Coastal Erosion 

The mighty oceans of the world are such a prominent part of our planet and affect us and nearly everything around us in many ways. Billions of the world's population lives in coastal zones so the monitoring and adaptation to these processes are crucial for a significant amount of the people currently/will be alive. Chances are that a number of us currently in this class might live in or very close to a coastal zone. Perhaps a comrade amongst us has or knows a comrade who has experienced or witnessed coastal erosion first hand. I can't say or know for sure about that, but I can tell you that there are comrades in Russian lands that are seeing drastic changes along their coasts. Some of which is not only extreme but unstoppable.

The most intense areas of coastal erosion that is being seen in Russia is along the Northern coasts. In this area there is

a large number of glacial coasts or lands that are up to 80% ice. It has been observed that longer periods of summer weather directly leads to this reduction, which to me comes of no surprise. The extra summer weather means that the coasts are surrounded by open water longer. This extra time exposed means extra time for ocean waves to take their toll on the permafrost. These waves transfer heat that either melts the ice or melt the ice mixed soil which is then washed away never to be replaced. When storms hit this process, already rapid, is even more intense. Scientists say that this type of erosion cannot be stopped for it is natural and there is no technology available to combat it. Unlike sandy coastlines or cliffs that might possibly be able to be reinforced this frozen coasts cannot be. The ice cannot be kept frozen nor can protective ice be created. The images here show how extreme these changes are in some areas in a relatively short amount of time. An article published in 2015 states that the northern coastlines are losing 500 square kilometers yearly which roughly equates to the European state of Andorra. Thankfully there are not large populations living in this section of the coast due to how extreme the weather can be in Siberia.

The Black Sea Coast, Baltic Sea Coast - Eastern Gulf of Finland, and Baltic Sea Coast - Kaliningrad Region, are areas that do use the strategies discussed in our text to combat erosion. In some of these areas, man-made structures are being created or have been created to try to slow down the erosion process. These would include T-form groins, submarine breakwaters, artificial reefs, protective walls, beach nourishment, and dams. Even planting pine trees have been used in an attempt to stem the tides. Overall though these solutions are only temporary at best. They either render natural nourishment impossible or make erosion downstream from the structures more intense. So adding them is a game of picking the most valuable beaches which sacrifices the coasts next door and/or committing to continue repairing the beach which can be quite costly.

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Works Cited

“Alarming Erosion in Russian Arctic.” WWF Russia, WWF Russia, 9 Aug. 2016, new.wwf.ru/en/resources/news/klimat-i-energetika/wwf-vyyavil-rekordno-bystroe-razrushenie-beregov-v-arktike/.

                 

“Coastal Erosion in Russia.” Climatechangepost.com, 12 Nov. 2017, www.climatechangepost.com/russia/coastal-erosion/.

                 

Gertz, Emily J. “This Island in Russia's Arctic Is Vanishing Into the Sea.” TakePart,  Participant Media, 10 Aug. 2016, www.takepart.com/article/2016/08/10/this-island-in-russian-arctic-is-vanishing-into-the-sea-climate-change.

                 

“Russia Is Shrinking Due to Global Warming – Expert.” New Cold War: Ukraine and Beyond, TASS, 9 Nov. 2015, www.newcoldwar.org/russia-is-shrinking-due-to-global-warming-expert/.

                 

“Russia Loses 468 Square Kilometers Annually to Erosion.” The Moscow Times, The Moscow Times , 9 Nov. 2015, themoscowtimes.com/articles/russia-loses-468-square-kilometers-annually-to-erosion-50672.

Most places of the world seem to have some form of extreme weather, whether it be periods of sweltering heats, deluges of rain, intense icy storms, and or powerful winds. Many times this can be easily predicted by looking at the past and seeing the pattern of nature and the trends of recent times. Even so, much like the other natural hazards we have researched this semester, knowledge and preparations of what may come isn't always enough to ensure safety. There are times when the power of the weather exceeds what is expected and prepared for rendering the safety measures put into place ineffective.

As residents of the central coast we enjoy relatively stable conditions with little extreme variation between seasons. Much like how the size of our country means that there is a wide range of climate types the same goes for Russia. Russia is a massive country that experiences the majority of the climate zones. The only ones that it does not are the tropical ones. Often the first thought of extreme weather conditions in Russian lands deals with Siberia. Really you can't blame someone for this for Siberia is one of the coldest places on our planet. -35C degree temperatures is what you can expect for normal winters here. Central Siberia has an area that has nearly the coldest winters the world can offer someone. -50C is what you get to deal with here. That is so cold that boiling water instantly turns into vapor and ice if you throw it into the air. That is insane levels of coldness yet that might not even be considered extreme for the 500 or so inhabitants in this region. The coldest recorded temperature of this specific place is -71.2C which is hard for me to imagine what the experience would be like. Other areas of Russia have less extreme climates that experience the seasons what you could call normally. Hot summers and cold winters, with the intensities of each varied throughout. It sounds like Russia is similar to the US in that regard.

Hurricane that went after Moscow

Changes in temperatures have lead to what I described in a couple of my last posts. Landslide attacks or avalanche attacks caused by extra rain or snowfall and sinkholes due to permafrost thaw can be traced to climate change. I found an article from last may that explains some of the abnormally cold weather in parts of Russia is due to Polar air flows shifting their routes into new areas because of ice melt in the polar regions. This article references another short one about the strongest hurricane to attack Moscow in 100 years. I always associated Hurricane attacks in

Woman picking at her potato field after it was ravaged by a fire

that was in part caused by the heatwave

warm coastal areas which Moscow is not. I found another source from 2011 that deals with a 2010 heatwave attack in Moscow which caused temperatures to rise over 100F. Apparently this was likely the hottest heatwave attack to have struck in this area in the last 500 years. Some groups predict that with global temperatures on the rise this sort of thing will become more and more frequent. So colder colds and hotter hots, extremes will become even more so and areas not used to extremes will experience them. Comrades will be heated and comrades will be frozen.

From what I have learned about Russians response to natural disasters I think that the government agencies tasked with dealing with them will as they hit the country. Russia's Emergency Response Team will likely have to respond to situations in areas not previously struck by these natural attacks as climates change. From all the information I have gathered it looks like they are fairly good at dealing with disasters, at least as good as any developed country. For the citizens living in places with known extreme conditions, such as Siberia, preparation is key. For those who are in recent times starting to see episodes of powerful weather then it is time to start looking into what should be done to ensure their survival.



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"2010 Russian Heatwave More Extreme Than Previously Thought." Climate Central. N.p., 17 Mar. 2011. Web. 
                 

"Hurricane in Moscow, 11 Killed." Frontnews.eu. N.p., n.d. Web.

MasterRussian.com. "Weather in Russia." Learn Russian. N.p., n.d. Web. 

                 

Savytskyi, Oleg. "Extreme Weather in Russia Is Caused by Climate Change and Melting of Ice in the

Arctic - Greenpeace." Frontnews.eu. Front News International, 31 May 2017. Web.

"The Siberian Winter Is Brutally Cold and Harsh… But It Is Also Otherworldly Beautiful, WOW!" ViralSpell. The Daily Mail, 14 Dec. 2015. Web.

"There Is a Hurricane with Squalls and Hail in Moscow (photo)." Frontnews.eu. N.p., 30 June 2017. Web.

Weatheronline.co.uk. "Russia." Climate of the World: Russia. N.p., n.d. Web.

Perhaps there has been abnormally intense rain this season. Maybe for a few seasons the rain has taken its toll on the nearby mountainside causing instability. Maybe new construction, logging, or mining, has taken place on this mountainside. A fire could have recently ravaged the area we are referring to, destroying the anchoring trees and plants. Maybe an earthquake has just hit, or the mountain is part of a volcano which has erupted. Possibly it is a combination of a few of these things. Whatever the reason, a tsunami of the earth comes crashing down upon your village and engulfs your abode along with many others. Comrade, you have just been killed by what is about to be explained in this blog post.

Out of all the natural disasters we have learned thus far landslides are the ones I have thought about least. Probably partly due to never living in an area where I would be directly affected by it. I have thought a lot about living in a mountainous area which I now realize should have included landslide contemplations. Russia has many areas that are at risk for landslides due to containing lands with mountains and glaciers. Global warming is increasing the intensity and frequency of this sort of events so it is definitely something that the Emergencies Ministry does and will continue to prepare for. According to one of my sources, 725 cities are at risk including some major ones such as Moscow. Another source says 500 of these cities face some sort of slope movement a year which is a significant amount of landslide-related activity. A landslide happened a little over a month ago in the Prokhladny-Baksan-Elbrus region leaving communities stranded. From researching this event you can tell that Russia has a pretty good emergency response team for they were quickly deployed and received reinforcements. It started as a group of 350 people with 50 units of equipment, whatever that means, and then there was a decision to send more. From what I can tell this wasn't a major disaster for only a highway was blocked. I can imagine a greater response team would be summoned up if a community hit. I found this book online that was all about geo-monitoring in Russia though I unfortunately did not have time to read a great deal of it. Also it cost $554.40 for the ebook O_o which I was not about to spend. The part I could read for free said that there are federal geo-monitoring centers that are tasked with looking for signs of/ keeping an eye on landsides.





During my research I found this video of what I would call a slow-moving landslide. It reminds me of videos of lava movements where the speed isn't rushed though damage can still be great. It's fascinating to see how this wall of earth and ice moves into the roadway.











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Works Cited

"Apocalyptical Full-scale Landslide Swallows up Entire Road in Ulyanovsk." GhostFront. N.p., 08 Apr. 2016. Web.

"Avalanches and Landslides in Russia." Climatechangepost.com. N.p., 12 Oct. 2017. Web.

"Emergencies Ministry Reinforces Group of Rescuers in Landslide Zone in Kabardino-Balkaria." ReliefWeb. Government of the Russian Federation, 01 Sept. 2017. Web.

"Emergencies Ministry Reinforces Group of Rescuers in Landslide Zone in Kabardino-Balkaria Rss." Emergencies Ministry Reinforces Group of Rescuers in Landslide Zone in Kabardino-Balkaria. EMERCOM of Russia01, 01 Sept. 2017. Web.

Hypnotizing Landslide in Russia. Youtube.com. N.p., 17 Apr. 2015. Web.

Keller, Edward A., and Duane E. DeVecchio. Natural Hazards Earth's Processes As Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes Masteringgeology Access Card. N.p.: Pearson College Div, 2014. Print.

Lacerda, W., Mauricio Mauricio, S.A.B. Fontoura, and A.S.F. Sayao. "Landslides: Evaluation and Stabilization/Glissement De Terrain: Evaluation Et Stabilisation, Set of 2 Volumes." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web.

"Russia: Over 500 Tourists Isolated following Landslide in Elbrus September 1." GardaWorld. N.p., n.d. Web.

Gather the comrades and read about these Russian Volcanoes. What a force we have here. Mountains of vicious fire spewing toxic fumes of death, voluminous ashen clouds of despair blotting out all light and spreading for miles, covering all with the potential to snuff out various forms of life. Explosions of great intensity possibly sending down tons of rocks and debris in the immediate area and crushing the unfortunates who happen to be in the danger zone. The blood of the earth burns all in its path.  Any forest or settlement in the way will be incinerated. No chance for the being who is engulfed in this stream of molten rock. Thankfully their nerves would likely be destroyed very quickly for I do not think there is much hope for one caught within a magma flow.

 Russia is home to a lot of volcanoes which is something that I wasn't  aware of. I am not surprised at all considering how large the territory is. According to my sources, there are 160 volcanoes with 29 active ones on the Kamchatka Peninsula. It isn't part of the ring of fire for nothing. The other 11 volcanoes of Russia are due to hot spots and do not appear to be active. On the Kamchatka Peninsula Russia created a task force to monitor its many volcanoes due to the high activity in this region and the potential for them to not only disrupt and harm the people living on the island but effect planes using the airspace miles away from the eruption. This task force is called Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) and uses a variety of techniques to be aware of impending eruptions. One is through seismic monitoring which is said to be the most effective.  Another is the low-tech tried and true visual observation. A similar approach but a lot more sophisticated is using satellite imagery which is also important after the eruption for it allows information on the size and movement of the dangerous ash cloud to be discovered. Once a volcano is decided to be near or at eruption, warnings are sent out to various groups as soon as possible to allow for optimal preparation time.

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Works Cited

"Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team." Камчатский Научный Центр ДВО РАН. N.p., n.d. Web.

The Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) Fact Sheet. N.p., n.d. Web.

Klemetti, Erik. "Russia Nixes Kamchatka and Kuril Island Volcano Monitoring." Wired. Conde Nast, 04 June 2017. Web.

"List of Volcanoes in Russia." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 30 July 2017. Web.

"Posts about Kamchatka Volcanoes on Voices from Russia." Voices from Russia. N.p., 18 Oct. 2003. Web.

Williams, Amanda. "Mount Mordor of Russia: Erupting Volcano Looks like a Scene from The Lord of the Rings." Daily Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 03 Dec. 2013. Web.

These words will pertain to a fearsome force capable of devastating cities in minutes with little to no warning. Striking instantly and totally allowing no escape for the people caught in its range. No comrades, I am not referring to the awesome nuclear arsenal Russia possesses (though underground nuclear testing can set this force into action). I am talking about earthquakes, something I have already brought up in my in my first post and is directly related to tectonic plate activity. Surely many of the peoples of yore would have been terrified during a quake in part because they would have had little clues as to why or how their entire world was rocking violently and their settlements reduced to rubble. At times the earth opening up and or shifting significantly. Many would have attributed it to their deity(s) for lack of understanding and immensity of the event. Nowadays we do understand how and why earthquakes happen and have even developed systems to predict when they might occur or give us a slight warning when one does. Though we have a much better grasp on seismic activity it still is a frightening experience for the majority of people. 

Woe to the village that does not heed the lessons of the past and thinks not of preparing for a quake when they knowingly reside in a danger zone. Our text book talked about how places such as California are much more resilient to an earthquake because of the strict building codes meant to minimize damage when one occurs. A similar magnitude quake in California usually does a lot less damage than in a place where there are no such codes are put into place or they are seldom followed. This is partially why the Russian earthquake I mentioned in my first blog post was so deadly, along with the magnitude of the quake. The brunt of the quakes that are in or affect Russia are along its southern borders with other countries and along the one fault that runs through the country in the north east. The image at the top of this shows a number of quakes in this region quite well with a massive amount near Japan and along the Chinese/Mongolian border and the another cluster with the borders near the middle east and Eastern Europe. There is some quakes going on in the interior of Russia but a small amount compared to the areas I just mentioned. Interestingly some of the hot spots are not on fault lines, at least the major fault lines on all the maps that I have seen. Even the USGS interactive map does not acknowledge any fault on the southern Asian/Middle Eastern/Eastern European borders. Perhaps this is due to less known faults or just a lot of interplate activity.

Damage from a 5.9 quake in  Severo Kuril’sk

According to an article I read more than 20% of Russa is at risk of a 7.0 magnitude quake, 5% of which has the potential of experiencing 8.0-9.0 magnitudes. Another says that 50% of the country is at risk of experiencing some kind of quake. Considering how large Russia is this is a significant amount of territory. This is actually contrary to what I was expecting after last weeks study due to a lack of fault lines within Russia. Apparently, Russia has put into place stricter building guidelines to withstand the shaking of a quake. This a common thing for modern countries to do and it has been shown to be successful. 

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Sources

Eisenberg, J. M., and V. I. Smirnov. Development of Earthquake Protection Structural Systems Based on Response Control (2012): n. pag. 15 WCEE. Web.

Gonzales, Daria, and Rbth. "Earthquakes: Concerns in Russia's Seismically Active Regions." Russia Beyond. N.p., 30 May 2013. Web.

Keller, Edward A., Duane E. DeVecchio, and Robert H. Blodgett. Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes. N.p.: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2016. Print.

Latest Earthquakes. USGS, n.d. Web.

Mutsvara, Shepherd. “5.9M Earthquake Shakes Russian Town · Guardian Liberty Voice.”Guardian Liberty Voice, 14 Oct. 2015, guardianlv.com/2015/10/5-9m-earthquake-shakes-russian-town/.

"Seismicity of Russia and the Former Soviet Union." U.S. Geological Survey. N.p., 2002. Web.

My classmates, my comrades! This post deals with a force that is ever present on this terrestrial sphere we call our home. Yet another reminder that as capable as our species is we are currently still at the whim of natural processes. I am referring to tectonic plates and their movements. If you have been a good comrade this week you would have surely read our textbooks chapter and hopefully gained an understanding of what these plates are along with how they operate. Their movements are responsible for phenomena such as earthquakes, the formation of volcanos, formations of mountains, development of deep sea trenches, and the shifting of entire continents.

NO

NO

No, this subterranean activity is definitely not due to entities such as the molemen or reptilians with their underground bases. The movement of plates has been going on for millions of years and can be proven in a number of ways. An interesting thing to contemplate is how its movements will affect us humans years down the line if we even last that long. 

YES

Thankfully for Russia, it resides almost entirely on the massive plate known as the Eurasian plate.This is fortunate because it is not largely divided by another plate meaning the chance of massive seismic activity is lower, unlike the Californian cities of San Francisco which finds it self right on top of a plate boundary. The only exception is in the far north east of the country an unknown plate boundary is said to exist. From what I can tell the only plate boundaries that Russia comes in direct contact with is the one I mentioned above. It is near a sea boundary by Japan which is a convergent border. All the other boundaries of the Eurasian plate are many miles away from Russia. It is interesting to learn that there is such a thing as an unknown boundaries. I tried to find more information on this but couldn't turn up anything good. Maybe as we delve further into our book this will become clear. My guess would be that maybe there is multiple types of movements being detected or not much movement at all.



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Sources

"Alien Reptilians." Reptilians Alien Race, Species, and Shapeshifters Pictures and Videos|Alien-UFO-Research|. N.p., n.d. Web.

Keller, Edward A., Duane E. DeVecchio, and Robert H. Blodgett. Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes. N.p.: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2016. Print.

"Maps Related to Plate Tectonics." Earthguide Online Classroom - Maps Related to Plate Tectonics. Scripps Institution of Oceanography., 2011. Web.

"Mole Men." TV Tropes. N.p., n.d. Web.

"Plate Tectonics." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Aug. 2017. Web

Greetings my comrades! I am looking forward to uncovering the geological mysteries of the vast Eurasian land we know as Russia as this semester progresses. I currently know very little about this significant country other than what I would consider common facts and that a few of the artists I enjoy listing to hail from this region. It will be exciting to learn about the geological forces at play in this country and how it affects the inhabitants.

To start things off we need to clarify the differences between catastrophes, disasters, and hazards. A Natural Hazard is a natural process or event that is a potential threat to human life and/or property. A natural process is only a hazard when it affects humans. So if a large flood happens in some swamp in the middle of nowhere with no humans around it is not considered a Natural Hazard. It is only when this same flood occurs near a town and begins threatening the infrastructure or residents. A disaster is a natural hazard that occurs over a limited amount of time in a defined area that has at least one of the following things occur:

- Ten or more people are killed by this event
-One hundred or more people are affected by this event
-A state of emergency is declared
-International aid is requested

A catastrophe is a massive disaster where large sums of money and a great amount of time is required for recovery.

An example of a disaster that occurred in Russia would be the Maili Glacier collapsed in the Caucasus Mountains, a range that is between the Black and Caspian seas. This glacial collapse slew over 140 people who were unfortunate to be in its path. Below is a before and after image of the collapse.

An example of a catastrophe would Sakhalin earthquake. This magnitude 7.5 quakes caused the death of  2032 people, over half of the inhabitants of the nearest town Neftegorsk and the injury of 750.

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Sources

Generator, Metatags. "Resources." Map. Tristar Resources, n.d. Web.

García, Ana García. Geol9: EARTH CATASTROPHES: INTRODUCTION.

Hays, Jeffrey. "NATURAL DISASTERS IN RUSSIA." Facts and Details. N.p., May 2016. Web.

Lindsey, Rebecca. "Collapse of the Kolka Glacier : Feature Articles." NASA. NASA, 9 Sept. 2004. Web.

"Neftegorsk Russia 1995 (CAR)." Neftegorsk | Gemecd. N.p., n.d. Web.

SPACE. "Earthquake in Neftegorsk on May 28, 1995." Earth Chronicles News. N.p., 29 May 2017. Web.