Make a short essay. What natural phenomena are common in our region?​

Earth Hazards of the  Western US

  Natural hazards are events that result from natural processes and that

have signifi cant impacts on human beings. Extreme weather conditions or

geologic activity can cause substantial short-term or long-term changes to our  environment. These changes can infl uence crops, homes, infrastructure, and  the atmosphere. The 4.6-billion-year-old Earth has experienced many of these  natural changes, and it has always adjusted accordingly.

  The Western United States is located at the junction of three tectonic plates:

the Pacifi c, the Juan de Fuca, and the North American. The movement of these  plates, even though it occurs on the scale of millimeters per year, makes the  Western US a dynamic landscape. The dramatic result is a dizzying assortment  of natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and volcanoes.  The Pacifi c plate is subducting under Alaska, creating the volcanoes of the  Aleutian Islands. The Juan de Fuca plate is subducting under Washington,  Oregon, and Northern California, creating the Cascade volcanoes, and the  Pacifi c plate is grinding past the North American plate along the famous San  Andreas Fault. At the same time, the Basin and Range province, which includes  nearly the entire state of Nevada, is being stretched and faulted by plate  movement. While the motion of all tectonic plates can cause earthquakes, the  movement of a subducting plate can cause the world’s largest earthquakes and  tsunamis. Tectonic activity lifts the landscape high above sea level, and because  uplifted land is subject to the force of gravity, mass wasting processes such  as landslides are the inevitable result. These events can be triggered by rain,  earthquakes, and coastal or river erosion. The Western US contains rugged  landscapes and breathtaking vistas, but with that beauty comes a cost: there  are more earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and volcanoes in the Western  states than in all the other  states combined. (While many  of these same hazards affect  the Hawaiian Islands, there are  enough signifi cant differences  to warrant discussing Hawai‘i  separately.)