three ways new york might be under water professor michael wysession department of earth and...
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Three Ways New York Might Be Under WaterProfessor Michael Wysession
Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesWashington University, St. Louis, MO
April 20, 2009
Locations of the Major Tectonic “Plates”
Process of “PLATE
TECTONICS”
Creates many LARGE
EARTHQUAKES
Sumatra EQ, 2004
Pakistan EQ, 2005 Sichuan EQ,
2008
Burma Microplate
Sumatra
Indian Plate
Sumatra-Andaman Dec 26, 2004 EQ & TsunamiSumatra-Andaman Dec 26, 2004 EQ & Tsunami
Destruction of Lisbon, 1755
Massive landslides in places like the Canary Islands could cause enormous Atlantic tsunamis.
There have been Giant Undersea Landslides in the Puerto Rico Trench.
Global Carbon Dioxide Cycle
Barrow, AK CO2
Carbon Dioxide
Methane
Nitrous Oxide
Chlorofluorocarbons
Correlation between Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and Global Temperatures
Ice Ages driven by Fluctuations in Earth’s Orbit
More tornadoes in 2008 than in any year of the past half-century.
2008 - Preliminary
Western US is in a worsening drought.
Projected Precipitation, 2080-209 9
(Base years 1980-1990)
Projected Temperatures, 2080-2090
(Base years 1980-1990)
900-1300 AD: Warm and dry period Mayan culture collapses
900-1300 AD: Warm and dry period American Southwest cultures like the one at Chaco Canyon collapse. Anasazi peoples disappear.
Why does the plague strike Europe in the 1300s?
1300 AD: Cold spell due to a minimum in solar activity
Great famine of 1315-1317
Black Death, 1345
Begins with flooding in China. More than 7 million drown in Yellow River.
Why does the French Revolution occur in 1789?
1783: Laki volcano, Iceland; Asama volcano, Japan
After 1815 there is a huge push of U.S. Westward Expansion. Why?
1816 is known as the “Year without a summer.”
It snows in New England in the summer.
1812: Soufriere volcano, St. Vincent Island
1814: Mayon volcano, Philippines
1815: Tambora volcano, Indonesia
Volcanoes!
Last 10,000 years: VERY warm AND stable!!
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Teaching Company course “How the Earth Works”
* 48 thirty-minute lectures