Italy and tectonic plates
Italy has had its fair share of disasters caused by tectonic plates. The country sits on top of two tectonic plates, the African and Eurasian plates. Below you will see that Italy is covered mostly by the Eurasian plate with the African plate at its southern border. It was interesting to learn that volcanoes are generally found at the border of tectonic plates and it is the case where most of Italy's volcanoes are found.
While Italy sits on top of two tectonic plates, there is a third plate that has and still does affect Italy known as the Adriatic plate. Approximately 100 million years ago the formation of a lot of Italy's mountains were caused by the collision of the Adriatic plate and present day Europe. This caused the plate to begin subducting and brought upon the loss of the microcontinent known as Adria.
The plates have caused high magnitude earthquakes as well as the formation of volcanoes, which have caused catastrophes dating back to the infamous eruption (Mount Vesuvius) and near destruction of Pompei in 79AD. The only active volcano in Europe that exists on the mainland today is Mount Vesuvius. I was able to explore Pompei when I visited Italy. It somewhat shocked me to find out during my tour that most of the deaths from the eruption were not caused by lava, but by poisonous gasses and debris.
Very nice tectonic set up!
ReplyDeleteHi Justin! I haven't been to Italy yet but it sounds interesting. That's a little scary that it's on two tectonics plates maybe more chances of a natural disasters. My country the Netherlands is only on one plate and is farther away from the boundaries. It sounds like there are active earthquakes and volcanoes at the borders of your tectonic plates.Thanks so much for sharing. Nikki
DeleteHi Justin, our two countries are experiencing similar situations as both are on the same plates and Spain too has had some disruption with the Atlantic plate. I like the map you were able to find it clearly shows the fault lines around Italy.
DeleteHello Justin. It's interesting how close your country is to two tectonic plates. Although my country, Mongolia, is a bit farther away from the majority of plates that the Eurasian plate shares, the country still faces quite a lot of earthquakes. From the looks of it, the seismic activity within your chosen country is vigorous. I look forward in finding out more about Italy and its geology.
DeleteHi Justin, I've always wanted to visit Italy, so it's very interesting to learn about it's geography! I noticed that your country lands on the same tectonic plate as mine (Morocco on the African Plate). I also think that it's very cool that Italy lands on two tectonic plates, as shown on your map. -Fatima
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