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I always wondered why people live in seismically active areas so much. Then a hypothesis hit me: people need fresh water -> fresh water has usually comes from m
by wfunction 10y ago
I always wondered why people live in seismically active areas so much. Then a hypothesis hit me: people need fresh water -> fresh water has usually comes from mountains -> mountains are created by seismic activity. Not sure if it's true though; does anyone know?
- onion2k 10y agoIn the case of LA and San Francisco, they're really good places to put ports.
- thesimpsons1022 10y agoMountains are caused by seismic activity but seismic activity doesn't always create mountains. In general populations tend to stick towards coasts. Many tectonic plate boundaries are either directly on the coast of continents or a little off the shelf. My intuition puts that as the more likely cause but it's impossible to prove either way for certain.
- dragonwriter 10y ago> I always wondered why people live in seismically active areas so much Because the ones people live in are conveniently located near some combination of arable land, navigable inland waterways, large freshwater supplies, and convenient natural harbors. And, in many cases, are places that aren't prone to deadly weather events, which makes except earthquake risk a tolerable price.
- wfunction 10y agoYeah, sounds like you're also pointing to the same thing I was (water).
- Someone 10y agoI think the historically main reason is that volcano ash makes fertile farming ground (http://volcanology.geol.ucsb.edu/soil.htm http://volcanology.geol.ucsb.edu/soil.htm, http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/what-are-some-good-things-volcanoes-do http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/what-are-some-good-things-vol...)
- wfunction 10y agoThis is really cool (thanks for sharing!) but have most/all mountains been volcanoes in recent geologic history? (I don't really know.)