Blog Week 2: Tectonic Plates of Italy and Resulting Geological Features
Hi Everyone!
As I mentioned last week, this blog was created for my MPC Geol 9: Earth Catastrophes and Disasters class, and I am blogging about Italy.
This week we learned about plate tectonics, which are pieces of the lithosphere that move around due to the plasticity of the mantle layer that is just beneath it. This plastic layer is called the asthenosphere and it is where the crust begins to melt from the heat in the core.
We also learned about what happens at the boundaries of different plates. There are three main types of movements, and these vary with the boundary. For instance, there are oceanic plates that are in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean that move away from each other. This type of movement and boundary is called divergent.
Source: https://www.geologyin.com/2024/03/divergent-boundary-definition-features.html
Another type of plate movement is when two plates slide past each other. This type of plate boundary is called a Transform Boundary. I live near one of these boundaries.
Source: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/geology/plate-tectonics-transform-plate-boundaries.htm
The other type of boundary is called a Convergent Boundary. This is where two plates converge (come together) and there are two behaviors of the plates: either one goes under the other (subduction) or the plates crash into each other and build mountains. These types of plate movement are important for Italy, as you will see below.
Source: http://www.geo.cornell.edu/hawaii/220/PRI/PRI_PT_subduction.html
Source: https://earthathome.org/hoe/plate-tectonics/
Our professor asked us to look up our country on the map and determine where it is in relation to the tectonic plates. It turns out that Italy is on the Eurasian Plate, and also near the African Plate.
Source: https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/tectonic-plates-earth
One source even said that the margin between these two plates runs through the middle of Italy. Upon closer inspection or further research, Italy’s tectonics is a little more complex. Both sources listed below enumerated several smaller plates in the region that contribute to the tectonic activity. The Anatolian Plate, the Aegean Sea Plate, the Adriatic Plate, the Calabrian Arc, and the Ionian Platelet are all part of Italy’s geological activity.
https://volcanohotspot.wordpress.com/2022/01/15/an-overview-of-the-volcanism-and-tectonics-of-italy/
Basically, the Eurasian and African Plate boundary near Italy is a convergent plate boundary and it is the type that builds mountains and has earthquakes, but volcanic activity is not a result of this type of convergent boundary. This boundary activity built and is currently building the Apennine Mountains.
Italy has volcanoes though. Why is that? Italy has volcanic activity because of the activity at the boundaries of the minor plates. For instance, Mount Etna is a stratovolcano in Sicily that is very active, so much so that there is a LiveCam set up. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd0mg_AQPzs) It is at a subduction zone, and Mount Vesuvius is at the northern end of this zone.
Please check back! I will be delving into the geologic activity of Italy in future weeks.
Ciao!
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ReplyDeleteHi Jeanette,
ReplyDeleteMy country is Spain, which happens to be located very close to Italy and revolves around some of the same tectonic plates as well. Spain is also located on the Eurasian and African plate boundary, and experiences some of the same activity. These plates build mountains and cause earthquakes; however, the effects are not as drastic as they are for other countries.