hot dry rocks. Yet again, all these processes of geological changes and tectonic activities occur due to the connection with climate and ecosystems. Therefore, it also calls for management of resources and risks from disasters in a sustainable manner. Because of these reasons, we are trying to gain more knowledge about these forces of nature. In that way, we will be able to reduce the misfortune caused by these forces and make use of them for better use.
The Future of Tectonic Movements:
The evolution of tectonic shifts is bound to be intriguing with changes in the configuration of the continents and the climate of the earth. The movement of the earth's tectonic plates will over a period of millions of years into the foreseeable future, shift the position of land masses, cover and uncover water bodies and create additional land islands. The closing of the Atlantic Ocean and the emergence of new ranges of mountain that will alter the climate and flora and fauna of the region may all be events that we will live to see in the next few millions of years.
In the mean time, processes like mountain formation and volcanic eruptions will significantly impact the climate within the same global scale. The polite term global warming encompasses the changes in heat and precipitation all over the globe due to the rearrangement of fluid reservoirs in a planet’s systems: on its surface, in oceans and in the mantle. The potential impacts of tectonic processes on modern climate change and vice versa is a multi-scale problem that cannot be resolved for centuries.
In the final analysis, the slow movements of the surface of the Earth are elementary to its nature and learning about such processes aids in not only picturing the future of the planet, but also underlying the relationships between geology, climate, and life. Considering the ongoing concern on climate change and the need to protect the environment, the forces of tectonics that act slowly but strongly will still control the fate of the Earth, presenting both prospects and challenges for the generations to come.
Educational Awareness Towards Student and Civilians:
It is important that students and the public appreciate the tectonic processes and their global environmental consequences. An understanding of education in plate tectonics in particular and geoscience in general, so those individuals and communities can manage the hazards of earthquakes ash, lava flows, and volcanic gases, eruptions and tsunami. Knowing when they need to take shelter in a safe location in the region where an earthquake will occur, even as mitigation measures are being continued, helps people cope with the changing contexts of the earth’s diastrophism. Educational outreach can take many forms: be it in schools, as a part of community projects, or as part of media campaigns. Tectonically active areas usually have a high population, and therefore, efficiently fostering educational awareness in these communities helps in safe habitation and sustainable living. And how people know because of social media and many website included.
Conclusion:
Grasping the fluidity of the Earth’s tectonic plates is important in realizing the impacts of geographical forces within the natural and man-made landscape. Tectonic activity leads to physical constructions of mountain ranges, causes earthquakes and volcanic activity, as well as the exploration and even inhabiting of certain places with vast resources. However, tectonics has numerous effects both positive and horrible on society and the environment. It is important to educate the public on plate tectonics in the effort to emphasize the risks and advantages inherent in these natural processes.
The fact that the tectonic plates are always in motion implies that there will be more changes of the geographical aspects in the future and the possible dangers that this would pose to the human population calls for the need to be proactive in disaster management, resource utilization, and the conservation of delicate systems. In whatever way through disaster preparedness, sustainable resource management and proactive environmental protection, we can lessen the effects of tectonic actions on communities and help them envisage and live in a sustainable way.
Herein, this application seeks to alleviate the misconception of abstract geological science and its practical manifestations – calls to active corrective behavior. There are those procedures which can help ensure that both the earth and all the other living creatures on it are preserved for years to come, by simply knowing the processes which go on beneath the surface of the earth.
