Formation of the Grand Canyon's

 

Formation:

No one knows for sure how the Grand Canyon came to be, however there are some good guesses. A number of processes combined created the views that you see in today's Grand Canyon. The most powerful force to have an impact on the Grand Canyon is erosion, primarily by water, ice and wind. Other forces that contributed to the Canyon's formation are the course of the Colorado River, vulcanism, continental drift and slight variations in the earths orbit, which causes variations in seasons and climate. 

Water seems to have had the most impact basically because our planet has lots of it and it is always on the move. Many people do not understand how water can have such a profound impact because of the Canyons location of being in the desert. However, this is one of the biggest reasons that water has such a big impact. Because the soil in the Grand Canyon is baked by the sun it becomes very hard and cannot absorb water. When it does rain the water come down in torrents, which only adds to the problem. The plants that grow in the Grand Canyon tend to have very shallow root systems so that they can grab as much water as possible. Unfortunately these root systems do nothing to deter erosion by holding the soil in place. The result is a flash flood roaring down the canyon walls that contains the force to move boulders the size of small houses. The boulders and debris flowing with the water also helps to eat away at the walls of the Canyon. All the water and debris ends in the Colorado River. Where it continues to cut away at the rock as the river carries it through the Canyon.  The same effects that have formed the Grand Canyon of the west is happening in Pennsylvania's backyerd.

 The Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania:

Although not as famous as its bigger sister in Arizona, the canyon formed by the Pine Creek River in North Central Pennsylvania is well worth its nickname as the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. The Canyon is almost 50 miles long and up to 1,000 feet deep. The scenery is great in every season but the autumn colors are spectator. The best views of the Canyon are from Leonard Harrison State Park on the west rim and from Colton Point State Park on the east side of the canyon. The distance from rim to rim here is about 4,000 feet and the depth of the canyon about 800. 

Formation:

Mountains acting as a natural dam blocked the northeasterly flow of Pine Creek and forced the river to reverse its flow and go to the south, cutting a way through the Allegheny Plateau. Since that time, for tens of thousands of years, Pine Creek has been silently eroding the rock, creating the scenic gorge that you can see today.

Erosion has formed many of the spectacular views of our world. Over many millions of years natures forces have been at work creating amazing site and views. Erosion has also hurt us, in large scale and small scale degrees. Erosion has eaten our history, as well as some of our back yards. The fallowing photos are some the views of the impact of erosion. 

water and wind removing the ground from under this tree

Water doing its work on these rocks

Another image of water eating away at land this is a  large scale idea of what was happening in my back yard

Wind blowing the sand around the bottom of what use to be a large bolder

During floods the water has carries the dirt our from around this root system

The wind blew the sand around these historical Egyptian figures of thousands of years leaving very  little of what once stood tall

Longterm Nuclear Effects

 

Radioactive Contamination:

The chief delayed effect is the creation of huge amounts of radioactive material with long lifetimes, ranging from days to a millennium. The primary source of these products is the debris left from fission reactions. A potentially significant secondary source is neutron capture by non-radioactive isotopes both within the bomb and in the outside environment. When atoms fission they can split in some 40 different ways, producing a mix of about 80 different isotopes. These isotopes vary widely in stability, some our completely stable while others undergo radioactive decay with half-lives of fractions of a second. The decaying isotopes may themselves form stable or unstable daughter isotopes. The mixture thus quickly becomes even more complex, some 300 different isotopes of 36 elements have been identified in fission products

These radioactive products are most hazardous when they settle to the ground as "fallout". The rate at which fallout settles depends very strongly on the altitude at which the explosion occurs, and to a lesser extent on the size of the explosion. If the explosion is a true air-burst (the "fireball" does not touch the ground), when the vaporized radioactive products cool enough to condense and solidify, they will do so to form microscopic particles. These particles are mostly lifted high into the atmosphere by the rising fireball, although significant amounts are deposited in the lower atmosphere by mixing that occurs due to convective circulation within the fireball. The larger the explosion, the higher and faster the fallout is lofted, and the smaller the proportion that is deposited in the lower atmosphere. Explosions close to the ground that do not touch it can still generate substantial hazards immediately below the burst point by neutron-activation. Neutrons absorbed by the soil can generate considerable radiation for several hours. 

Harm to the Ozone Layer:

The high temperatures of the nuclear fireball, followed by rapid expansion and cooling, cause large amounts of nitrogen oxides to form from the oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere (very similar to what happens in combustion engines). Each megaton of yield will produce some 5000 tons of nitrogen oxides. The rising fireball of a high kiloton or megaton range warhead will carry these nitric oxides well up into the stratosphere, where they can reach the ozone layer. A series of large atmospheric explosions could significantly deplete the ozone layer. The high yield tests in the fifties and sixties probably did cause significant depletion, but the ozone measurements made at the time were too limited to pick up the expected changes out of natural variations. 

Nuclear Winter:

The famous TTAPS (Turco, Toon, Ackerman, Pollack, and Sagan) proposal regarding a potential "nuclear winter" is another possible occurrence. This effect is caused by the absorption of sunlight when large amounts of soot are injected into the atmosphere by the widespread burning of cities and petroleum stocks destroyed in a nuclear attack. Similar events have been observed naturally when large volcanic eruptions have injected large amounts of dust into the atmosphere.  Soot is far more efficient in absorbing light than volcanic dust, and soot particles are small and hydrophobic and thus tend not to settle or wash out as easily. Although the initial TTAPS study was met with significant skepticism and criticism, later and more sophisticated work by researchers around the world have confirmed it in all essential details. These studies predict that the amount of soot that would be produced by burning most of the major cities in the US and USSR would severly disrupt climate on a world-wide basis. The major effect would be a rapid and drastic reduction in global temperature, especially over land. All recent studies indicate that if large scale nucelar attack occur against urban or petrochemical targets, average temperature reductions of at least 10 degrees C would occur lasting many months. This level of cooling far exceeds any that has been observed in recorded history, and is comparable to that of a full scale ice age. In areas downwind from attack sites, the cooling can reach 35 degrees C. 

Smaller attacks would create reduced effects of course. But it has been pointed out that most of the world's food crops are subtropical plants that would have dramatic drops in productivity if an average temperature drop of even one degree were to occur for even a short time during the growing season. Since the world maintains a stored food supply equal to only a few months of consumption, a war during the Northern Hemisphere spring or summer could still cause deadly starvation around the globe from this effect alone even if it only produced a mild "nuclear autumn".

Electromagnetic Effects:

 

The high temperatures and energetic radiation produced by nuclear explosions also produce large amounts of ionized (electrically charged) matter which is present immediately after the explosion. Under the right conditions, intense currents and electromagnetic fields can be produced, generically called EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse), that are felt at long distances. Living organisms are impervious to these effects, but electrical and electronic equipment can be temporarily or permanently disabled by them. Ionized gases can also block short wavelength radio and radar signals for extended periods. A separate effect is the ability of the ionized fireball to block radio and radar signals. Like EMP, this effect becomes important with high altitude bursts. Fireball blackout can cause radar to be blocked for tens of seconds to minutes over an area tens of kilometers across. High frequency radio can be disrupted over hundreds to thousands of kilometers for minutes to hours depending on exact conditions. Military equipment is generally designed to be resistant to EMP, but realistic tests are very difficult to perform and EMP protection rests on attention to detail. Minor changes in design, incorrect maintenance procedures, poorly fitting parts, loose debris, moisture, and ordinary dirt can all cause elaborate EMP protections to be totally circumvented. It can be expected that a single high yield, high altitude explosion over an industrialized area would cause massive disruption for an indeterminable period, and would cause huge economic damages. 

A Briefe Summary of Buddhism

To do no evil;

To cultivate good;

To purify one's mind:

The Origin: 

The Buddha was born Siddhartha Gautama, a prince of the Sakya tribe of Nepal, in approximately 566 BC. When he was twenty-nine years old, he left the comforts of his home to seek the meaning of the suffering he saw around him. After six years of difficult yoga training, he abandoned the way of self-mortification and instead sat in mindful meditation beneath a bodhi tree. On the full moon of May, during sun rise, Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha, the enlightened one.

The Buddha wandered the plains of northeastern India for 45 years more, teaching the path or Dharma he had realized in that moment. Around him developed a community of monks and, later, nuns, devoted to practicing this path. In approximately 486 BC, at the age of 80, the Buddha died. His last words are said to be...

"Impermanent are all created things; Strive on with awareness."

After Passing:

Soon after Buddha's death, five hundred monks met at the first council at Rajagrha, under the leadership of Kashyapa.  Upali recited the monastic code as he remembered it.  Ananda, Buddha's cousin, friend, and favorite disciple -- and a man of prodigious memory! -- recited Buddha's lessons.  The monks debated details and voted on final versions.  These were then committed to memory by other monks, to be translated into the many languages of the Indian plains. Buddhism remained an oral tradition for over 200 years. 

In the next few centuries, the original unity of Buddhism began to fragment. The most significant split occurred after the second council, held at Vaishali 100 years after the first.  After debates between a more liberal group and traditionalists, the liberal group left and labeled themselves the Mahasangha -- "the great sangha."  They would eventually evolve into the Mahayana tradition of northern Asia. 

The traditionalists, now referred to as Sthaviravada or "way of the elders", developed a complex set of philosophical ideas beyond those elucidated by Buddha.  These were collected into the Abhidharma or "higher teachings."  But they, too, encouraged disagreements, so that one splinter group after another left the fold.  Ultimately, 18 schools developed, each with their own interpretations of various issues, and spread all over India and Southeast Asia.  Today, only the school stemming from the Sri Lankan Theravadan survives.

Meditaction:

Buddhism began by encouraging its practitioners to engage in mindfulness, that is, developing a full consciousness of all about you and within you. Whether seated in a special posture, or simply going about one’s life.  This is the kind of meditation that Buddha himself engaged in under the bodhi tree. Soon, Buddhist monks expanded and formalized their understanding of meditation.  The bases for all meditation, as it was understood even in the earliest years of Buddhism, are shamatha and vipashyana.

Shamatha is often translated as calm abiding or peacefulness.  It is the development of tranquility that is a prerequisite to any further development.  Vipashyana is clear seeing or special insight, and involves intuitive cognition of suffering, impermanence, and egolessness.

Only after these forms were perfected does one go on to the more heavy-duty kinds of meditation.  Samadhi is concentration or one-pointed meditation.  It involves intense focusing of consciousness. Samadhi brings about the four dhyanas, meaning absorptions.

A Basic intro to Meditation:

The most basic form of meditation involves attending to one's breath. Begin by sitting in a simple chair, keeping your back erect if you can.  The more traditional postures are the lotus position, sitting on a pillow with each foot upon the opposite thigh, and variations such as the half lotus, one foot on the opposite thigh, the other out in front of the opposite knee.  This is difficult for many people.  Some people kneel, sitting back on their legs or on a pillow between their legs.  Many use a meditation bench:  kneel, then place a little bench beneath your behind.  But meditation is also done while standing, slowly walking, lying on the floor, or even in a recliner! Traditionally, the hands are placed loosely, palms up, one on top of the other, and with the thumbs lightly touching.  This is called the cosmic mudra, one of a large number of symbolic hand positions.  You may prefer to lay them flat on your thighs, or any other way that you find comfortable. Your head should be upright, but not rigid.  The eyes may be closed, or focussed on a spot on the ground a couple of feet ahead of you, or looking down at your hands.  If you find yourself getting sleepy, keep your eyes open! 

Living Happily:

Here are three brief sutras, that show how the idea of rebirth contributes to our compassion for others, as well as giving us a little comfort for ourselves.

Duggata Sutta -- The hard-times sutra- When you see someone who has fallen on hard times,overwhelmed with hard times, you should conclude: 'We, too, have experienced just this sort of thing in the course of that long, long time.' 

Sukhita Sutta -- The happy sutra-When you see someone who is happy & well-provided in life, you should conclude: 'We, too, have experienced just this sort of thing in the course of that long, long time.' 

Mata Sutta -- The mother sutra-A being who has not been your mother at one time in the past is not easy to find... A being who has not been your father... your brother... your sister... your son... your daughter at one time in the past is not easy to find. 

Ideas to consider:

Not everyone desires enlightenment.  Sometimes, all we want is to be able to meet once again the ones we love.

Although traditional Buddhism suffers from the sexism prevalent then and now in India, China, and elsewhere, it seems Buddha recognized the essential equality between men and women.  After all, we have all been men and women at some time in our cycle of births and rebirths.

Lying is such an institutionalized part of modern society it is hard for many of us to imagine a world without it

Even unpleasant people need to be cared for when they are ill. Buddha tells us to care for anyone who needs our help.

Anger is, of course, not conducive to enlightenment.  But Buddha explains that anger actually makes us miserable here and now.

Seven things happen to people who are angry, which end up making their enemies happy:

Some people wish that their enemies become ugly.  But when people are angry, even if they are well bathed, beautifully dressed, and their hair neatly cut, they become ugly themselves!  This is exactly what their enemies would wish for them!

Some people wish that their enemies sleep poorly.  But when people are angry, even if they sleep on luxurious beds, with white sheets, fluffy pillows, and beautiful blankets, they will sleep poorly because of their anger.  This, too, is exactly what their enemies would wish!

Some wish that their enemies not profit in business.  But when people are angry, they become confused:  When they suffer a loss, they think they are making a profit; when they make a profit, they think they are suffering a loss.  This leads to constant worry, which is exactly what is enemy would wish!

Some wish that their enemies not have any wealth.  But when people are angry, even if they start out with wealth that they have worked hard to accumulate, they will behave badly and may wind up in jail or paying fines for their misbehavior, and eventually lose their fortunes.  This is exactly what his enemy would wish!

Some wish that ther enemies lose their reputation.  But when people are angry, whatever reputation they have, and however well earned it may be, will disappear, which is exactly what their enemies would wish!

Some wish that their enemies have no friends.  But when people are angry, their friends and relatives avoid them because of their temper.  This is exactly what their enemies would wish!

Finally, some people wish that their enemies would go to hell.  But when people are angy, they commit all kinds of sins, in their behavior, their speech, and in their minds.  When they die, they may find themselves in hell, which is exactly what their enemies would wish!

These are the seven things which happen to angry people, which end up making their enemies happy.

 

Eastern Traditions:

Buddhism is not a single monolithic religion. Many of its adherents have combined the teachings of the Buddha with local religious rituals, beliefs and customs. Little conflict occurs, because Buddhism at its core is a philosophical system to which such additions can be easily grafted.

After the Buddha's death,  the splits occurred. There are now three main systems of thought within Buddhism which are geographically and philosophically separate. Each tradition in turn has many sectors. One source divides the religion into three main groups by their location: 

Theravada Buddhism (a.k.a. as Southern Buddhism) now has 100 million followers. Buddhist missionaries from India took the religion to a number of countries, but it initially only achieved a foothold in Sri Lanka. It later spread from Sri Lanka to Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and parts of Vietnam. They promoted the Vibhajjavada school (Separative Teaching). By the 15th century, this form of the religion reached almost its present geographical extent. 

Concepts and practices include:

Dana - thoughtful, ceremonial giving

Sila - accepting Buddhist teaching and following it in practice; refraining from killing, stealing, wrong behavior, use of drugs. On special days, three additional precepts may be added, restricting adornment, entertainment and comfort.

Karma - the balance of accumulated sin and merit, which will determine one's future in the present life, and the nature of the next life to come.

The Cosmos - consists of billions of worlds grouped into clusters; clusters are grouped into galaxies, which are themselves grouped into super-galaxies. The universe also has many levels: four underworlds and 21 heavenly realms.

Paritta - ritual chanting.

Worship - of relics of a Buddha, of items made by a Buddha, or of other symbolic relics.

Festivals - days of the full moon, and three other days during the lunar cycle are celebrated. There is a new year's festival, and celebrations tied to the agricultural year.

Pilgrimages - particularly to Buddhist sites in Sri Lanka and India.

Mahayana Buddhism (a.k.a. Northern Buddhism) is the predominant religion in China, Japan, Korea and much of Vietnam. The tradition entered China during the Han dynasty (206 BCE to 220 CE). It found initial acceptance there among the workers; later, it gradually penetrated the ruling class. Buddhism reached Japan in the 6th century. It underwent severe repression during the 1960's in China during the Cultural Revolution.
Eastern Buddhism contains many distinct schools: T'ein-t'ai, Hua-yen, Pure Land teachings, and the Meditation school. They celebrate the New Year, harvest festivals, and five anniversaries from the lives of Buddha and of the Bodhissattva Kuan-yin. They also engage in Dana, Sila, Chanting, Worship and Pilgrimage.

Western Buddhism:
Southern Buddhism became established in Europe early in the 20^th century.

Buddhism came to the U.S. in the early 19th century, with the arrival of Chinese and Japanese immigrants to Hawaii and to the west coast of the U.S. mainland. The Zen Buddhist tradition of Eastern Buddhism has developed a large following, particularly after the "Beat" generation, which began in the 1950's. Today, there are racial and cultural divides in American Buddhism, between nationalities of new immigrants, and between Caucasians and Asians. They exist largely as two solitudes, with little interaction. 

For Asian-American Buddhists, the temple "has more congregational importance, playing a key religious, social and cultural role in the community." Many have come to America recently, escaping wars in the Far East.

Caucasians Buddhists focus on meditation. Their groups tend to be "more lay orientated, with more women in positions of leadership. For some converts, Buddhism is more a philosophy than a religion." 

Number of Buddhist in North America:

Reliable data on Buddhism in the U.S. is hard to come by. Many estimates of total adherents to Buddhism ranged from three to four million. This would have made them the third largest religious group in the U.S., behind Christians and NOTAS (None Of The Above; persons with no religious identification.) However, the American Religious identification Survey (ARIS 2001) by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York found that the estimated number of American adults who identify themselves as Buddhist was 1,082,000 in 2001, a significant rise from 401,000 in their similar 1990 survey. This places the number of Buddhists nearly equal to the number of Muslims in the U.S., which they estimated at 1,104,000 in 2001. Numbers of Canadian Buddhist from 163,415 in the 1991 census to 300,345 in 2001. 

 

Tigers on the Edge of Extinction

Largest of all cats, tigers are formidable predators. The male Siberian tiger, the largest subspecies, can grow to 13 feet in length and weigh 700 pounds! With razor sharp, retractable claws, long canine teeth, and powerful jaws and legs, they can bring down animals far heavier than themselves, such as wild boars. Tigers eat 40 to 100 pounds of meat every day. From the snow-covered mountains of Manchuria to the evergreen forests of Siberia, and to the tropical jungles of Indonesia, tigers have adapted to a wide range of terrain. Unlike the open habitat of lions, leopards, and cheetahs, tigers prefer to live in moderately dense cover. They are solitary cats that stake out their territories by marking their area with their scent and claw markings on trees. In fact, the only time when adult tigers are in contact with each other is when they mate.

The tiger, Panthera tigris, one of the world's most beautiful and revered animals, stands near the brink of extinction. Since the turn of the century, its habitat and numbers have been reduced by up to 95%. For a million years the tiger ruled over a territory stretching from eastern Turkey to North Korea, its forest home extending northward to Siberia and southward into Bali. In this century alone, three sub-species of tiger were driven into extinction, including the Bali, Javan, and Caspian.  The remaining five sub-species are at risk of meeting the same fate. 

The tiger faces an onslaught of poaching throughout its range. In 1991, one-third of the Siberian or Amur tigers were killed to meet the demand for their bones and other parts. These are used in the production of traditional medicine which is sold in the markets of China, Taiwan, and Korea, and even exported to the USA and Europe. Now there are less than 50 Siberian tigers left on this planet--fewer than 20 remain in the wild. Unfortunately, this leaves the Siberian tigers prone to genetic disease. Also, tigers compete with expanding populations of human industry for land and food, and are killed by poachers when interfering with the plans of man. If these trends continue, despite many laws and conservation efforts, the wild tiger may soon be doomed to extinction. Habitat loss remains a grave danger for the tiger, particularly in South and Southeast Asia. In countries like India where there is a human population problem, people are always looking for more room which infringes on the tiger habitat. Once people reside close to tigers, they transform the ecological system with cattle, crops, et cetera, which in turn harms the tigers. The following is a detailed analysis of many of the threats that endanger tigers (all but one associated with man) fallowed by some interesting videos of other animals in the world that we as humans have threatened the being of.

Illegal Hunting for Medicinal Trade

Poaching for tiger skins has a long history. The magnificent striped pelt has been in demand for rugs, wall hangings, and fur coats. These are less important now as the market is restricted by trade bans. The poacher's targets today are bones and other parts to meet the demand for pseudo-medicinal use in eastern Asia, primarily China, Taiwan, South Korea, as well as in Indo-China. The extent of this demand has yet to be ascertained because very little data exists of the evidence of tiger products in pharmacies and markets throughout the region. Most of the exports are believed to have been to Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, but tiger-based medicines have been found in many parts of the world where there are Chinese communities, including Australia, Europe, and the USA.

It can be assumed that within China itself the killing of at least 3,000 tigers as pests in the 1950s and 1960s provided large stocks of bones for medicine factories. Supplies were also likely to have been obtained from poaching of tigers in neighboring countries such as Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam, where protective measures have been non-existent. Only in the late 1980s did reports emerge from Nepal and India of poaching for bones and smuggling to China, an indication that "stocks" were running low in China and that tigers were becoming more difficult to find in Southeast Asia.

The best data on the tiger bone trade comes from South Korea, where imports were legal and recorded by customs up to 1993. The statistics show that over six tons of tiger bone were imported between 1975 and 1992, which could represent the equivalent of 500 to 1,000 tigers. Nearly two-thirds of the imports to South Korea were from Indonesia, with China second at 14 per cent. China supplanted Indonesia as the major supplier, but since it had few tigers the products must have originated in other countries. In 1993, as South Korea prepared to join CITES, the country imported its biggest single haul of tiger bones, 1,783kg, representing between 160 and 300 tigers. The vast majority came from China.

Poaching and Habitat Loss

Assessing the impact of poaching is difficult. Unlike carcasses of elephants and rhinos, the remains of tigers quickly disappear, particularly when the skeleton has been taken. Skins are easily identified, but few people can distinguish tiger bones from those of domestic animals which are used for fertilizer and glue. Where forest guards regularly patrol, they may note that a familiar tiger is no longer to be seen, but it may be difficult to decide whether it was poached or died naturally. In many forests there are too few guards, if any.

If a female is kills, she is likely to have cubs, who may be unable to fend for themselves, in which case the real loss may be three or four tigers. When a male is killed, the result may be an intensive struggle among other males to take over the territory. Leading to cubs getting killed and breeding disrupted for a lengthy period, possibly for several years. 

The current range of the tiger extends through one of the most densely inhabited regions of the world, where human numbers are rising at an average of 1.87% (according to the World Resources Institute). Except for Thailand and China (where there are fewer than 100 tigers), where human populations are increasing much faster than the average global rate. During the 20 years since Project Tiger began in 1973, India's human population has increased by over 300 million, and livestock by over 100 million. The human pressure on wild habitat, including protected areas, is clearly intense, and increasing.

Like other big cats, the tiger probably has little future outside protected areas because of the danger to livestock and human life. Tigers which stray out of reserves and attack livestock are often poisoned by local people.

Weak Law Enforcement

Taiwan prohibited tiger bone imports in 1985 and internal sale and possession in 1989. However, tiger products continued to be openly available. Under international pressure, especially from the USA and CITES, China in 1993, Taiwan, and South Korea in 1994 have all announced bans on trade in tiger bones, and their use in traditional medicines. However, undercover investigators reported that they had obtained tiger products in various places in China after the ban.

Unfortunately, new evidence shows that tigers are being breed in China now to quench the Chinese market for tiger parts.

How effective bans will be in curbing demand remains to be seen. The belief in the efficacy of medicines based on the awesome tiger is ages old and cannot be expected to disappear in the short term. Evidence has been collected that tiger-based medicines are still widely available despite the announced bans, and illegal trade is likely to continue for a long time to come. That will mean that tigers everywhere will remain under serious threat unless steps are taken to suppress the trade and find effective substitutes. 

Impact of Catastrophes

Small isolated populations are especially vulnerable to catastrophic events: natural disasters, such as forest fires, floods, hurricanes, and epidemics; and human-induced events, such as deforestation and conversion of habitat. Extensive fires in the forests of northeastern China in 1987 may have killed Siberian tigers, and reduced prey numbers. Monsoon floods and hurricanes regularly kill some tigers in the Indian subcontinent. Inbreeding has reduced genetic variability and, therefore, resistance to the spread of disease.

The Genetic Threat

Most tiger populations today consist of fewer than 100 individuals and only about 40% of them constitute the breeding population. Inbreeding is inevitable and father-daughter and mother-son matings have been recorded. The balance of the sexes may be distorted by an excess of males or females surviving to maturity, thus increasing the impact of inbreeding. A loss of variability and genetic deterioration follow, with lowered cub production and survival, which may not be apparent until they have reached a level that threatens the population.

Videos

This is a good video reflecting on the Tiger danger

Elephants

This will blow you away

The Ring of Fire

The Ring of Fire in Relation to the Tectonic Plates

The "Ring of Fire" is an arc stretching from New Zealand, along the eastern edge of Asia, north across the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, and south along the coast of North and South America. The Ring of Fire is composed over 75% of the world's active and dormant volcanoes. This huge ring of volcanic and seismic (earthquake) activity was noticed and described before the invention of the theory of plate tectonics theory. We now know that the Ring of Fire is located at the borders of the Pacific Plate and other major tectonic plates.

Plates are like giant rafts of the earth's surface which often slide next to, collide with, and are forced underneath other plates. Around the Ring of Fire, the Pacific Plate is colliding with and sliding underneath other plates. This process is known as subduction and the volcanically and seismically active area nearby is known as a subduction zone. There is a tremendous amount of energy created by these plates and they easily melt rock into magma, which rises to the surface as lava and forms volcanoes. Volcanoes are temporary features on the earth's surface and there are currently about 1500 active volcanoes in the world. 

About ten percent of these are located in the United States.

This map shows the relation of the Tectonic Plates to the "Ring of Fire"

These are some of the major volcanic areas in the Ring of Fire:

In South America the Nazca plate is colliding with the South American plate. This has created the Andes and volcanoes such as Cotopaxi and Azul.

In Central America, the tiny Cocos plate is crashing into the North American plate and is therefore responsible for the Mexican volcanoes of Popocatepetl and Paricutun. Which rose up from a cornfield in 1943 and became instant mountains.

Between Northern California and British Columbia, the Pacific, Juan de Fuca, and Gorda plates have built the Cascades and the infamous Mount Saint Helens, which erupted in 1980.

Alaska's Aleutian Islands are growing as the Pacific plate hits the North American plate. The deep Aleutian Trench has been created at the subduction zone with a maximum depth of 25,194 feet.

From Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula to Japan, the subduction of the Pacific plate under the Eurasian plate is responsible for Japanese islands and volcanoes such as Mt. Fuji.

The final section of the Ring of Fire exists where the Indo-Australian plate subducts under the Pacific plate and has created volcanoes in the New Guinea and Micronesian areas. Near New Zealand, the Pacific Plate slides under the Indo-Australian plate.

Johnny Cash: Ring of Fire

Forces That Shape Our Earth 3

Tectonic Plates:

The video above shows how the movement of the tectonic plates have shaped the land forms we know today, as well as the prediction of how earth will look in the future. The earth surface in composed of tectonic plates that move a few centimeters each year. Convection currents beneath the plates is what causes them to move. Convection occurs because the density of a fluid is related to its temperature. Hot rocks lower in the mantle are less dense than their cooler counterparts above. The hot rock rises and the cooler rock sinks due to gravity. The edges of these plates, where they move against each other, are sites of intense geologic activity, such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain building. Plate tectonics is a relatively new theory and it wasn't until the 1960's that Geologists, with the help of ocean surveys began to understand what goes on beneath our feet. 

The land forms of today seem to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. (you can see this in the video above) If you look at a map, Africa seems to snuggle nicely into the east coast of South America and the Caribbean sea. In 1912 a German Scientist called Alfred Wegener proposed that these two continents were once joined together then somehow drifted apart.  He proposed that all the continents were once stuck together as one big land mass called Pangea. He believed that Pangea was intact until about 200 million years ago.

The idea that continents can drift about is called, not surprisingly, continental drift. 

When Wegener first put forward the idea in 1912 people thought he was nuts. His main difficulty in proving he was correct was that he knew the continents had drifted but he couldn't explain how they drifted. The old (AND VERY WRONG!!) theory before this time was the "Contraction theory", which suggested that the planet was once a molten ball and in the process of cooling the surface cracked and folded up on itself.  The big problem with this idea was that all mountain ranges should be approximately the same age, and this was known not to be true. Wegener's explanation was that as the continents moved, the leading edge of the continent would encounter resistance and thus compress and fold upwards forming mountains near the leading edges of the drifting continents. Wegener also suggested that India drifted northward into the Asia forming the Himalayas and of course Mount Everest.

It is hard to imagine that these great big solid slabs of rock could wander around the globe. Scientists needed a clue as to how the continents drifted. The discovery of the chain of mountains that lie under the oceans was the clue that they were waiting for. 

The mid-Atlantic Ridge is an area where new sea floor is being created. As the rift valley expands two continental plates have been constructed from the original one. The molten rock continues to push the crust apart creating new crust as it does. As the rift valley expands, water collects forming a sea. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is now 2,000 meters above the adjacent sea floor, which is at a depth of about 6,000 meters below sea level. The sea floor continues to spread and the plates get bigger and bigger. This process can be seen all over the world and produces about 17 square kilometers of new plate every year. Plates being created at the mid-ocean ridges seems to be a good idea but if this is the only type of plate movement then the world would get bigger and bigger. In fact the world has remained the same size. So if plates are being created at the mid-ocean ridges then they must be being consumed somewhere else in the world. 

The amount of crust on the surface of the earth remains relatively constant. Therefore, when plates diverge and form new crust in one area, the plates must converge in another area and be destroyed. An example of this is the Nazca plate being subducted under the South American plate to form the Andes Mountain Chain. The top layer of the mantle and the crust (all called the lithosphere) sinks beneath the continent, and a deep ocean trench is formed. Water gets carried down with the oceanic crust and the rocks begin to heat up as they travel slowly into the earth. Water is then driven off triggering the formation of pools of molten rock which slowly rises. The plate moves downwards at a rate of a few centimeters per year. The molten rock can take tens of thousands of years to then either: solidify slowly underground as intrusive igneous rock such as granite or reach the surface and erupt as lava flows. Cooling rapidly to form extrusive igneous rock such as basalt. The floor of the Easter Pacific is moving towards South America at a rate of 9 centimeters per year. It might not seem much but over the past 10 million years the Pacific crust has been subducted under South America and has sunk nearly 1000 kilometres into the Earth's interior. The key to subduction seems to be water which acts as a kind of lubricant as the heavier plate slips underneath the lighter plate. 

When two oceanic plate meet each other (oceanic-oceanic) this often results in the formation of an island arc system. As the sub-ducting oceanic crust melts as it goes deeper into the Earth, the newly-created magma rises to the surface and forms volcanoes. If the activity continues, the volcano may grow tall enough to breech the surface of the ocean creating an island. 

Millions of years ago India and an ancient ocean called the Tethys Ocean sat on a tectonic plate. This plate was moving northwards towards Asia at a rate of 10 centimeters per year. The Tethys oceanic crust was being subducted under the Asian Continent. The ocean got progressively smaller until about 55 million years ago when India 'hit' Asia. There was no more ocean left to lubricate the subduction and so the plates welled up to form the High Plateau of Tibet and the Himalayan Mountains. The continental crust under Tibet is over 70 kilometers thick. North of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, is a deep gorge in the Himalayas. The rock here is made of schist and granite with contorted and folded layers of marine sediments which were deposited by the Tethys ocean over 60 million years ago.

Another type of plate movement involves plates sliding past one another without the construction or destruction of crust. This boundary is called a conservation zone because plate is neither created nor destroyed An example of such a boundary is the San Andreas fault in California. The force needed to move billions of tonnes of rock is unimaginable. When plates move some of the energy is released as earthquakes. These earthquakes have caused us other disasters such as title-waves. 

Forces that Shape Our Earth 2

Volcanoes can have not only an effect on an areas land-froms but can also dramatically effect the climate. Large-scale volcanic activity may last only a few days, but the massive outpouring of gases and ash can influence climate patterns for years. Sulfuric gases convert to sulfate aerosols, sub-micron droplets containing about 75 percent sulfuric acid. Following eruptions, these aerosol particles can linger as long as three to four years in the stratosphere. 

When Mount Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines June 15, 1991, an estimated 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide and ash particles blasted more than 12 miles (20 km) high into the atmosphere. The eruption caused widespread destruction and loss of human life. Gases and solids injected into the stratosphere circled the globe for three weeks. Volcanic eruptions of this magnitude can impact global climate, reducing the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface, lowering temperatures in the troposphere, and changing atmospheric circulation patterns.

By understanding the impact of large volcanic eruptions on Earth's climate system in more detail, perhaps scientists will be in a better position to suggest measures to lessen their effects on people and natural resources. Ash from volcanic eruptions can block out the sun causing temperature drop, acid rain. Both effecting our agriculture. The sun being blocked with ash, and the atmosphere being tainted to cause acid rain could wipe out, or contaminate crops. Lose of crops could mean lose of life, money, and even could effect the many harvest to come.

The extent to which this occurs is an ongoing debate.