bc earthquake essays

bc earthquake essays The settlement of people in the Pacific Northwest is heaviest along the coastline, which is coveted for its natural beauty and warmer winter climate. However, out of sight from the settlements and deep below the earths surface is a ticking, natural time bomb. A megathrust earthquake is not a matter of if, but when and how big. This threat of The Big One is forgotten in the daily lives of the populous. Occasional warnings from seismologists do not convince many to consider relocation as the quality of life and the opportunity for success draws people yearly to the hazard prone region. The risk is very real as there are hundreds of smaller earthquakes every year, but big ones do occur. The biggest earthquake in Canada occurred on August 12th, 1949, along a fault line off the coast; it was recorded at a magnitude of 8.1. Our paper will discuss the geological processes at work off the coast of British Columbia, the scientific and native historical evidence for these catastrophic events within the Ring of Fire. The effects of a megathrust earthquake that occurred three hundred years ago are discussed in relation to Japan. A section is devoted to the technology currently being used to monitor the earths movements and the Provincial governments mitigation strategy. A Subduction-zone Earthquake can be classified into two stages: The first stage is the Interseismic Period or between earthquakes stage, it takes place over hundreds of years. Usually plate convergence is an on-going process, but the two plates in a subduction zone are locked over some width of the subduction thrust fault line. This results in both vertical uplift and horizontal shortening of the overlying plate margin (Figure 4.a). The extent of the deformation inland and the location of the area of maximum uplift are determined by the extent and the location of the locked zone; conversely, the width and...

Edgar Degas essays

Edgar Degas essays Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas was born on July 19, 1834, at 8 rue Saint-George's in Paris. His father, Auguste, a banker, was French, and his mother, Clestine, an American from New Orleans. The family name "Degas" had been changed to "De Gas" by some family members in Naples and France in order to sound more aristocratic; the preposition indicated a name derived from land holdings. Degas went back to using the original spelling sometime after 1870, and that is how we spell his name today. He was destined for a law career, but instead entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, where he studies with Louis Lamothe. There he became a painter and sculptor. Degas was associated with the Impressionists, taking an active part in there firsts exhibitions, but his individual choice of subject matter, handling of composition, and emphasis of drawing distinguished his works from theirs. He worked with a number of media: oil, pastel, lithography, engraving, and sculpture. From the mid-1850s through the mid-1870s Degas explored many types of subject matter. He copied works by earlier artists and executed his own history paintings, portraits, and scenes of daily life. Degas eventually ended his efforts at history painting and devoted more attention to portraiture, turning images of relatives and friends into complex psychological studies. His oils and pastels depict the inhabitants of the world of sports, business, ballet, and the cafes in their self-conscious posturing and characteristic gestures. He has numerous paintings of jockeys, dancers, laundresses and prostitutes. Another favorite subject was a model at her bath. Degas' observation of movement resulted in the radical compositions that preserved the character of his subjects. As Degas' subject matter became more contemporary, so did his artistic style. Early on, Degas presents people as individuals, whereas works from the mid-1870s on categorize women in particular ...