Pacific Realm (GEOG 8)
This. Screencast lecture. Will cover the. Pacific, realm and the, Pacific, Rim. Here. We have two maps one, that illustrates. The, extent, of the vast Pacific Ocean, which. Clever covers, close to half of the, globe's surface. You. Can see the position of the United, States China. Japan, and Australia, all. Of which. Occupy. Part, of the Pacific, Rim the, Pacific. Realm, itself. Will, constitute, the islands. That. Are. The. Smallest. Geographic. Landmass. On the earth that, cover the largest, areal, extent. Starting. With the Pacific Rim we will want to spend some attention. Looking, at the, Pacific mountains. And valleys. Physiographic. Region, in, particular we're, going to be looking at some. Of the natural processes. That have contributed to the. Physiography, of, this. Region, which includes, the, mountains, that characterize, much of the western United, States. This. Map illustrates, the. Natural, disaster, risks, that face the United States and it's. Worth noting, that, while. The. United States in. The southwest, and eastern part of, the. United States will be subject, to hurricanes. The. Midwest, to tornadoes. The. West faces, its greatest risks, from earthquakes and, also. From volcanic, activity, and a. Risk of tsunamis. Here. We see an image of Hurricane, Katrina. From. The last decade which devastated the city of New Orleans this, last year we, saw Houston. Texas. Suffer. Catastrophic. Hurricane. These. Hurricanes are fed, by warm ocean, waters which are being. Exacerbated. By global, climate change. Shifting. To the west coast in the Pacific Rim we. Will want to review the principles of, plate tectonics. Note. The position of. California. And Oregon. And Washington and, Alaska all of, which are in, close proximity to, tectonic. Plate boundaries. Especially. The boundary, between a, civic plate and the North American plate that. Will. Explain. Much of the reason that we see earthquake. And volcanic activity, as, well. As tectonic. Hazards, and mountainous. Terrain. It's. Important, to keep in mind that tectonic. Processes those. Found along plate boundaries, will, serve to build. Up mountains, here. We're looking at, Lake. Tahoe, and the eastern. Side of the Sierra Nevada over, Nevada. From. An airplane at, approximately. 30,000. Feet in elevation. The.
Pacific Ring, of Fire is, distinct, from the Pacific Rim and, is. The. Area, that rims. The Pacific, with volcanoes. And earthquake. Activity as. Illustrated. The. Most famous fault. Zone in the world runs through California, here. We can see the San Andreas Fault, extending. From far. Southern California. Through. The San Francisco, Bay Area. Northward. And off. Coast. Just. To the south of Eureka. And Arcada, in Humboldt, County. This. Tectonic. Plate boundary, is. Created. By the sliding. Motion of, the. Pacific, plate relative. To the North American plate. Note. That north of Cape. Mendocino and. Eureka. Arcada, we see a, subduction. Zone. Which we will look at momentarily. San. Andreas Fault is, therefore, classified as, a transform. Fault. Zone, along. A sliding. Plate boundary. This. Image. Illustrates. The. Plate movement, of the Pacific plate that. Produced, the, Loma, Prieta earthquake in, 1989. A. Subduction. Zone is, a convergent. Plate boundary, and the. Cascade volcanoes, are, characteristic. Of, mountains. That are formed, through this process of, one. Plate. Converging. And plunging. Beneath a neighboring plate, note. That the ocean, plate, which is more dense will, plunge, beneath the, continental plate. This. Results, in the great mountains, of the Cascades. Most. Of which are classified as stratovolcanoes. Such. As Mount Shasta. Subduction. Zones, also, produce the greatest tsunami. Risk and the greatest potential, for mega. Quakes, those. Quakes that are greater, than 9.0. And magnitude, on the. Richter scale. Tsunamis. Are produced, when the. Seafloor. Displacement. Causes, a displacement. Of the water over. The. Seafloor which in turn produces a, large, wave which, will travel. Ashore, many. Of you may have seen tsunami. Evacuation, route. Signs, on, the. Northern coast of California, and Oregon. The. Pacific hinge region, as defined, by our textbook. Is, characterized. By a, focus. On the Pacific, Rim economy. Which. Is, vital. To, the. Global economy, and. Characterizes. The, modern trend, towards, global, ashin where, we have increased. Exchange. Through, trade and cultural. Activities. This. Includes, global, cities such, as Los. Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle. And, Vancouver. These. Cities, are. Characterized. By innovation. And trend-setting. And, are. Considered. Modern. Cultural, arts. One. Need only consider, the. Role of information. Technologies. From. Computers, to the smartphone which, were innovated, in cities. In the western United, States. These. Cities also are characterized, by, vibrant. Tourism. And recreation, based. Economies. And. Also. To, tectonic, hazards. Here. We see the City of Seattle on. The Left San. Francisco, on the right. Los. Angeles, course. World-famous, home, of Hollywood. And one, of the largest urban areas, in North America, with a large Latino. Population. San. Francisco, built up around the Gold Rush is now the financial, heart, of the. Western United States, we. Have very. Strong. Asian influence. Characterized. By Chinatown. Here, and. Vibrant. Architecture. Culture. Parks. And. This. Is an opportunity, to remind. You about an, opportunity, to visit and learn about the, geography, of San Francisco, through this one unit field, class where, we'll take a two-day trip. Lodging. And transportation covered. So. Now we'll shift gears into the Pacific realm this is a separate, chapter in your textbook, which you'll want to read. And, there. Are some unique things that characterize. The Pacific, realm, many. Of us may think about the, tropical. Beaches. Palm. Trees, swaying, in the wind. Wide. Open ocean. Seas and, mild. Tropical. Climates. Will. See that this realm, is divided. Into two excuse. Me three. Regions. Those. Being Polynesia. Micronesia. And, Melanesia, the. Prefixes. Of those, words. Poly. Means many indicating. The many different, islands note Hawaii, included. And extending, all, the way to New Zealand although, New Zealand actually will be included. And treated, with, Australia. Later. In the course. Micronesia. Refers, to small, these, are the smallest of the islands, and you. Can see some of the island. Nations that, comprise. Micronesia. Including. The Federated, States of Micronesia. Melanesia. This. Is referring, to the. Dark complexion, of the people who live in this region, extending.
All The way to Fiji. These people, are more closely related to, the. Peoples of New Guinea and have more similarities than. To. The Polynesians. The. Boundaries, of these, island. Nations, are, in part defined, by. Worldwide. Maritime. Laws, that. Define, a territorial. Sea. Effectively. An international. Border at the 12-mile. Limit, point. Beyond, the. Coastline, so you can see for example the, 12. That. That we're going to basically create buffers, around these coastal, areas actually. These are. Indicating. The 200-mile. Exclusive. Economics known so, within, these white areas, the. Country. Whose, coast it is next to would have exclusive. Rights to mining. And fishing and other economic. Activities. We're. Going to take a focused look at. Hawaii. Our tropical, Pacific. State which, of course is, situated. In the heart of Pacific. Ocean. Honolulu. Is very much of a primate, city nearly. Two-thirds, of the state of Hawaii lives, in this. Capital. City of Honolulu. Hawaii. Is, volcanic. In origin here, we see some, of the lava flows, that have. Constructed. The island chain and introduce, hazards. To the islands. Most. Specifically. We'll see. Volcanic. Activity on the youngest, island, and. The largest island which is the. Island of hawaii sometimes. Referred, to as the big island you'll. Notice that hawaii, is the youngest, and. Progressively. Older towards. Hawaii, as the. Pacific plate migrates. Northward, across, this tectonic. Hotspot. Ok. Native Hawaiians, are, unique. As. I mentioned earlier they are Polynesians. They're actually related to the maori people of new zealand, and have. Been in the island since 500. AD almost, 1,600. Years, quite. Miraculous, that these master, navigators, were able to locate the islands, and habbit, the islands, for. Over. A thousand, years and. Sustain. Quite, a large population during. That period of time. The. Population, of Hawaii. Was, supported. By. One. Plant in particular which is, taro, disallowed. For. Long. Ocean voyages. They made this and, still, eat this porridge. Called POI that. Is fermented, that allows for, food. To not require refrigeration, which. Enabled. These long, cross, ocean, journeys, in the pre refrigeration.
Era. Hawaii. Has a very diverse population and. This. Table. Of population. Comparing, Hawaii, to the United, States reveals. Some very interesting facts. Note. The. Percentage. Of whites. That, live in Hawaii. Just 27%. As opposed to 80% nationwide. The. Other striking, number to look at is the Asian population with. Almost 40%, of, over. 40%, Asian. In ninety two thousand five compared. To just four, percent for, the United States as a whole. You'll. Notice 10 percent, roughly, of Native. Hawaiians, and there's, a variety of issues and challenges that. The Native Hawaiians, face. That are similar, in many ways to Native. Americans, elsewhere. Dropout. Rates, problems. With drug, abuse, domestic. Violence, and. Much. Of this centers around a disconnection, from their traditional way, of life and, their traditional, access. To land, and resources, a. Quote. From, Queen. Liliuokalani who. Was the reigning. Monarch, of the islands, in, 1898. When the. United States imprisoned. Her and. Took. Hawaii as a territory. It. Gained statehood, in, 1960. And one. Of the sources. Of tension and, unresolved, issues, was, this illegal. Acquisition, of the islands, by the United States from the. Native Hawaiian's. In. Looking at the Pacific realm we are going to be discussing, a. Dichotomy. Between the. High. Islands. And low islands, Hawaii. Is characteristic. Of high islands, these are higher elevation. Islands, volcanic. And, origin. Generally. Have good. Access to water and soils. With, diverse, agriculture. And support, larger populations. It's. Important to recognize, that while. The Native Hawaiians, lived, for, 16. Centuries. Entirely. On, the resources, of the islands, today. 90%, of, food, and 90% of. Energy. Is imported. To the islands, to support, the. Population that now lives there and. We. Can look at a variety of other, examples. Of high islands, this is New, Caledonia. In. Melanesia. By. Contrast, low islands, are. Going. To be composed, primarily of coral, these constitute, the majority of the. Pacific realms Islands, these, are generally, quite low in elevation, and support low populations. The. Way that these low, islands. Develop. Is that, once. Volcanic. Activity. Ceases. The, coral. Reefs that have developed, around, the perimeter, of an island, will. Remain in place and will act as an anchor for, soil, and, trees while. The, main body, of the island, will eventually, weather away below. The surface of the ocean ultimately, leading to an, at. Hole. An. Example, of a low island. Coral. Reefs are. Described. As the rainforests. Of the ocean, they, support. The highest level, of biodiversity and, we. See a number of threats, related. To, coral. Reefs today. Overfishing. Is, a significant. Problem, coral. Bleaching another. Problem, and. We're. Starting, to see indications, of significant. Stress, and. Declines. In, fish. And other organisms that, live here. This. Is a region, that was the center of nuclear testing, and the legacy of nuclear, waste affects. Many, places in, the. Pacific realm. Solid. Waste meant, much of it of origin. From, the. Asian, and North American, continents, have, produced, the, Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Which. Is having a toll, on wildlife, you. See an image in the bottom of a albatross. The, Great Pacific birds that, has died from eating, ingesting, plastics, and this. Is, increasing. An increasing, problem as we see this. Significant. Area. That has. Plastic. Waste. You. See the term up here the approximate, areas of this rubbage, soup, as its described. Sea. Level rise is a major concern, for, these low-lying, Pacific Islands we. Have several. Countries. Kiribati. Is. One. In which, islands. Are disappearing, and they're beginning to make plans to move their populations. Off these islands. So. In closing the Pacific realm is a. Beautiful. Area. With lots of tourism. High dependence, on tourism and. Of. Global. Importance, in terms of supporting. Coral reefs and. There. Are some, significant, challenges, that they face as well and being, on the Pacific, Rim with.
The Economies, of North America, and Asia at, either side we. See a number, of. Significant. Challenges but also opportunities as. We move forward.
2018-02-24 01:27
