Volcanoes and Climate

Laki 1783-84

 The Laki eruption started in  June 1783 and lasted for 8 months.  A cloud of sulphur dioxide moved over Europe causing a higher than normal rate of death in outdoor workers.  When the winter of 1784 started, it was extremely severe, with the duration of the season being excessively long (snowfall throughout April) and very cold.  The effects of this were also felt in North America.  This eruption, while not explosive, produced a massive amount of sulphur dioxide.  In the stratosphere, sulphur dioxide combines with water and oxygen to for sulphuric acid.  The sulphuric acid aerosol is extremely reflective, meaning that incoming light is reflected back into space rather than reaching Earth.

The effects of the Laki eruption on winter temperature can be seen to have lasted for a few years afterwards.



Tambora 1815

The eruption of Mt Tambora in Indonesia is thought to be the largest volcanic event in recorded human history.  The expolsion itself is thought to have directly contributed to 75,000 deaths.  The effects on the climate were dramatic.  The year of 1816 was described at the year without summer.  In the northern parts of the USA, snow fell in June and July, crops failed due to frost damage and hunger became widespread.  The effects on Europe are shown below.







Mt Pinatubo 1991

The June 1991 explosion of Mt Pinatubo ejected a large quantity of ash and sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere.  Apart from the effects of sulphur dioxide, the ash scatters some of the incoming light and heat from the sun, preventing it from reaching the ground.  The dispersal of the sulphur dioxide from the eruption can be seen below.



Following this eruption, the following changes to climate were observed.

A study performed by NASA combined the data from 4 large volcanic eruptions with climate showed to what extent such eruptions have on the climate,

Intraplate Earthquakes

While Australia sits in the middle of a tectonic plate, this merely considers the major fault lines of the globe.  Australia has a number of minor fault lines, or areas of relative crustal weakness, as a result of the events involved in its formation ranging from 2.5 billion years ago to 50 million years ago.

In addition, the forces placed on the Australian continent as a result of being "pushed" by divergent plate activity to the south and "pulled" by convergent activity to the north are not uniform.  As a result, areas of localised stress will build up over time.  When released, they cause intraplate earthquakes.

Intraplate earthquakes are generally shallow, infrequent and have lower magnitudes compared to those located at plate boundaries.  The earthquake risks of Australia are shown on the map directly below.  The closer the lines, the greater the risk.

This coincides quite well with the measured earthquakes in Australia's history over the last 100 years or so. 

2 earthquakes of note in recent Australian history occurred at Meckering in 1968 and Newcastle in 1989.  The Meckering quake, was 6.9 in magnitude and while no deaths occurred, a 40 km rupture appeared along the ground and the ground was thrust upwards by 2 meters in some places.

On Dec. 28, 1989, a 5.6 magnitude earthquake struck Newcastle. 13 people died including 9 in the Newcastle workers club (pictured below).  300 buildings were eventually demolished and the damage bill has been calculated at $5 billion.  A number of older buildings such as the local high school and parts of John Hunter Hospital had to be rebuilt.  The reason for this was because many of the structural walls were sunk into the ground when constructed, and as a result, suffered significant damage.  The age of many buildings was also a significant factor in the extent of the damage. 

Kobe Earthquake of 1995

In Kobe on January 17 1995, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck, resulting in over 6000 deaths and hundreds of billions of dollars damage.  Some of the reasons for this are described below.

Traditional Japanese housing design.  In the older parts of Kobe, many of the houses have heavy tiled roofs that are supported by wooden beams (usually at the corners).  The walls offer little to no structural support at all to these.  As a result the roof falls and crushes all below in a pancake collapse. 



Breakage of gas lines and use of charcoal braziers.  The use of charcoal cookers in some houses started fires during and after the earthquake.  Ruptured gas lines increased the scale of the fires as the night progressed.
Firefighters were unable to successfully fight the fires due to broken water pipes and/or reach the areas due to blocked roads.

Despite being considered adequate for earthquakes when constructed, some of Kobe's overhead freeways collapsed.  This was put down to inadequate steel reinforcing of the pylons that supported them.

The dock area was built on reclaimed land in the harbour.  The earthquake redistributed the sand and water that the docks were sitting on, resulting in significant liquefaction and subsidence.

As described in the figure below, the soil sinks and the water rises.  As the soil sinks the subsidence occurs, resulting building damage ans water levels changing.

Effects of Earthquakes on Built and Natural Structures

This will be 2 parts.  One will look at esrthquake damage in general, and then more specifically at the damage caused to built structures using the 1995 Kobe earthquake as an example.

Sometimes as a result of earthquakes, ruptures will appear above ground with sudden rises or falls of land.  These are called scarps and can vary in height.

Earthquakes can trigger landslides.  In Hati, the 2010 earthquake caused many landslides along the coast.  Below is an example of this.



Landslides risks are increased if the land is cleared.  Below is a photo of a village in El Salvador.

Following the 1964 earthquake in Alaska, a number of waterways had to be resurveyed due to landslides, subsidence and upthrusts which altered the depth of previously navigable waterways to the point that they posed hazards to boat traffic.


When it comes to built structures, earthquake damage will cause the most deaths and injuries when buildings collapse.  In many developing nations, cheap high density buildings are mostly concrete based.  While strong, concrete is brittle, and so collapse often occurs if it has no reinforcing steel in the structure.  The steel being malleable can withstand the shaking and stops the concrete from breaking as frequently.

Earthquakes can also cause serious damage to infrastructure like the railway pictured here.  It can also break water and sewage pipes (resulting in sanitation and health problems), cause electricity disruption, and break gas pipes (which pose a fire hazard).  Some of these are discussed in the Kobe earthquake post.