Midterm 1

Afghanistan's geography is dominated by the high Hindukush mountain range (highest point in Afghanistan: Nowshak 7,485 m). Geologically, this range marks the collision zone of the Indian with the Eurasian plate. The mostly rugged and mountainous country has only plains north and southwest of the Hindukush.
As expected for a country in a typical collision zone, Afghanistan has only very few young volcanoes and the few potentially active ones are related to intra-plate hot spot volcanism.
Older (extinct) volcanoes in Afghanistan occur in the southwest of the country, about 300-400 km behind the weakly developed subduction zone south off the Makran coast, where the Arabian sea floor is subducting at a shallow angle to the north. Between Afghanistan and the coast is a 300-km-wide accretion prism of sediments scraped off the Arabian Sea floor to form the E-W ranges of the Makran Mountains (Pakistan), which merge into the Sistan range to the west.
Afghanistan. In contrast to the very low rate of volcanic activity, Afghanistan suffers from frequent and intense earthquakes caused by the violent tectonic forces the colliding Arabian and Indian plates into Eurasia

Vakak (or Wakak) volcano is a field of 18 small volcanoes 115 km WSW of Kabul. It is the northernmost of a group of small volcanic fields in the Ghanzi region and consists of lava domes, one of which occupies an old caldera.
The age of its last eruption is unknown, but could be relatively recent (less than 10,000 years ago).The Vakak volcanic group is located on an intraplate hot spot, which is antipodal to the Easter Island hot spot. It has been suggested that such hot spot pairs have formed in the history of the earth by oceanic large-body impacts, triggering flood basalt eruptions at the impact site and (minor) hot spot activity at the opposite (antipodal) location on the earth's sphere. 

Dacht-i-Navar volcano is a group of 15 lava domes in west-central Afghanistan SW of Kabul.
Their age is unknown, but it is speculated that they have erupted less than 10,000 years ago and should be considered potentially active. 

The lava domes are trachyandesitic in composition and located along the southern margin of Dacht-i-Navar.

Because Afghanistan shares boarder in south with Pakistan, it gets affected by mud volcanoes. Mud volcanoes are found where subsurface layers of fluidized sediments, like silt and clay, have been pressurized by tectonic activity, such as at the boundaries of the earth's crustal plates, or by the accumulation of hydrocarbon gases. This pressurized sediment is forced upward, where it erupts on the earth's surface to form conical mounds of mud.

Most of these mud volcanoes are small, from only a few inches to several feet high, but some, such as a few of those in Azerbaijan, are more than six miles in diameter and several hundred feet high. Though mud volcanoes do sometimes erupt with powerful results, they are, for the most part, harmless. Gases bubble passively from the tiny "craters" at their summit, and upwelling mud slowly oozes out to form small flows. Mud volcanoes are also different from the bubbling mud pots found in active geothermal areas, such as in Yellowstone Park. The mud that erupts from mud volcanoes is cold, or perhaps only slightly warmer than the ambient ground temperature.


When large explosions do occur, they are thought to be caused by the accumulation of hydrocarbon gases, such as methane. Spontaneous combustion of these gases can lead to devastating results. Once the pressure is released, however, the mud volcano returns to a passive state, perhaps not becoming explosive again for decades or centuries, if ever.


The mud that is extruded from mud volcanoes can rise from as deep as several miles. Because mud volcanoes are also often associated with hydrocarbons, they provide useful information on the geology and petroleum potential of deep sedimentary basins. However, since the dominant gases expelled from mud volcanoes are methane and CO2, mud volcanoes are also considered an important source of greenhouse gases. With at least 1,100 mud volcanoes on land, and perhaps as many as 100,000 more underwater, it is estimated that as much as 185 million pounds of greenhouse gases may escape from mud volcanoes each day. Though the amount is tiny when compared to industrial sources worldwide, this is still a significant amount of gas.

Growing population and the great fertility of volcanic soils encourage people to nestle close to active volcanoes. The chance of dying in an eruption is small enough that most people ignore the hazard. But in order to prevent volcanic danger, stay out of the floors of stream valleys that drain away from volcanoes. Trying to outrun a mudflow is almost certainly suicidal. Climbing up the valley side may be too far way. Several meters high safety hillocks should be built, so that people can hopefully climb above the mudflows. Warning system high in valley on the flanks of active volcanoes use temperature sensors to detect the passage of hot mudflows and pass the word downslope.

http://www.livescience.com/39922-pakistan-earthquake-caused-gwadar-island.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/10333384/Pakistan-earthquake-island-is-a-mud-volcano.html

http://www.decodedscience.com/earthquakes-mud-volcanoes-pakistans-new-island/37782

Midterm 2

Afghanistan is considered as a country prone to a number of natural disasters: earthquakes, flooding, drought, landslides, and avalanches.  Earthquakes are relatively frequent, being more frequent in the north and northeast, and often trigger landslides. Afghanistan is geologically located in the active part of the world where two tectonic plates, the Iranian Plate and the Eurasian Plate, meet. The Indian plate (northward-moving) is colliding with the southern part of the Eurasian plate at a rate of about 1.7 inches per year. Both the Iranian Plate and the Eurasian Plate consists of continental crust, which can neither sink nor be destroyed. Since Afghanistan is sitting on a collision plate boundary, it has created some of the world's highest mountains and causes slips on major faults that generate large and often devastating earthquakes. Every few years, a powerful earthquake takes place in Afghanistan and causes significant damage and fatalities in the war torn country where there is poor transport and communications. Modern seismograph networks show that earthquake activity is widespread throughout much of the eastern part of the country. In addition to the damage caused by strong shaking, earthquakes can trigger destructive landslides, especially in mountainous terrain, which is very common in much of northeastern Afghanistan. Earthquakes also cause damage from liquefaction, where water-saturated soil becomes unstable and liquefies, and from ground subsidence, where shaking causes shifting and settlement of the ground surface. 

As Afghanistan’s infrastructure is rebuilt and modernized and its natural resources developed, critical facilities and major construction projects need to be located and designed to take into account the potential adverse effects of natural hazards such as earthquakes. A lot of the earthquakes that take place in Afghanistan may not be massive but the lack of warning system, building codes, and preventive measures increase the number of casualties. Buildings/houses are built without any codes and a lot of times, in the rural regions, a lot of the locals build their own houses using mostly mud. Earthquakes don’t necessarily kill a lot of people but the high death tolls usually come from unsuitable building constructions.  Proper design of such facilities and structures will help ensure that Afghanistan’s new and reconstructed infrastructure is durable enough to survive the impact of major earthquakes, which will inevitably occur.

Researchers with the USGS Earthquake Hazards Project compiled extensive data on the location, size, and frequency of past earthquakes in Afghanistan, and examined satellite and aerial imagery to identify the locations of potentially active faults. This information was then used to create preliminary earthquake hazard maps that show the strength of probable ground motion caused by earthquakes at specific localities and nationwide. The level of ground motion is expressed as a percent of the acceleration due to the force of gravity (% g), which is a parameter that engineers often use as a guide in designing structures such as hospitals, dams, pipelines, and power transmission lines.

Every year, thousands of people die in Afghanistan from various natural disasters, but earthquake results massive destruction of building and human losses in the Easter region of the country such as Takhar and Badakhshan. Also, houses are usually made of mud by locals, and therefore, even minor quake results vast fatalities and destruction. Also, houses are poorly built in the mountain skirts of Hindu Kush where any minor earthquake could cause a vast destruction and casualties. In order to prevent Eastern area from injuries, construction of homes should be strictly limited and people should be informed about the hazards of active faults since they are not aware of the danger. Moreover, building codes in this area should require structures that framed in wood, steel, or have appropriately reinforced concrete, but construction of masonry walls made of bricks, concrete blocks, stone, and mud should be prohibited. Load bearing masonry walls of any kind are likely to shake apart and collapse during an earthquake, dropping heavy roofs on people indoors. House can be built to withstand severe earthquakes well enough to minimize the risk to people inside. Even if a properly frames buildings is severely damaged, it’s unlikely to collapse. Reinforced concrete often breaks in large earthquakes, leaving the formerly enclosed reinforcing steel free to buckle and fail.

Earthquakes are more frequent in the north and northeast and, therefore, the safest place where I would live would be in the southwest region of the country such as Kandahar, Helmand and Nimruz. 

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2007/3027/pdf/FS07-3027_508.pdf

http://www.grida.no/publications/et/ep3/page/2611.aspx

https://www.pwri.go.jp/eng/ujnr/tc/g/pdf/19/6-1kanaji.pdf\

http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2005/1264/pdf/OFR-1264.pdf

https://www.em.gov.au/Documents/Housing%20construction%20in%20earthquake-prone%20places.pdf

Coastal Erosion in CA

 Societies worldwide are faced with new challenges in mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change. One of the major environmental effects of global temperature increases will be a continued increase in the rate of sea level rise. Higher temperatures cause sea level rise through the melting of ice on land (eustatic increases) and through the thermal expansion of water (steric increases) (Cayan et al, 2008).

One of the direct physical outcomes of sea level rise is coastal inundation. While inundation will be more pronounced on low-lying, heavily urbanized coastlines, it will still affect the Monterey Bay area. In both Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties, urbanized areas directly adjacent to estuaries and the coast will be threatened by higher high tides. While the rise may not be a direct threat to infrastructure, businesses, or residences, it may overwhelm agricultural land, degrade wetland ecosystem services, and will raise the base level to allow for more devastating storm events. Wetlands that worked as flood barriers and groundwater filters will have less functional area. Natural wetland retreat due to the increase in base level will be halted by adjacent urbanization and hard barriers (Pethick, 2001). Saltwater intrusion can damage upstream ecosystems and water availability (EPA, 2008).

Some of the Monterey Bay’s major natural assets are its long sandy beaches, which act as natural buffers to coastal flooding and are important attractions for the dominant tourism industry. The littoral cells operating within the bay are highly active, but are not at equilibrium. The southern stretch of the beach, near Seaside, already has the highest average erosion rate in California (AMBAG, 2008). In addition, the dunes that work as a continued source of sediment and as a flood buffer during storm surge events have been eroding along the entire southern Monterey Bay coastline at up to six feet per year since 1970 (Hapke et al, 2006). Erosion rates are expected to increase due to rising mean sea level. Zhang et al (2004) found that the erosion rate on Atlantic Coast beaches is about two orders of magnitude greater than the rate of sea level rise.

Beach nourishment has been highlighted recently as a solution to coastal erosion; proponents of this alternative maintain that increasing beach width by physically adding sand to a beach buffers wave energy and slows retreat rates. Federal, state and local government agencies are pursuing this method as a way to protect property from erosion damage, but the costs are generally very high and the net, long-term benefits of beach nourishment will vary greatly depending on local conditions (Leonard et al. 1990). By far the most popular option to manage shoreline retreat in California has been the construction of coastal protection structures (also referred to as coastal armoring). Approximately 10% of California’s coastline is currently armored (Griggs in press-a). The complexity and significance of coastal armoring in California are evidenced by numerous scientific studies, involvement of non-profit organizations, such as the Sierra Club and the Surfrider Foundation, and media coverage of the issue, such as KQED’s Coastal Clash documentary (http://www.kqed.org/w/coastalclash/home.html). The costs of armoring can be significant; millions of federal, state and private dollars have been expended annually on shore 3 protection, which can cost anywhere from $1800 to $7600 per linear foot of coast (Griggs in press-a).

http://www.mbari.org/education/internship/08interns/08papers/Crook.pdf

http://montereybay.noaa.gov/resourcepro/resmanissues/coastal.html

http://montereybay.noaa.gov/resourcepro/resmanissues/pdf/022305armoring.pdf

Extreme weather or cyclones

Extreme cold weather

Since 1 February, an estimated 7,331 families have been affected by floods, rain, heavy snow and avalanches in 122 districts in 22 provinces. A total of 257 people were killed and 72 people were injured. 1,326 houses were completely destroyed and 5,608 houses were damaged. Severe and extreme weather condition with heavy snow continued affecting several districts throughout Afghanistan. Typical Afghan weather patterns mean that those living in mountainous areas- up to half of the affected population –will almost certainly soon be cut off from help as winter closes in. Families from 14 drought-affected provinces have not been able to grow enough wheat to feed themselves over the winter due poor rains earlier this year. According to a UN assessment, in some provinces almost 100 per cent of the harvest has been destroyed, and food prices have soared, with the price of wheat in some areas doubling on average since this time last year. Families are coping by cutting down their meals, borrowing money and even moving to Iran or Pakistan. Some 90 per cent of households in the affected area are now living in debt after borrowing money to buy food, and schools have closed as children are being put out to work. Food, clean water and extra healthcare made available in the next few weeks will be critical as families face the risk of rising rates of disease and malnutrition that will hit the poorest and most vulnerable hardest.

More than 2 million Afghans are at risk of hunger and many are bracing to be stranded for months without help as the country prepares for a harsh winter. Save the Children and Oxfam agencies called for a redoubling of the aid effort to reach people in need before the onset of heavy snows cut off huge swathes of the country. Close to 3,200 families in 21 provinces received Afghan Red Crescent Society food and NFIs. The UN says the death toll from days of severe weather that caused avalanches and flooding across central and northeastern Afghanistan has jumped to at least 229 people.

The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on February 27 the deaths occurred in at least 18 provinces, with hundreds more people left homeless.

Extreme cold weather

UN Aid

Damages due to Extreme cold

Sinkholes

Sinkholes: occur when the overlying ground collapses into underground soil cavities over limestone.

There are three types of Sinkholes:

Dissolution: where the soil cover is thin and highly preamble. Acidic underground seeps through the soil and dissolves the underground limestone along fractures.

Cover Subsidence: where as much as 60 meters of sandy and permeable sediment exists on top of the limestone bedrock.

Cover Collapse: where a significant amount to clay is present in the overlying sediments.

Limestone: Limestone is a sedimentary rock, which means it was formed from small particles of rock or stone that have been compacted by pressure. Sedimentary rock is important because it often contains fossils and gives clues about what type of rock was on the Earth long ago. Just like a tree's rings tell a lot about its environment, layers found in sedimentary rock can tell about important changes in the environment.

I couldn’t find sinkholes hazards in Afghanistan, and therefore, I don’t think Afghanistan experiences sinkholes hazardous incidents or perhaps they are not recorded due to lack of media. I would love to know if anybody has any info about sinkholes hazards in Afghanistan.
http://geology.com/rocks/limestone.shtml

Mass Wasting Hazards

Landslides and Seismic Activity

Badakhshan is in the most remote and mountainous part of the country, bordering Tajikistan, China and Pakistan. Hundreds of homes were buried under mud and rocks when a section of a mountain collapsed following torrential rain. The first landslide swallowed 300 to 400 homes in the Argo district of Badakhshan province in northeastern Afghanistan where an estimated 2,700 people resided. At least 2,000 people were killed by landslides in northeastern Afghanistan in the worst natural disaster on record for the war-torn nation. The landslides were triggered by heavy rains in Badakhshan province bordering Tajikistan, where melting snow and seasonal showers make the region vulnerable to such calamities. The toll is more than double that of the worst natural disaster recorded in Afghanistan in May 1991 when floods killed 728 people, according to the international emergency disaster database of the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters.

The area is far from a major city and is bordered by Tajikistan to the north and Pakistan to the south. Rocky terrain and mountains make it difficult to reach. Relief was made difficult by how the disaster site lies in a far-flung mountain valley, where homes are terraced on hillsides and uniformly made with stone-colored exteriors, officials said. One mountainside had its face sheared off, and beneath it was freshly tilled soil and rock. Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in Asia, which has been continuously facing wars for many decades. Therefore, due lack of security and advance tools/machinery in Afghanistan, government is doing much to prevent or aware people for these kind of disaster. 

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/03/world/asia/afghanistan-landslide/

http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/05/massive-landslide-buries-remote-afghan-village/100729/

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-05-02/landslides-kill-350-people-destroys-homes-in-afghanistan

Tsunamis

Afghanistan is a landlocked mountainous country located within South Asia and Central Asia and therefor it does not have tsunamis. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Afghanistan

Volcanoes of Afghanistan

Afghanistan has a complex geology and tectonic history. Active volcanoes are located in eastern afghanistan, in a region that marks the collision zone with the Indian plate. The country contains mostly rugged mountains, with plains in north and southwest. The highest point is Nowshaq 7,485 m.

The volcanic field is located 115 km SW of Kabul.
There are 18 volcanoes in the field. The Vakak group is the result of hotspot volcanism. It is antipodal to Easter Island oceanic volcanism.

Dacht-I-Navar Volcano is located 133 km SW of Kabul. The volcano contains 15 lava domes. The volcanic area west of Ghanzi covers 4000 sq km. There is no evidence of recent eruptions at the volcano.

Due to years of conflict and neglect, Afghanistan's institutional capacity to cope with the devastating effects of natural disasters has remained relatively low. High levels of poverty, lack of income generating opportunities, chronic health problems, and poor infrastructure have jointly led to high vulnerability among those living in disaster-prone areas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vakak_Group

http://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/afghanistan-disaster-management-and-emergency-preparedness-issue-0210

Earthquakes

Earthquakes:

Afghanistan is not new to earthquake, Geophysicists claim that the region around the Hindu Kush is prone to earthquakes, due to near collision of the Eurasian and Indian plates. The strongest recorded earthquake till date to have hit the region was on March 14 1965, which measured 7.8 on the Richter scale. Afghanistan interior Ministry claimed that no casualties and financial damages were reported. Shakes were felt in North West India and Pakistan.

• v  Magnitude 7.8
• v  P-wave Magnitude 6.9
• v  Surface-wave magnitude 7.3
• v  Focal Depth 219 KM
• v  Latitude 36.2999
• v  Longitude 70.699997

http://earthquakes.findthedata.com/l/3838/Afghanistan

Achievements so far

v  Organized Workshops on Policy dialogue on Disaster Risk Reduction at provincial levels
v  Community Awareness raised with the cooperation UNAMA and UN Habitat
v  Establishing of Training Center for Disaster Management with the cooperation of INWENT
v  Disaster Information Management System set up with cooperation of AIMS
v  National Emergency Operation Center (NEOC) working 24 hours
v  Emergency communication system set up between NEOC and all Provinces
v  Website DDP launched with the cooperation of AIMS
v  Training workshops were held for developing ministerial, provincial and district level disaster management plans with cooperation of SEEDS, India.
v   Held disaster management training courses at National and Provincial levels with cooperation of INWENT and ADPC

http://nidm.gov.in/Workshop%20in%20PDF/Day%201/Country%20Presentation/Dr.%20Adbul%20matin%20Adrak%20-%20Afghanistan.pdf

Boundary Plate

Boundary Plates,

Afghanistan is situated on a major plate boundary. The location of the country is on the boundary where two tectonic plates, the Iranian Plate and the Eurasian Plate, meet. To the south of Afghanistan, the Indian Plate moves northwards and to the north the Eurasian Plate moves south-eastwards. The collision resulting from the movement of the plates has been under way for 50 million years. Due to this, Afghanistan is vulnerable to earthquakes. Both the Iranian Plate and the Eurasian Plate consists of continental crust, which can neither sink nor be destroyed. As a result, the rocks between the two plates are forced upwards to form mountains. The constant movement of the Iranian Plate results in an increase in pressure. The earthquake on February 4, 1998 was caused by this increase in pressure.

Add caption

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2007/3027/pdf/FS07-3027_508.pdf

http://www.wjla.com/blogs/weather/2013/04/afghanistan-earthquake-18677.html

Minerals, and rocks

Antique Silver Lapis Necklace from Afghanistan 

It is estimated that forty million years ago the tectonic plates of India-Europe, Asia and Africa collided in a massive upheaval. This upheaval created the region of towering mountains that now includes Afghanistan. This diverse geological foundation has resulted in a significant mineral heritage with over 1,400 mineral occurrences recorded to date, including gold, copper, lithium, uranium, iron ore, cobalt, natural gas and oil. Helmand, one of the largest cities in Afghanistan, is extremely rich in natural resources such as: uranium, magnate, carbonate, stucco, zing quicksilver, alabaster and others, but deprived from getting benefits of these resources due to lack of mining industry.  According to New York time the existence of iron, copper, cobalt, and lithium could make Afghanistan the most mining center in the world. A small pentagon team and American geologist discovered the huge scale of Afghanistan minerals wealth which former President Hamid Karzai claimed worth 30 trillion in 2013.

 ·         Badakhshan Province 12 lapis mines

·         Copper deposit in Logar province

·         Gemstones in Nooristan province

·         Gold and oil in Paktika province

Afghanistan is the world’s leading producer of lapis-lazuli in Badakhshan province, yet nine zones have been identified for different lazurite grades. Emerald production from the deposits of the Panshjer valley in Kapisa province. Ruby from Kabul
( Capital of Afghanistan) is believed to be part of the British crown jewels. Also, Kunzite and tourmaline crystals are found in the Lagman province.  

Lazurite

Local seller of  Lapis

Natural tourmaline

Rubellitesur mine in Afghanistan 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_in_Afghanistan

http://www.livescience.com/47682-rare-earth-minerals-found-under-afghanistan.html 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Geography of Afghani

Afghanistan in the world

Afghanistan is a landlocked and mountainous country that is usually designated as being located in Central Asia, but also part of South Asia. It connects South and East Asia with Central and Western Asia. The country is the 41st largest in the world in size. Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan, located in the Kabul province. Strategically located at the crossroads of major trade routes, Afghanistan has attracted a succession of invaders since the sixth century BCE.

The Hindu Kush mountains, running northeast to southwest across the country, divide it into three major regions: 1) the Central Highlands, which form part of the Himalayas and account for roughly two thirds of the country's area; 2) the Southwestern Plateau, which accounts for one-fourth of the land; and 3) the smaller Northern Plains area, which contains the country's most fertile soil.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Afghanistan#cite_note-8

River valley between two big cities

Paktia province

Afghanistan's location in Asia

Nooristan famous for its natural beauty 

Mountainous province Pakita 

Hazard, Disaster, and Catastrophe

Natural Hazard

The word process means the physical, chemical, biological ways of events such as earthquakes, 

volcanoes, floods, and fires shake Earth’s surface which can be defined by tectonic plates that large 

surface blocs of the solid earth, are mapped by identifying zones of earthquakes and active volcanism. Moreover, a natural hazard is natural process or event that fears people’s lives and their property. However, the process and the events are not dangerous, but the uses of land by people make them hazardous. 

Disasters 

Disaster is a hazardous event that occurs for a limited time of period within a defined area. Four

conditions have been set for disaster

1. More than 10 people are killed

2. More than 100 people are affected

3. State of emergency declared

4. Requested international assistance

Catastrophe

Catastrophe is a massive disaster that takes long time and money for recovery.