Deserts or Death- The Sonoran Desert

A Horrible Geography of the Sonoran Desert.

If you have always thought that deserts were simply useless wastelands, you are very, very wrong. They are not wastelands. They are flourishing and lush death traps. But of all the deserts, none is as devastatingly horrible as the Sonoran desert.

The Sonoran desert is located on the border of Arizona and Mexico, in the south of North America, by many canyons (like the Grand Canyon and the Verde Canyon). It stretches over a vast 311,000 km²! It's geographical coordinates are 32°15′36″N 112°55′34″W. It is one of the largest deserts in America, and also said to be one of the very hottest. However, it is certainly not 'tropical' heat- it is a very dry, deadly kind of heat.

The Sonoran desert is home to many different kinds of dangerous animals and plants. These plants and animals don't just survive here- they have adapted to live without harm in the desert. They all have ways to protect themselves- whether they be defensive or agressive. The Sonran desert is famous for it's cacti. The most famous Sonoran cactus is the Saguaro cactus. This cactus will only grow in the Sonoran desert, and no where else. Some other types of cacti found in this desert are the golden barrel cactus, the fish-hook barrel cactus, the prickly pear cactus and the ocateel. There are also many animals that live in this desert, such as the much-feared rattlesnake and the ruthless cayote. They are both just two of the many lethal animals that live in the Sonoran.

[Left: A Saguaro Cactus. Right: A Prickly Pear Cactus.]

This desert has a very dry and hot climate. It has one of the hottest temperatures in the USA, with a minimum temperature of 55.1º and a staggering maximum of 84.5ºf on a yearly average. The hottest moth is June, with a maximum temperature of 100.3ºf!!! On a monthly average, there is much less than 6cm of rainfall.

The weather in the Sonoran Desert is extremely harsh, with dust storms (sometimes known as 'dust devils' due to their almost devil-like look) a very common and much feared sight. They can cause severe weathering to any structure over time. Although it rarely rains in this desert, when it does rain it can become a thunderstorm very quickly and without any warning. Due to the strange terrain of the land, this can be a very grim problem.

[An example of the desert mountains]

The Sonoran desert was first inhabited by Native America tribes. The most well known tribe is the Najavo Tribe. Their cultures shows a life of hardships in this deadly desert. They also have legends of the kokopelli, and the skin-walker. But while one is good and represents good luck (you'll need it in this desert!), the other is pure evil.

Nowadays, this desert has many attractions, such as the Pima Air & Space Museum, the Verde Canyon Railroad and the Titan Missile Museum. These are all very popular, even though they are situated in a horrifying desert!

The Sonoran Desert is a very harsh and cruel place to be.

Kobe Quake, Japan 1995

11th December 2008

Kobe Quake, Japan 1995

One of the world's most chaotic earthquakes happened in Kobe, Japan on Tuesday January 17, 1995 in the early morning.

It was caused by tectonic plates moving around on the earth's crust. To be exact, the Philippines Sea Plate and the Pacific sea plate were subducting (plate subduction) under each other, causing many miniscule and irrelevant tremors, and in this particular case, an earthquake. These plates are still doing this today, and will continue to do this until the end of time itself. So they will therefore continue to cause small, unnoticable quakes, and sometimes large earthquakes, forevermore.

The 1995 earthquake measured a mind-boggling 8.5 on the Richter scale, which is really VERY big. It is enormous compared to some other quakes and tremors that have previously happened, like the daily earth tremors happening near fault lines and plate boundaries all over the world. It was the worst earthquake to shake up Japan since the 1923 Kanto quake, and the Kanto quake measured around 8.4 on the Richter Scale. What is more, the many large aftershocks (of which around 408 were felt) that shook Kobe for around 9 months afterwards did not help the reconstruction of many buildings in Kobe.

The earthquake itself did not last very long at all. In fact, it only lasted a couple of seconds! To be exact, 20 seconds. But 20 seconds is still enough for an earthquake to cause MAJOR damage. And that is exactly what this earthquake did.

The epicentre of the quake was around 20 miles from Kobe, 15 miles below the island Awajisima, but the earthquake crossed those few miles extremely quickly, and it did not lose that much of it's strength at all. It was slightly weaker after all that travelling, but that simply did not make too much of a difference- it still managed to wipe out thousands of people!

Dennis Kessler, a british journalist who expierienced the eathrquake said:

"The whole room was moving around like jelly!"

From what he says, you discern that the ground had liquified by then, which proves how intense this quake really was.

Click here for a quick video about the earthquake.
---> http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=7pAmTJC8LZ0
(if the above link does not work copy and paste it into an internet browser.)

The damage caused by this earthquake was amazingly vast. It took out 6434 people with it when it died down! Not to mention all the animals and such. It also managed to tear down a countless amount of buildings, so much that is cost Japan around TWO BILLION US dollars to fix it (which caused the Japan stock market to plunge downwards)! Because of that, it holds the world record for 'the most costliest natural disaster' in the Guinness Book of World Records.

It is quite common nowadays to see people praying or having a memorial service for those who lost their lives in this earthquake, and many quakes before and since. Earthquakes are a terrible thing to have to go through.

The 1995 Kobe Quake was indeed a very deadly disaster.

Disclaimer- all images here were edited by me, Caitlin Fischer.
I do not claim credit for the original/separate photos.

CSI Pompeii (geo for school)

CSI POMPEII

(Crime Scene Investigation Pompeii)

Report is on: The eruption of M. Vesuvius, Pompeii

When: 79AD

The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in the year 79AD must have been devastating. No one could have escaped the horrible fate that was bestowed on them, for it came through a volcano.

(Mt. Vesuvius)

Volcanoes erupt when all the pressure underground can take no more and slowly starts to push up all the molten rock, more commonly known as magma, to the top of the volcano.

Mt. Vesuvius began forming 25,000 years ago, and has erupted many, many times since that. But above all, the most famous eruption is the one in 79AD. It completely destroyed Pompeii and many of the neighboring cities, of which the most well-known one is Herculaneum, an ancient Greek city. The eruption lasted around 19 hours, possible 18, or 20. The eruption got worse and worse, but it all started with a fume of black smoke in the sky, of which was followed by a shower of pumice falling unto Pompeii.

Pumice is a very light stone, made by volcanoes. It is only light because it has some air trapped in it, so it is able to float. However, in Pompeii. the falling of all this pumice was soon to be a problem, for much heavier rocks occasionally fell with the pumice, that would be deadly if you were hit by them. The pumice also blocked doorways, caused roofs to cave in, occasionally smashed windows and were generally a menace.

(Pumice)

No one was safe in Pompeii, or any of the near cities, for the volcano sent many, many hardships their way. These hardships included toxic volcanic fumes, extreme heat waves and falling rocks. Everything was ruined, at the mercy of just one volcanic eruption.

(the remains of people blasted by a heat wave)

The latest eruption of Mt. Vesuvius was in 1944, but has since seemed to be dormant. Many scientests still don't believe it is dormant, yet some do.

Personally, I believe it isn't dormant, and will eventually erupt again, and cause devastation and fear everywhere.

But that is just me.

(Pompeii today)

By Caitlin Fischer
Y08b