Earthquake in Japan, March 11, 2011 Prokoptsova Valentina 9 «В» - презентация

1 Earthquake in Japan, March 11, 2011 Prokoptsova Valentina 9 «В»

2 An earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter Scale struck off Japan's north-east coast, about 250 miles (400km) from Tokyo at a depth of 20 miles.

3 The magnitude 9.0 earthquake happened at 2:46pm (local time) on Friday March 11, 2011.

4 The earthquake occurred 250 miles off the North East Coast of Japan's main island Honshu.

5 Japan is located on the eastern edge of the Eurasian Plate. The Pacific Plate, which is an oceanic plate, subducts (sinks under) the Eurasian Plate, which is a continental plate, to the east of Japan. This type of plate margin is known as a destructive plate margin. The process of subduction is not smooth. Friction causes the Pacific Plate to stick. Pressure builds and is released as an earthquake.

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7 The earthquake occured at a relatively shallow depth at 20 miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. This, combined with the high magnitude, caused a tsunami.

8 The tsunami struck the north eastern coast of Honshu. Japan's worst previous earthquake was of 8.3 magnitude and killed 143,000 people in Kanto in A magnitude 7.2 quake in Kobe killed 6,400 people in 1995.

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10 * Size of the rupture along the boundary between the Pacific and North American plates: 290 kilometers (180 miles) long, 80 kilometers across. * Duration of strong shaking reported from Japan: three to five minutes. * Distance that the island of Honshu appears to have moved after the quake: 2.4 meters. * Depth of the quake: 24.4 kilometers. * Top speed of a tsunami over the open ocean: About 800 kilometers per hour. * Number of confirmed aftershocks: 401

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