How does an Island move 100 feet?

[wacki]

How does this happen? And over what timeframe did this happen? Seconds? Minutes? Shouldn't there be a 100' wide lava filled gorge thousands of miles long somewhere? Or a 100' mountain where the plates collided? I do not understand how this is possible.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-sci-tsunami27dec27,0,3904884.story?coll=la-home-headlines

The magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck off Indonesia on Sunday morning moved the entire island of Sumatra about 100 feet to the southwest,

[Shajen]

Plate tectonics?

[Ray Zee]

oversimplified--you are standing on a rug, someone moves the rug, you go with it.
thats what the plates kinda are.

[wacki]

I understand that much, but the plates fit snuggly together. When plates move there will be gaps, and there will be collisions. Where are they? Where is the 100' wide gorge? Where is the brand new mountain range?

[ThaSaltCracka]

they don't fit snuggly together. Some plates go under existing ones. When one moves, more of the other is exposed. It wouldn't neccesarily mean lava is exposed, just more "stone". Plates either move torward each other or away, for example, the plate of the west coast is moving torwards the main plate which the U.S. is on, the resulting movement causes the Pacific(I think that is the name)plate to move under the American(name might be wrong as well)plate, which has helped to create the Cascade Mountains. The existing Olympic Mountains(here in WA) are basically scraps which have collected from the plate moving under the other.

This probably makes no sense, sorry, Zeno can explain better.

[tek]

Snugly is relative. 100 feet is nothing compared to the entire surface of the earth.

Also, 100 is not big enough for a mountain range.

Since Sumatra is an island, the 100 feet will still be water.

[daryn]

i don't think they fit snugly together. i think they overlap and whatnot. i'm not positive though.

[Shajen]

The San Andreas fault running through Cali is the most commonly known gap/slippage point.

An example of new mountains forming (if I remember my geology correctly from HS) would be the Rockies. They are still forming and still growing a little each year. I think this is a direct result of the two plates that (again, this is all stuff I am trying to remember) intersect the main part of the US.

The rest of your questions I have no clue about.

[ThaSaltCracka]

hmmm, I thought the Rockies were formed via glacier movement.

[jakethebake]

You're all wrong. That whole plate tectonics thing is just a bunch of propoganda. God did it all.

[Shajen]

I could have sworn they were formed by the plates shifting...but I'm wrong about most things so it wouldn't surprise me if what you say is correct.

I'll see if I can find a link to confirm either way.

[ThaSaltCracka]

[ QUOTE ]
I could have sworn they were formed by the plates shifting...but I'm wrong about most things so it wouldn't surprise me if what you say is correct.

I'll see if I can find a link to confirm either way.

[/ QUOTE ]

Haha, dude you could very easily be right too. I thought the Rockies were right in the middle of a plate and not on one of the "edges".

[Shajen]

it was plate tectonics afterall... (http://www2.nature.nps.gov/geology/usgsnps/province/rockymtn.html) sweet, my memory is better than I thought.

[Shajen]

[ QUOTE ]
You're all wrong. That whole plate tectonics thing is just a bunch of propoganda. God did it all.

[/ QUOTE ]

Shhh, don't let the heathens know the truth, let them believe in their silly "science".

[Zeno]

There is much to your question that leads to other things etc and so on. Check out this link for explanations about this whole process Plate Tectonics (http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/dynamic.html) It is somewhat long but is divided up into pertinent sections. Especially check out the one on plate motions.

The Earth is in a continual state of flux, even the suppose rigid crust. It truly is dynamic, a fact that is rarely appreciated by the majority of people that live on this mostly plastic ball of rock. The Earth's crust, which is mostly rigid, can still move about substanially.

-Zeno

[ThaSaltCracka]

[ QUOTE ]
it was plate tectonics afterall... (http://www2.nature.nps.gov/geology/usgsnps/province/rockymtn.html) sweet, my memory is better than I thought.

[/ QUOTE ]wow, I hadn't heard that, very interesting. Also, a good explanantion why there are so many hills and mountains in the PacNW and Montana/Colorado.

[David Steele]

The 100 feet thing was retracted. It was probably less.

[ QUOTE ]
FOR THE RECORD:
Indonesian earthquake —An article in Monday's Section A said that Sunday's magnitude 9 earthquake had moved the island of Sumatra 100 feet to the southwest. The statement was based on information from the U.S. Geological Survey that subsequently was found to be incorrect. The quake changed the elevation of Sumatra and neighboring areas and is likely to have moved several smaller islands, but the exact displacements remain uncertain.

[/ QUOTE ]

[tipperdog]

[ QUOTE ]
they don't fit snuggly together. Some plates go under existing ones. When one moves, more of the other is exposed. ...deletia...

This probably makes no sense, sorry, Zeno can explain better.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, you're fairly close. Earthquake faults form in many parts of the world, but the fault near Indonesnia is a special type of formation known as a subduction zone. A subduction zone is an undersea area where one major tectonic plates slip under another. These areas (Aleutian Islands, Indonesia, etc) are super seismic/volcanic zones--they make the San Andreas Fault in my home state look the minor leagues. Faults that are in NOT subduction zones tend to result in mountain ranges (like the Himalayas), because when the plates butt up against each other, the land has nowhere to go but up. Subduction zones tend to see arc shaped island chains (like Indonesia).

[cnfuzzd]

jake, you understand no one will actually read your posts ever again, right? our attention will be focused slightly to the left.

also, any one else heard of a "mantle slippage" where the plates just move several thousand feet in a relatively small amount of time? Thats a scary one. Not so scary as the super volcano under yellowstone though....

peace

john nickle

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
also, any one else heard of a "mantle slippage"?/quote]
That's what's being demonstrated in my avatar.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
hmmm, I thought the Rockies were formed via glacier movement.

[/ QUOTE ]
That John Denver was full of [censored], man!

[JinX11]

Man, look at those boobies! Wow. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

She's swell.