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Volcanoes and Society Notes

Volcanoes and Society Notes. Where are most of Earth’s volcanoes?. Pacific Ring of Fire 75% of Earth’s active and dormant volcanoes Volcanism is mostly focused at plate margins OR hot spots. Where are most of Earth’s volcanoes?.

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Volcanoes and Society Notes

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  1. Volcanoes and Society Notes

  2. Where are most of Earth’s volcanoes? • Pacific Ring of Fire • 75% of Earth’s active and dormant volcanoes • Volcanism is mostly focused at plate margins OR hot spots

  3. Where are most of Earth’s volcanoes? • Pacific Ring of Fire stretches along east Asia, across Alaskan Islands, and along the coast of the Americas • US contains only about 10% of all active volcanoes

  4. How do volcanoes affect society? • There are thought to be about 600 million people living close enough to active volcanoes to be affected when they erupt. • Casualties from volcanic eruptions have been modest (around 300,000 in the last 200 years) compared to other geohazards, but socioeconomic losses and disruption can be considerable. • The modern globalized world is vulnerable to very large volcanic events, making the study of return periods, environmental effects, and consequences a key goal of volcanology.

  5. What type of risks do volcanoes pose? • Flooding • Due to rise in water level/glacial melting • Destroys structures, obstructs traffic (air traffic impeded by ash) • Global Climate Impact • Sulfur clouds make Earth’s atmosphere more reflective, cooling the planet • Interferes with crop production • Property Damage • ex: • Insurance is not widely available and is costly • why?

  6. How do we analyze disaster risk? • Around the world, disasters occurs each day. Sometimes the impacts are felt locally, other times, the event reaches across state and national boundaries. • Globally, the number of natural disasters has increased 4X during the past 3 decades—from about 120/year during the 1980s to roughly 500/year now.  These disasters exert a uneven impact on the world’s poorest and most vulnerable individuals. • why?

  7. How do we analyze disaster risk? • To calculate the risk of a natural disaster occurrence, we have to have information about past occurrences. • This helps us estimate return periods and better prepare and manage future events. • Disaster risk can be calculated by dividing the number of past events by the time period over which they occurred. • Example:

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