Geol 9 Week 2 blog post: Tectonic plates

-


What tectonic plate is Belgium in?


        Belgium is a country in western Europe. It is not located on the Eurasian plate boundary but in the middle of the Eurasian Plate. The Eurasian plate forms the majority of the continent and shapes the country of Belgium. For instance the Eurasian Plate creates environments like the Ardennes Mountains in the southern area of Belgium. Belgium is not accustomed to high seismic activity but the tectonic plate influences the landscape inside the country. The Eurasian plate also affects the countries temperature and precipitation by effecting the wind around the country making it so the precipitation and moister from the Atlantic ocean seeps into the atmosphere of Belgium.



Fun fact!

        The Ardennes Mountains are located in the southern area of Belgium as mentioned above and are a result of the Eurasian plate activity. The Ardennes Mountains during the Hercynian orogeny which was a tectonic event that happened 300 million years ago. When the plates collided 300 million years ago the rock layers beneath Belgium rose higher than normal creating the terrain that is the Ardennes Mountains today.




Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardennes
https://www.elic.ucl.ac.be/modx/index.php?id=174
https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/tectonic-plates-earth
Chapter 2 module information

Comments

  1. Morgan BentonFebruary 4, 2024 at 7:36 PM

    Great post about Belgium! Although my country, Rwanda is located in a different continent than yours, both of our countries are kind of centered in their respective plates. Similarly, Rwanda isn't subjected to a lot of activity, but they do average having around one earth quake a month.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog Wk 13

-
Image
Coastal Erosion in Belgium: Belgium is a small country with a normally slightly small coastline. Belgium faces lots of environmental challenges like coastal erosion. This event is natural and has been accelerated by human activity and climate change which poses a growing threat to coastal lands and infrastructure around the world. What is Coastal Erosion: Coastal erosion is when the land along the coast is damaged or removed due to waves or currents. These natural processes are being accelerated by climate change which furthers the erosion of coasts. The Belgium coast line is about 65 kilometers long form the French border to the Dutch border. This area is popular for tourism but its also a natural coast which is being damaged by coastal erosion. Reasons for Coastal Erosion in Belgium: Sea-Level Rise: Climate change is causing global sea levels to rise which is increasing the amount of coastal erosion around the globe. For Belgium, the North Sea has been rising approximately 1-2 mm p...
Read more

Week 8: Mass Wasting Hazards

-
Image
This week I am going to dive into he topic of mass wasting events like landslides, mudslides, rockslides, and there relationship between flooding and rain. In Belgium it is not discussed as frequently as other regions despite this mass wasting events still pose a big risk. While the country does not experience high rates of seismic activity heavy rainfall and periods of drought can trigger landslides and mudslides. Using Belgium's topography its varied terrain with hilly regions and valleys make certain areas more likely to experience these hazards especially those close to slopes or mountain ranges.  Belgium has experienced small scale landslides in the past specifically in areas with mountain ranges or mining and construction sites that reshape the environment. These landslides cause local damage but typically do not reach the magnitudes that are seen in countries with more geological features. To further protect themselves from hazards Belgium should focus on increasing awarenes...
Read more

Wk10: Extreme weather

-
Image
Wk10: Extreme weather                This week I will be discussing extreme weather cases of flooding in the country of Belgium. Flooding has escalated in Belgium because of the average temperature rise since 1830-1010 of 2°C. As early as it is in 2024 Belgium is already facing serious flooding issues. Referring to the charts below provided by iea.org we can see the gray bars being the world averages and the left bars being Belgium's levels of extremes weather cases. This country's vulnerability to flooding is increased by the amount of densely populated regions with lots of urbanization. Without the right procedures set in place for a flood urbanization can lead to more devastating effects. The second bar chart is used to show the rate at which Belgium is warming compared to the rest of the world. This is relevant to the chart above because when the average temperature increases Floods, Droughts, and Cyclones increase as well. The need to ad...
Read more