Madeleine Studies Japan's Geology

Like earthquakes, Japan is in a prime location on the Ring of Fire to experience many of the world's volcanic activity. As previously noted, Japan is located between four different convergent tectonic plates resulting in general high tectonic activity. Being located on a subduction zone, where one plate dives beneath the other into the asthenosphere, the plate melts and fuels volcanic eruptions. The subduction zone of the Pacific plate diving below the Eurasian plate creates a volcanic arc along the islands of Japan. This image from Earthguide illustrates the relationship between the subduction zone (blue lines with arrows) and Japan's volcanos (white triangles). With 110 active volcanos in Japan, the Japan Meteorological Agency has created a leveled classification system to illustrate the hazards of the nation's many volcanos. Like earthquakes, Volcanic eruptions cannot necessarily be predicted, however, because they show more visible activity, countries with high ac

With an average of one magnitude 7-8 earthquake occurring per decade, Japan experiences some of the highest rates of seismic activity in the world, around 20% of recorded earthquakes worldwide. As a result, Japan is arguably the world leader in disaster preparedness. Every > 7.4 magnitude earthquake along the Okhotsk/Pacific subduction zone from 1896-2010 which set precedent for earthquake and tsunami warnings across the country's coastlines. One of Japan's subduction zones, where the oceanic Pacific Plate dives below the continental Okhotsk plate (I previously named this the North American Plate), earthquakes are concentrated up to 70 km deep, meaning that the many "Megathrust" earthquakes occur and often also create Tsunamis. The 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and subsequent tsunami was one of these occurrences. 2011 Tohoku Earthquake This "Megathrust" quake was caused by convergent tension building up for centuries until the Okhotsk plate sprang