Three Major Events, One Devastated Area

In Indonesia, Mount Merapi, which is considered an active volcano, has been erupting since last week. It is a volcano on the outskirts of Yogyakarta in Central Java. On Friday, November 5, it erupted again killing 65 more people. The total number of people that have been killed has now increased to over 100 and the number injured has surpassed 200 people. The eruption has also led to the evacuation of over 150,000 people within a 20 km radius of the volcano in Indonesia. A photographer that was by the volcano said that the ash is so thick now that people actually have to put on their headlights during the day just so they can see in front of them. Although this is a horrific disaster, this is not the only event that has been occurring in Indonesia.

A few hours before Mount Merapi first erupted on Monday, October 27, a tsunami was triggered by an earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.7, near the western island of Sumatra. The tsunami killed more than 300 people. People are now asking if the earthquake and the eruption are linked in any way. People think that the shaking, as the result of the earthquake, set off the volcano. But scientifically, I think there might be a deeper reasoning.

We have learned in class that volcanoes are usually formed on the boundaries of plate tectonics. For example, the Ring of Fire surrounds the Atlantic Ocean. The Ring of Fire is where a bunch of volcanoes and earthquakes have been and it is the evidence of actual plate tectonics. There are three types of boundaries, convergent, divergent, and transform boundaries. Volcanoes are formed by convergent boundaries. This is when the plate tectonics move together and collide. Therefore, the volcanoes are actually formed on the plate tectonics. An earthquake is the shaking and vibration of the plate tectonics. So the shaking of the plate tectonics actually probably caused the volcano to erupt just because it is on the same plate as the earthquake.

I think that this is the correct reasoning for the eruption of Mount Merapi because of the theory of plate tectonics. Because the earthquake, tsunami, and volcano were all in the same general location, the assumption that they were the cause of one another I believe was accurate, but the reasoning behind it was more scientific than people might have been saying. These have been horrible disasters that have killed and injured hundreds of people. However, as you can see, there is a more scientific reasoning behind the occurring events.

WORK CITED

Beawiharta. "Indonesia Volcano Death Toll Doubles to over 100 Reuters." Business & Financial News, Breaking US & International News Reuters.com. 05 Nov. 2010. Web. 07 Nov. 2010. .

Lovett, Richard A. "Tsunami, Volcano Eruption in Indonesia Linked?" Daily Nature and Science News and Headlines National Geographic News. 27 Oct. 2010. Web. 07 Nov. 2010. .