Tectonic Plates in Japan

 

Japan is located on the eastern edge of Asia, as shown on the map above Japan sits on and is near four tectonic plates that are the Okhotsk Plate ( North American ), the Eurasia (Amurian), the Pacific, and the Philippine Sea Plate. Japan lies right along the western edge of the Ring of Fire, making Japan one of the tectonically active places on earth. About 10% of of the world's active volcanoes are located in Japan. According to the textbook the boundaries located near Japan are called convergent plate boundaries which is when two plates collide and one of the plates eventually slides underneath the other one, this is called subduction. In result of Japan being so close to these tectonic plates, Japan is very vulnerable to natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. About 1,500 earthquakes strike Japan every year, most of Japan's earthquakes are caused by the Pacific plate off the east coast. 

Resoures:

- https://www.gsi.go.jp/cais/tectonics_niigata_kobe-e.html#:~:text=The%20Japanese%20Islands%20belongs%20to,the%20largest%20island%20of%20Japan. 

- https://www.statista.com/topics/7363/natural-disasters-in-japan/#topicOverview 

- https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00010-1#:~:text=Japan%20is%20one%20of%20the,too%20mild%20to%20be%20felt. 

-  https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/plate-tectonics-ring-fire/