Location: Mid-Atlantic Ridge (Divergent Boundary)

The last place I visited on this tour is called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a divergent tectonic plate boundary located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. The longitude and latitude points are 0° 0'2.13"S  19°59'59.09"W. It separates the Eurasian Plate and the North American Plate in the North Atlantic and the African Plate from the South American Plate in the South Atlantic. A divergent boundary is a boundary between two lithospheric plates that are moving apart. Most divergent boundaries lie along the ocean floor like the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and have rift valleys, which are deep valleys at the center of the mid-ocean ridge. In a process called sea floor spreading, molten rock forces its way upward through cracks, or rifts along the valley. The molten rock cools, hardening into new oceanic crusts. The older oceanic crust on either side of the valley moves away from the mid-ocean ridge.

http://www.eoearth.org/files/164501_164600/164592/mid-atlantic_ridge.gif

Location: Mariana Trench (Subduction Boundary)

The third location I visited was the Mariana Trench. It is the deepest part of the ocean in the world. The longitude and latitude points were  11°19'0.01"N 142°14'59.96"E. It is located in the Western Pacific Ocean, as shown in the picture. It is also the deepest part of the ocean. This trench is formed by a subduction boundary. A subduction boundary is when a ocean plate plunges beneath another plate. A long deep trench called a deap-sea trench forms along the boundary. Such trenches are the deepest part of the ocean floor. When two oceanic plates converge, the deep-sea trench that forms is accompanied by the formation of a chain of volcanic islands called a volcanic island arc on the overriding plate. In this case, as the Pacific Plate sub ducts under the Philippine Plate, the Pacific Plate is pulled down to form the Mariana Trench. The leading edge of the overriding Philippine Plate is marked by a chain of volcanic islands, the Mariana Islands. Four descents have been achieved as of today to Challenger Deep, the deepest part of the trench.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Marianatrenchmap.png

Location: Himalayan Mountain Range (Collision Boundary)

My next destination took me to the Himalayan Mountain Range. The longitude and latitude points are  27°59'8.91"N  86°55'24.95"E. I took a plane from America to Kathmandu, Nepal. It was a bustling city, filled with activity. Live cows ran wild in the streets, past market stalls occupied by merchants selling a variety of trinkets, vegetables, and fruits. From there, I found and hired a sherpa (a climber guy) to take me to the base of Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the entire range. Because I came all the way over here, I figured I would climb it. The supplies were bought and prepared within a matter of weeks, and my sherpa and I began the long climb up. Several weeks and five tries later, I made it to the peak. It was a grand view. On this tour, I found out the entire Himalayan Mountain Range was formed off of a collision boundary, which is a subcategory of  subduction boundary. A convergent boundary is when two plates collide head on. There are two subcategories to convergent. In this case, the subcategory is called a collision boundary, where when two plates, collide, the collision causes the crust at the boundary to be pushed upward into a mountain range. The two plates in this case are the Indo-Australian Plate and the Eurasian plate, as shown in the picture. The Himalayan Mountain Range prevent Arctic Winds from blowing south into South Asia, which makes South Asia warmer than corresponding temperate regions.

http://geolojay.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/himalayan_plates.jpg

Location: San Andreas Fault (Transform Boundary)

Today, I visited my first destination. It was the San Andreas Fault, located on the coast of California. The latitude and longitude points are  39 00'16.35"N 123 41'48.00"W. The border was on the west side of the North American Plate, as shown in the picture below.This boundary is called a Transform boundary. It is when two plates, in this case the North American and Pacific, are sliding past each other. Southwestern California is a part of the Pacific Plate, which is moving northwest. The rest of the US is part of the North American Plate, which is moving south east. At this boundary, fractures will typically occur.There have been many notable earthquakes near this area. The most notable quake in this area is most likely the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. During this quake, about 267 miles were rupture in Northern California. The magnitude was approximately 7.8. More than three thousand people died in the quake and subsequent fires.

http://www.platetectonics.com/book/images/Transformfaults.gif

Introductory Blog

My name is BigAnon Mouse. I am a journalist from The Anonmouse Times. In this Tectonic Tour, I will start out on the left side of the North American Plate. More specifically, I will be in the Gulf of California. That area has a Transform border. A Transform boundary is when two plates are sliding past each other. Fractures occur along the sides.

After that, this journey will take me to the Himalayan Mountain range. It is a convergent boundary, where two plates converged. Because they two plates went up, the location is called a collision boundary (a subcategory of convergent). The Himalayan Mountain range is located strictly on the north side of the Indian Plate. It converged with a small southern part of the Eurasian Plate.

Then, my travels will take me to Eastern side of the Pacific Plate. That boundary is called a subduction boundary, which is also a subcategory of a convergent boundary. This time, instead of going up, the two plates, when pushed together, went downwards, forming the deepest part of the ocean. This part is called the Mariana Trench. It is the lowest part in the entire body of water on Earth.

After visiting the highest and lowest point on earth, I will journey toward a Divergent boundary. The location is along the floor of the Atlantic, at a place called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. A divergent boundary is formed when two plates are moving apart. Valleys from when this happen. The valley is categorized as a rift valley.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction and everything included in this post and following is fake. However, the information on the four sites included is factual.