Response Ideas
Environmental Hazards 2006 Class Website
Studying the movement of the plates is called plate tectonics and there is now more known about how plate tectonics work. One can similarly think of the plates as giant icebergs converging and diverging on the ocean. In the Pakistan region the Indian plate is converging with the Eurasian plate. The convergence of these giant land masses is only at the rate of 4 cm a year, but the stress on the plates builds up over time. Once the stress on the plates cannot be held anymore, energy is released in the form of earthquakes. Zones where earthquake energy is released are called thrust fault zones but are also better known as hypocenters. The collision also causes compression and uplift, forming the Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindu Kush mountain ranges.