2. California
• Half of California is located on the Pacific plate and the other half on the north American plate.
An example of a transform boundary in California are the San Andreas fault. Transform
boundaries often create earthquakes. One of the most famous and largest earthquakes that has
happened in California was in the San Andreas fault and happened in 1906 and had a magnitude
of 7.8-7.9 but scientist are still arguing about this statement. One of the largest volcanoes that
has erupted in California happened in Mount St. Helens in 1980, it was a stratovolcano and killed
57 people.
• There have been 72 earthquakes in the past 34 years in California. 52 out of those 72 had a
magnitude of 6.0 or over. In the past 10 years there have been 6 earthquakes that had a
magnitude of 6.0 or over. There are 6 active volcanoes in California, one of them being the
Mount Shasta which last erupted in 1786.
• I wouldn’t insure California because there have been very many volcanoes that were pretty big.
There have been so many earthquakes in the past 34 years that have had a pretty high
magnitude. California is also a transform boundary and transform boundaries create lots of
earthquakes. California is also right by the tectonic plate boundary.
• Scale: 8/10 because there isn’t a big probability of major volcanoes erupting in the future but
there is a probability of earthquakes happening in the future.
3. Japan
• Japan is located on the North American, Eurasian and pacific plate. Japan has a convergent
plate boundary. Convergent boundaries often create a lot of volcanoes. The largest
volcano on earth and second largest in the entire solar system was found off the cost of
Japan, it is called Tamu Massif, it is roughly 120,000 square miles. The biggest earthquake
ever recorded in Japan happened off the coast of Hunshu, Japans largest Island and had a
magnitude of 9.0.
• In the past 20 years there have been 26 earthquakes in Japan, all 26 earthquakes had a
magnitude of 6.0 or over. In the past 10 years there have been 20 earthquakes all also having a
magnitude of 6.0 or over. There have been 20 volcanoes that have erupted in the past 20 years in
Japan and there have been 10 in 10 years. There are 108 active volcanoes in Japan.
• I would definitely not insure Japan because it is a convergent boundary which means a lot of
volcanoes. There are also still 108 active volcanoes in Japan that are very likely to erupt. There
have also been quite a few earthquakes and they all had a magnitude of 6.0 and over which is
pretty high.
• Scale: 9/10 because there have been very deadly earthquakes in the past and volcanoes. Japan
is also a convergent boundary which means lots of volcanoes.
4. Eastern Africa
• Eastern Africa is located on the African plate and the Arabian plate. The plate boundary is
divergent. Divergent boundaries often create lots of volcanoes. Lake Kivu earthquake was
one of the earthquakes with the highest magnitude in eastern Africa. One of the largest
erupting volcano in eastern Africa, called the Nabro volcano and killed 31 people.
• There haven’t been that many earthquakes in eastern Africa, all the earthquakes that did
happen had a magnitude of under 6.0 which is pretty harmless. There also haven’t been very
many deadly volcanoes in eastern Africa and there are only two active volcanoes.
• I would insure eastern Africa because there haven’t been very many deadly volcanoes and
earthquakes in the past. Eastern Africa will continue having earthquakes but not with such a
high magnitude.
• Scale: 3/10 Because there haven’t been very many deadly earthquakes or volcanoes.
5. Chile
• Chile stands on the Nazca plate and south American plate. The tectonic plate movement is a
convergent boundary (continental meets oceanic plate). One of the largest volcano erupted
in Chile is called Cerro Azul, it erupted 9 times.
• There are 137 volcanoes that have erupted or are still active in Chile. There have been quite
a few volcanoes that haven’t erupted yet. But there have been quite a lot of eruptions in the
past years. In the past 21 years there have been 18 earthquakes in Chile all with a magnitude
over 6.0. In the past 10 years there have been 13 earthquakes in Chile also with a magnitude
of over 6.0.
• I would not insure Chile because there have been quite a few big volcanoes and earthquakes.
Also Chile is right on the tectonic plate boundary which means a volcano can erupt anytime
and an earthquake could start to.
• Scale: 9/10 because an earthquake or volcano could erupt anytime.
6. conclusion
• Out of the four countries we had to research about I would only insure one of
them, eastern Africa because there haven’ been very many earthquakes and they
haven’t had a very big magnitude and there are only two active volcanoes in
eastern Africa.
• Overall project:
I thought this project was very fun and I liked discovering new information about
the countries. But this project took quite a long time and we really had to research to
find good information. I learned a lot and I think this project was very interesting!