What Volcanoes?

Volcanic activity is typically related to the plate tectonics since the majority of volcanoes are located near active plate boundaries (128).  So the magma is the molten rock found underneath the Earth's surface while the lava is the magma that surfaces or erupts on to the Earth's surface.  The lava comes out of, what is called, a volcanic vent or fissures which are elongated cracks in the surface (128).

Well, for Ireland, the country is currently surrounded by extinct volcanoes.  For example, there's Slieve Guillon in County Armagh, Lambay Island in Dublin, Loch Na Fooey in County Galway, and Croghan Hill in County Offaly which are all extinct volcanoes in Ireland.  Given its location in the middle of the ocean on the Eurasian tectonic plate, there isn't much going on for Ireland besides the minor earthquakes.  So volcanic activity isn't very common and hasn't been in awhile.  In the picture below, if you know your world map well enough, you can find Ireland and see how there are no red dots anywhere near it (unlike poor Iceland).

(Ireland is north of Africa off the west coast or Europe.  One of the islands west of Poland, Germany, and France.  To the left of the UK.)

Although, Ireland has a rich history of volcanic activity.  It dates way back, like millions of years ago, but it's still very important to how Ireland came about.  Ireland, also known as the "Emerald Isle", is known for its reoccurring history of volcanic eruptions.  A majority of the eruptions are said to have happened in the Ordovician age when central and western Europe were believed to have been separate from Eurasia about 430 to 480 million years ago.  The volcanic activity during the Ordovician period left traces in paces like Arklow Head, County Wicklow, and parts of the coastline of Waterford.  Many towns and hills are supposed remains of extinct volcanoes.  The Giant Causeway in Ireland is an amazing attraction today that is evidence of ancient volcanic activity.  Around 60 million years ago, volcanoes began to erupt in the center of the large continent that consisted of North America and Eurasian, causing North America and Eurasia to break apart and, therefore, forming the Atlantic Ocean (see image below).

The Giant Causeway is made up of about 40,000 basalt columns that formed because of lava pushing  up through fissures in the ground.  It is quite a spectacular sight and shows so much history.  They are located in County Antrim off the northeast coast of Northern Ireland.  It was declared a world heritage site in 1986 and a national nature reserve in 1987.  It has become quite a big tourist spot to visit.  I can't wait to go see it for myself!  They are like nature's stepping stones. 

Since Ireland has no recent volcanic activity to warn its people about, Irish scientists have been helping Iceland by monitoring the Bardarbunga which is a stratovolcano under one of Iceland's glaciers for any warning signs of eruption and also keeping the government updated and informed daily.  The Geological Survey of Ireland has been putting together updates with the latest news on Bardarbunga and whether it's any closer to erupting.  Ireland also helps Iceland with their volcano watch.  Given what happened in April of 2010 with the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland that caused the shutdown of airspace above many European countries including Ireland, it makes sense that Ireland has joined Iceland in helping them with monitoring and warnings (128).  Even though Ireland has no current volcanos erupting or active, they are staying busy and involved with other volcanoes.  Given their history of so much volcanic activity, maybe, Ireland gets a break…for now anyway!

Sources:

Image 1: http://www.kidcyber.com.au/volcanoes/

Image 2: http://earth.rice.edu/mtpe/geo/geosphere/hot/volcanoes/volcanoes_b2.html

Image 3: http://www.bobspixels.com/kaibab.org/geology/gc065mya.htm

Image 4: http://www.ireland.com/en-us/amazing-places/giants-causeway/

http://www.irishcentral.com/travel/the-volcanic-island-of-ireland-the-emerald-isles-harmless-craters-125780058-237763971

http://www.thejournal.ie/irish-scientists-iceland-volcano-1633968-Aug2014/

Keller, Edward A., Duane E. DeVecchio, and Robert H. Blodget. Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes. Boston: Pearson, 2015. Print.

Ireland On Not So Shaky Ground

Ireland's experiences with earthquakes have not been all that exciting.  Ireland has fault lines but none of the major fault lines are at the edge of the tectonic plates.  Furthermore, the fault lines Ireland does have are not very active to begin with.  So, the earthquakes Ireland experiences generally leave the country unharmed by the minor shifting of the crust.  Ireland has the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) and its six locations to record seismic activity.  The six stations include; DSB located in Dublin, VAL located in the island of Valentia, IGLA located in Galway, IDGLA located in the town of Donegal, IWEX located in Wexford, and ILTH located in the county of Louth.  The INSN is operated by the Geophysics Section of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS).

Seismicity in Ireland and also around the country is relatively low.  Yes, Ireland has experienced 80 earthquakes in the last 30 years but they've all been very minor.  Some of this earthquakes were hardly noticeable to the people.  It wasn't until recently, that Ireland was more often considered aseismic, meaning, not characterized by earthquake activity.  For the Irish people, experiencing largely noticeable seismic activity is relatively rare.

The image above is on the funnier side of the reaction of the Irish when they have earthquakes because the last really sever one was in 1984 with a magnitude of 5.4 which shook buildings.  The damage it caused was some cracks in buildings or fallen chimneys.  So, overall Ireland has a low seismicity even though they have had their share of earthquakes.

As far as prevention systems or preparedness for earthquakes, Ireland does not seem to have very many out there.  I've looked for some and the most I could find are websites to take classes on how to prepare for disasters and other survival websites.  Given how many earthquakes they have experienced, one would think they would have more warning systems or prevention tactics.  Not in this case! If anything, different counties or cities will have their own local prevention systems.  Overall, the earthquakes are so minor since 1984, they don't seem so worried to reinforce buildings, set up warning systems, etc..  I'm hoping probably along side the Irish people, that it remains this way and Ireland continues to be a beautiful and calm island.

Sources:

https://www.dias.ie/cp/astro/geo-seismic-network/

https://www.insn.ie

http://geoscience.lyit.ie/geology/seismicity-ireland.html

http://www.newstalk.com/Ireland-on-shaky-ground-with-earthquakes-and-tsunamis-

http://www.survivalistireland.com

Keller, Edward A., Duane E. DeVecchio, and Robert H. Blodget. Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes. Boston: Pearson, 2015. Print.

What's Ireland Really Like?

Ireland is a beautiful island off the west coast of Europe, their closest neighbors being the UK.  One can't say Ireland isn't lovely.  But before anyone jumps on a plane to go visit Ireland, or any country for that matter, it's important to know what to expect from the trip, not only the language, food, clothes, sayings, etc. but also the hazards, and disasters for safety precautions.  Luckily for me, Ireland is relatively relaxed when it comes to any natural disasters.  Ireland is located on the Eurasian plate and it's off to the left side of it in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  The Eurasian plate are associated with major earthquakes, flooding, and mass wasting (see Table 2.4 pg. 36).  Mass wasting being slope movement or more commonly known as landslides.  The Eurasian plate is a convergent plate that collides but on the west wing, which is where Ireland lies, it acts more like a transform plate that slides past one another.  It's not close to the boundary of the plate so any form of natural disasters are mild to moderate.  Ireland is located on the Atlantic fringe of Europe which is influenced more by the Atlantic circulation instead of the continent.   Ireland experienced some extreme weather and storms and disasters in the past, although, recently nothing has been close to a catastrophe.  Since the early 1900s, Ireland has experienced 50 landslides which were caused by excessive rainfall and then followed by dry periods.  In 2009, Ireland experienced widespread flooding.

Flooding along the banks of river Shannon near Athlone

Ireland has withstood 80 minor earthquakes in the past 30 years.  That's a lot of earthquakes but they were very mild.  In 1984,an earthquake of 5.4 magnitude hit Ireland and nothing more powerful than that is expected to occur for awhile or forever.  The second largest  local earthquake in Ireland was a 4.0 in 2012.  With major earthquakes, tsunamis tend to follow.  Ireland experienced, what was called a tsunami, in 2011.  Although, "tsunami" is a bit of an overstatement because it was roughly a 46cm wave.  It is more like a tidal wave according to some articles.  Ireland does, however, have hazards of more tsunamis occurring but it seems unlikely to be anything major.  Where Ireland is located, it quite a calm location on the Eurasian plate away from any boundaries or volcanic activity.  Some ways were discovered on possibilities of tsunamis occurring due to landslides or earthquakes.  First, the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja in the Canary Islands could set off a tsunami in Ireland's direction.  Second, this thing called a submarine landslide, which is when a large volume of material moves or shifts underwater.  Finally, the Azores-Gibraltar fault which caused the two most recent tsunamis in Ireland in 1755 and 1761 due to an 8.6 earthquake in Lisbon.  Not so recent, I know.  As you can see, Ireland seems like an overall wonderful place to visit or even make it a home!  There are no recent disasters but Ireland is always on hazard watch because we can't predict mother nature perfectly, though we try.  So go check out some of Ireland's beautiful sites, especially the castles!

Location of 2012 Earthquake

Landslide Susceptibility 

Damage from flooding

Sources:

https://www.epa.ie/pubs/reports/research/climate/CCRP_5_Kiely_ExtremeWeather_syn_web.pdf.pdf

http://www.newstalk.com/Ireland-on-shaky-ground-with-earthquakes-and-tsunamis-

Keller, Edward A., Duane E. DeVecchio, and Robert H. Blodgett. Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes. Boston: Pearson, 2015. Print.

Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes

These three terms, as long as I can remember, seemed more like synonyms than separate terms.  I haven't experienced very many of the three so knowing the differences has not been important, until now.  Hazards, disasters, and catastrophes seem similar but mean totally different things.  Hazards, or natural hazards, are more related to the potential threats of a natural occurrences to a life or a property.  Floods, earthquakes, landslides, hurricanes, etc. are examples of possible hazards but the events themselves are not the hazards but are only called hazards because of our existence on the land.  A disaster is " a hazardous event that occurs over a limited time span within a defined area" (5).  Disasters are classified as a disaster under four circumstances; more than 10 people have to had died, at least 100 people would have to be involved or affected, the area that was hit would have to announce a position of emergency, and finally, assistance outside the country would have to be solicited (5).  Last but not least, is a catastrophe which is characterized as " a massive disaster that requires significant expenditure of money and a long time for recovery to take place" (5).  As it looks to me, "disaster" is more of a general term used for them all, while a "catastrophe" specifies the severity of the actual disaster.  Sadly, these can't be avoided but every place that suffers from their own types of hazards, disasters, or catastrophes have some form of recovery or even prevention methods.  We can't change mother nature but we can sure change how we cope with what she deals!

Keller, Edward A., Duane E. DeVecchio, and Robert H. Blodgett. Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes. Boston: Pearson, 2015. Print.