Taiwan rocked by earthquake of magnitude 7.4, biggest in 25 years | Current Affairs | Vision IAS
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    Taiwan rocked by earthquake of magnitude 7.4, biggest in 25 years

    Posted 04 Apr 2024

    2 min read

    • Quake occurred as result of reverse faulting near boundary between Eurasia and Philippine Sea plates.
      • A reverse fault is a split between two sections of rock in Earth's crust, caused by compressional forces. 
    • Notably, Taiwan is prone to earthquakes as it lies along the Pacific “Ring of Fire” or Circum-Pacific Belt. 

     

    • Ring of Fire: 
      • It is a horseshoe-shaped string of volcanoes and sites of seismic activity around the edges of Pacific Ocean. 
      • Roughly 90% of all earthquakes occur along Ring of Fire, and it has 75% of all active volcanoes on Earth.
      • It is the result of plate tectonics as it traces the meeting points of numerous tectonic plates, including the Pacific, Juan de Fuca, Cocos, Indian-Australian, Nazca, North American, and Philippine Plates.
      • Much of the volcanic activity occurs along subduction zones, which are convergent plate boundaries.
        • As heavier plate is subducted under other plate, it melts and produces magma that erupts as volcano.
      • A stretch of Ring of Fire - border between Pacific and North American Plates – is a transform boundary, where plates move sideways past one another.
        • This boundary generates large number of earthquakes as tension in Earth’s crust builds up and is released. 

     

    • Tags :
    • Earthquake
    • convergent plate boundaries
    • Ring of Fire
    • Transform Boundary

    Articles Sources

    https://www.usgs.gov/news/featured-story/strong-quake-and-aftershocks-rattle-eastern-taiwan https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/taiwan-earthquake-april-3-2024-people-trapped-under-buildi https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/ring-fire/
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