Week Two (Tectonic Plates and boundaries)

Plate Tectonic and Boundaries in The Bahamas:

The Bahamas is located in one of the most beautiful regions in the entire world, the Caribbean.  A warm tropical paradise that is a tourist hotspot for many Americans and others around the world. Many people don't know that it is located very close to two separate tectonic plates, the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate. 

The Bahamas are at the bottom of the North American Plate, right above the Caribbean Plate. The location of the country on top of these tectonic plates has a minor impact on its natural hazards such as earthquakes and tsunamis. According to VolcanoDiscovery.com, there have been only 15 earthquakes with a magnitude of 2 and above. This leaves The Bahamas with only a 2% chance each year of having earthquakes with the potential to cause damage to the country.


Because the Bahamas is so close to the convergence of the Caribbean Plate and the North American Plate, There is a higher risk for tsunamis. The are a lot of earthquakes that occur in Haiti, the Dominican and Puerto Rico. One of these earthquakes can potentially be large enough to trigger a tsunami to head directly at The Bahamas. According to thinkhazzard.org, The Bahamas is classified as a medium-level tsunami hazard. This means that there is more than a 10% chance of a damaging tsunami to happen within the next 50 years. 

Map: ReasherchGate.com

Comments

  1. Ana GGFebruary 5, 2024 at 12:36 PM

    Nice tectonic setting!-I'm curious of what you'll discover about its seismicity and how it all is connected!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Peyton MFebruary 8, 2024 at 8:21 PM

    Hey Clay,
    I really thought you provided the class with great information about the bahamas and the occurance of earthquakes. We have very different countries so it is cool to see the different types of things that go on compared to mine which is Madagascar. Madagascar is a quite country that never really has any disasters occur. Overall great job on this weeks blog.

    ReplyDelete

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