I come from Colombia. Colombia is a beautiful country located in South America. It is a landscape that is marked by Andes Mountains, rainforests tropical grasslands, and numerous coffee plantations. It is home to the Amazonian forest, tropical meadow, and the beautiful Pacific and the Caribbean coastlands. The country is famous for its cultural dishes, with the Zona Rosa District best recognized for its restaurants and shops. Its Caribbean coast contains a colonial walled Old Town. It also has castle dated back to the 16th century and close-by coral reefs.
Being the fourth largest nation in South America, the country holds a large population that boasts of its cultural diversity. Besides that, it holds massive oil reserves and is a major producer of precious metals such as gold and silver. It also produces emeralds, platinum, and coal. Apart from that, Colombia is known for its numerous unfortunate earthquakes that leave a trail of destruction in the affected areas (Reicherter et al., 2009) . Generally speaking, many refer to it as the “earthquake country” since they associate it with these events (Rosen, 2013). While these incidents have left many wondering, scientists have discovered that the explanation could be because the country sits on a restless joint of tectonic plates. The notorious plates are The Caribbean Plate and The Oceanic Plate (Reicherter et al., 2009) . The Caribbean Plate is subducts along the northern coast of the country. The oceanic Nazca Plate, on the other hand, is subducted down its western periphery. Between these Plates is the constricted but floating Isthmus of Panama which constantly crashes into South America like a mauling ram, an activity that leads to the intricate pattern of earthquakes (Bushnell, D., & Hudson, R. (2010). This matter has long puzzled scientists who hope to decode the plate arrangement underneath my country. Researchers have combined forces as they try to understand this geological phenomenon. In their latest study, they have recognized a facet known as the Caldas Tear. The discovery of this feature is an exciting observable fact as it could help to explain numerous ancient riddles regarding the geology of Colombia. The unfortunate part is that I have never come across any of these riddles as they are beliefs that deeply rooted in the older generations and this is the reason why we barely hear of them.
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There have been numerous researchers who have gone to Colombia to study the Caldas Tear. According to them, this feature is an east-west fissure in the Nazca Plate that overlaps with an old dispersal crest (Rosen 2013). These geophysicists have given a presumption for the Caldas Tear. They claim that the tear came about after a collision of the Panama microplate. The researchers refer to the microplate as “indenter.” Its name comes from its constant punching activity into the South American thick, floating outer layer which are the vestiges of an ancient island arc. The result of the punching activity has therefore been the widespread deformation. There is a likelihood that this warp could break the adjoining Nazca Plate asunder down the reactivated extending ridge.
There have been numerous earthquakes recorded in my country. Scientists make use of this dataset in their researches. There are studies where they have used this information and produced images of the structure of the plate underneath the surface of the Earth on the basis of the dissimilarities in the manner in which the seismic waves disseminate through concrete crustal blocks and molten mantle. According to the authors, the results of these images illustrate the sharp edge of the Caldas Tear. It is also easy for one to also find the evidence of its existence at the surface (Rosen, 2013). Physicists think they have an explanation that offers a supporting explanation to the notion that tectonic conditions vary significantly across the rip. According to their justification, it is caused by the sudden destruction of the north-south series of the Andean volcanoes along the tear’s latitude. The north-south series of the Andean volcanoes, in this case, refer to a region that is marked by an east-west sequence of small eruptions that are out of the ordinary (Bushnell and Hudson, 2010). Their atypical geochemical compositions and mineral deposits of high quality are the reason that makes researchers believe that it supports the idea of the tectonic conditions changing dramatically across the rip. These researchers say that both sinistral and dextral fault earthquakes along this trace alongside the changes in the morphology of rivers athwart the tear imply the probability of propagation all the way to the surface. With all the nature of information gathered from their studies, the evidence suggests that it is a major border-line.
The most important fact to consider in the report of this team of researchers is that they claim the tear to be a representation of a break that runs between two regions that contain significantly different subduction technicalities. To the southern side, the Nazca Plate subducts at a vertical angle characteristic of oceanic crust at confluent verges (Rockwell et al., 2010 ). This zone is just like the rest of the areas on the west coast of South America as they all experience earthquakes that are frequent and moderate. In the northern part of the tear, however, the Panama and Caribbean Plates which are unusually thick subduct at an exceptionally thin angle ( Rockwell et al., 2010 ). The researchers have confirmed this through their wide-ranging tomographic imaging. This area experiences little seismic or volcanic activity even though it has the issue of the along the tear. However, there is an inscrutable cluster of deep earthquakes that are known as the Bucaramanga Nest.
The Bucaramanga Nest is a feature with the densest earthquake throngs in the whole planet (Prieto et al., 2016). There has been a series of debates regarding the triggers of this seismicity for the longest time possible. However, researchers think that the answer is in the new structure of the slab that was illustrated in the study. They are of the opinion that the shallow section of the Caribbean block is experiencing trouble going down. They think that the problem with this theory is that the part that has dropped wants to keep plummeting under the force of gravity. This activity could, as a result, cause deep parts of the block to snap off and plunge into the mantle. Powerful seismic events such as the one recorded over the Bucaramanga Nest could happen as a result. The researchers say that the regions of the earthquakes are in line with the down-going segment of the Caribbean Plate should seat. This claim is by the scientists is based on their theorized block geometry.
The Bucaramanga Nest has already been identified to be a seismic danger (Prieto et al., 2016). Having this fact acknowledged is encouraging as it allows and pushes the need for further research that will help to determine other areas of my country that are at risk for severe, superficial earthquakes. The northern part of the nation has never experienced large earthquakes. The situation is similar in the American Northwest which is the Cascadia. This area has moderately slow subduction. However, there is a possibility that big, irregular earthquakes could happen. Furthermore, the impact of Panama looks like it could have cut off a large block in the country’s northwest corner that is circumscribed by a chain of huge strike-slip faults, together with one down the Caldas Tear itself (Rockwell, et al., 2010). The area has cities all over, and this means that they are at risk due to these faults.
There are various people who disagree with the findings that have been summarized by these researchers. Different people think the interpretation given by the researchers regarding the Caldas Tear is a new and faulty assumption. Some geologists believe that the argument only entails a single worn out subducting plate. There are those who agree with the study’s construal with the feature of the Caldas as the southern rim of the Caribbean Plate spreading over the surface of the Nazca Plate as there have been numerous other studies that have had similar conclusions. However, the researchers of the study think that the evidence they presented is too compelling to suggest anything besides a tear. They also support their interpretation by denying the presence of any signs slabs lying on top of each other underneath Colombia. One of the researchers points the significance of the indenter of Panama in creating this distinctive geologic feature. However, there is the need for further research that could shed light on the different ways that the indenter has impacted the geologic growth of the country.
Conclusion
I think that my story about the geology of my country is great because it opens us up to the activities that are taking place beyond our collective understanding. By telling the story, readers will begin to understand the mystery that lies behind the country’s numerous earthquakes. It helps to understand how the earth operates below the surface of the planet as it examines in details the imbalances and distortions that are happening thus causing interruptions that lead to the various volcanoes. The story is also interesting as it is not a common narrative that people are used to reading but rather about something that they will probably first learn about here. Interested parties can, therefore, go ahead and read more about the tectonic plates and learn their effects beyond knowing something about their impact on the country. They could seek detailed explanations on the matter from scientists. Their quest for knowledge could motive researchers to conduct more studies on the controversial areas that face contradiction with the hope of coming to a standard interpretation. With the right information, the government and stakeholders will efficiently plan for disaster and will provide the necessary education to the people of Colombia to help them understand their environment and how it operates (Reicherter et al., 2009) . The people will then learn the measures to take when an earthquake hits, and death tolls will be reduced. They will also be mentally and emotionally prepared, and the effects will not be as devastating as they often are.
References
Prieto, G. A., Pedraza, P., Dionicio, V., & Levander, A. (December 2016). Source Analysis of Bucaramanga Nest Intermediate-Depth Earthquakes. Retrieved from http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016AGUFM.S34B..06P
Reicherter, K., Michetti, A. & Silva, P. (2009). Palaeoseismology : historical and prehistorical records of earthquake ground effects for seismic hazard assessment . London: Geological Society.
Rockwell, T. K., Bennett, R. A., Gath, E., & Franceschi, P. (2010). Unhinging an indenter: A new tectonic model for the internal deformation of Panama. Tectonics , 29 (4), [TC4027]. DOI: 10.1029/2009TC002571
Rosen, J. (8 November, 2013). Slab tear explains perplexing Colombian earthquake activity. Retrieved from https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/slab-tear-explains-perplexing-colombian-earthquake-activity
Bushnell, D., & Hudson, R. (2010). Geology. In Colombia:A Country Study , pp. 70-71. pdf
