Final Post!

Great Britain, made up of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland is a beautiful country of rocky mountains and ancient inactive volcanoes; of vast moors and contrasting rugged highlands; of wide open flood planes, and white chalk coasts. Aside from it’s striking landscapes, Great Britain is known for its wet weather. Most rain in the UK is concentrated in the Northern and Western regions as warm winds come over the Atlantic bringing warm fronts. Rain starts in the Northwest and moves to the Southeast, gradually decreasing in strength as it travels. It’s not surprising, then, to find that the majority of Britain’s natural hazards are water related. 

The most dangerous natural hazard I read about are floods. According to the UK government, flood damage per year costs around £1.1 billion. In the UK, heavy winter storms, poor drainage, and unethical building practices all contribute to flooding issues, and 5 million homes per year are at risk of flood damage. In the winter, flooding in crowded cities can be problematic due to poor drainage systems. Also, villages situated by the ocean could be at risk of flooding in the future thanks sea levels rising as a result of global warming.

Accoring to research done by the House of Commons Library, 55% of those living
in flood-risk areas knew about the risk since they had
taken preventative measures against floods. (Oliver Bennett, Sarah Hartwell-Naguib)

However, one of the most upsetting causes of flooding in Great Britain is completely avoidable. An article by ampp3d.uk stated that between 2001 and 2013, thousands of homes were built directly on floodplains, ultimately leading to destruction of property for hundreds of individuals. A flood plane can be described as flat land next to a river that is caused by river processes, and takes a number of years to develop. When rivers fill up, water spills over onto the flat floodplanes, damaging all in its path. In 2014, 300 homes in Lincolnshire were flooded as a result of unethical building plans on these dangerous floodplanes. The people who profited from building these homes probably knew the many hazards of building on flood planes, yet their desire for money was greater than their desire for public safety. This is deplorable. 

To mitigate the issue of flooding within cities, I would urge British cities, especially ones with the greatest populations to improve infrastructure by spending money on grading streets in order for them to drain more properly. A government expenditure on preventing flooding would be worth it and could prevent the damage of hundreds of homes each year. 

I would also do my best to raise awareness about the dangers of settling in lowlands close to rivers that can easily overflow. 

If I were to build a home anywhere in Great Britain, my first choice would be in the Scottish highlands. While Scotland gets the brunt of the rainfall in Britain, the highlands are not known for having problems with flooding. Far from the ocean’s edge and high above sea level, it would be unlikely for a house in the highlands to be subject to a flood caused by sea-level rise. The moist conditions, as well as the abundant heather and moors make it almost impossible for wildfires to be a problem, therefore the area would be a very safe one to build a home. 

Sources:

http://www.livescience.com

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/earlier-flood-protection-for-thousands-of-homes-across-england

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/learning/rain/how-much-does-it-rain-in-the-uk

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-28394863

http://www.environmentlaw.org.uk/rte.asp?id=99

http://ampp3d.mirror.co.uk/2014/02/12/the-scandal-of-200000-homes-built-on-flood-plains/

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/flood-support-schemes-funding-available-from-central-government

Cliff Hanger

When a country is surrounded by water, it never comes with much surprise to find out that it has erosion problems at the coast. For Great Britain in particular, coastal erosion is a commonplace nuisance, though it is comparatively worse in the winter than during the rest of the year due to harsh offshore winds. Bluffs, dunes and beaches that are constantly changing always pose a threat to businesses and villages that dot the shores of the country.

Coastal erosion can happen for a variety of reasons, including wind, urbanization, overwatering lawns, rainstorms, and climate change. Sometimes, high winds can propel waves across the ocean in sets of different sizes and strengths. When these waves hit the coast in places like Dorset, Hampshire, Buckinghamshire and Gloucestershire, (Skynews) According to The British Geographer, when high waves recede, they can make large platforms called wave cut platforms.

Between 1600 and 1850, 250 meters (about 820 ft)
of land was recorded to be eroded at the Happisburgh coast
[Source: BGS]

An excellent example of coastal erosion is the town of Happisburgh in Norfolk, UK. While Happisburgh used to be an inland then, it now sits very close to the water's edge due to severe storms in the winter. According to the British Geological Survey, the cliffs of Hapsburg are made up of stratified silt, sand and clay, which slide down when pummeled by waves. To combat erosion in the UK, the British Government £2.3 billion in projects to prevent coastal erosion, (Gov.UK) though it was never specified how much money would be devoted to these preventative projects individually, or where the projects would be concentrated.

Whether the Weather

"Whether the weather be cold,

or whether the weather be hot,

We'll weather the weather

whatever the weather,

Whether we like it or not.'

In 2014, the British Isles were
hit hard by a large storm with high winds
and 50 foot waves.

When most people picture Britain's normal weather patterns, cyclones such as hurricanes don't usually come to mind. Great Britain is located out in the Atlantic, therefore far away from the low-pressure ares such as the Caribbean that it doesn't get caught up in cyclones. However, that doesn't mean it hasn't been entirely unaffected.

According to Keller and Devecchio a cyclone is large low-pressure system with winds circulating toward the center. Cyclones that occur away from tropic regions are called "extropical," while tropical cyclones are those which occur near the 5 and 20 degree latitude regions where the water is warm.

Strong westerly winds brought high
winds, high waves, and flood warnings to
western parts of the UK. Pictured above
is Dawlish (Devon) taking a beating.

According to Livescience.com, between 1851 and 2010, the UK was only hit by 10 cyclones coming at most within only 200 miles from Ireland! How do these extropical storms show up there? Dennis Feltgen from the National Hurricane Center says that as warm storms like hurricanes move across the Atlantic Ocean, they are no longer fed by the warm water. Unlike tropical storms which form when warm air rises to make spiraling clouds extropical cyclones are fed by cold, dry air, making their cores very cold, (Keller and Deveccio, 333).

To warm people of severe weather, the UK's Met Office offers map which show the movement of potentially dangerous forces in different colors. You can find the website here!

Sink or Swim

We've probably all experienced minor damaging effects of a natural disaster at some point in our lives, (if not, you're very fortunate!) For some living in California, it might have been an earthquake. For me personally, it was a bit of minor flooding in my garage. While soggy floorboards and broken vases can be replaced, what do you do if the earth swallows up your house?

Subsidence

According to the British Geological Survey, subsidence is defined as ground failure when the earth shrinks downward. When water wears bedrock down, the earth above it collapses into either a big circular pit or a long depressed line. When water, either from under or above ground percolates through the bedrock, the rock (like limestone) can easily be dissolved. We call this process dissolution. (Keller and Devecchio, 258)

Sink hole in a back garden, St. Alban's, UK

The British Geological Survey maps out
hazardous areas based on ground stability.
Source: BGS

Recently I read a 2014 article from a British online magazine asking why there were so many sinkholes popping up in the UK. The fact that the author of the article was surprised about there being excess moisture in the ground in England of all places was a bit funny. The UK is known for being very rainy, and crowded cities with poor drainage provide perfect conditions for subsidence issues.

Certain parts of Britain have proven to be more susceptible to subsidence due to the types of rock found there. Places like Cheshire and the Vale of York in the south east of England, for example is chock full (haha) of gypsum, which is basically chalk, and soft clay.

To decrease hazards, the British Geological survey is constantly working to create maps indicating places where the ground is weak and likely to collapse, and predicts places where the ground is likely to sink in or erode.

What a Waste! : Mass Wasting in the UK

Whether it be small and slow, or large and quick, mass wasting can be a major cause of loss of property and sometimes even life. According to Keller and DeVecchio, mass wasting is the movement of earth materials down a slope.(217) Mass wasting can refer to rockfalls, debris flows and avalanches, but for the sake of time, I'll mainly be speaking about landslides.

A landslide can be classified as either falling, sliding, slumping, flow or creep:

Sliding: As large rocks travel downhill, they loosen up other smaller rocks, rushing everything on the way down

Falling: Rocks are falling from the face of a cliff

Slumping: Rocks or soil is falling down a curved slope

Flow: Particles are moving downhill in a large, mixed up mass, like avalanches and earth flows

Creep: An extremely slow rate of flowage

Making Waves

When a tsunami hits, there is nothing in the world that can stop the powerful wave from destroying everything in its path. If you've watched the news at all in the last ten years, you'll know what a tsunami looks like, and just how destructive it can be. But do you know how they begin?

A Tsunami can be caused by natural occurrences, whether that be a submarine landslide, the impact of an asteroid or meteorite, an earthquake that causes the shifting of the seafloor, or an underwater volcano (Keller and Devecchio, 102-109.)

A tsunami in Great Britain is very unlikely 

thanks to its position on the Eurasian plate.

(photo: Britishnationalparty.com)

The Lisbon tsunami and fire, 1755
(Glogster.com)

When reading about Great Britain, I was unsurprised to find that the British Isles are not really at risk of tsunamis, once again thanks to their placement on the Eurasian tectonic plate. According to the British Geological survey, there is evidence that Great Britain did suffer at least one tsunami about 8000 years ago. Thanks to geological records, scientists believe that a submarine earthquake off the coast of Norway sent waves toward the shores of Britain.

According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, a magnitude 8 earthquake originating along the Atlantic faultiness created a tsunami powerful enough to destroy the city of Lisbon, Cornwall in 1755. With 20 foot waves, the tsunami destroyed 12,000 buildings and killed 60,000 people in the city alone.

Today, we know it is unlikely that Great Britain would be at risk of an earthquake for a few reasons. First, that the earthquakes which take place along the nearest plate boundary (the Atlantic Ridge) are too small and too far away to cause any peril. Second, that Britain hardly experiences earthquakes large enough to cause harm, given that the largest one recorded in British history was a 6.1  magnitude. It is for these reasons that there is currently no national tsunami warning system.

It's Nobody's Fault

Because of it's location on the Eurasian plate, Great Britain does not experience volcanic activity. However, Britain is home to many beautiful but dormant volcanoes, most of which are located in Scotland. Most of these volcanoes are ancient. In fact, the "super volcanoes" of Moore, Skye and Run  in western Scotland are estimated to be about 60 million years old.

Arthur's Seat, located at the highest
 point in Edinburgh is one of the most visited
volcanoes in Great Britain.
[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel
/travel_news/article-2853274/Scotland-
boasts-HALF-UK-s-best-volcanoes-none-
budge-stunning-Giant-s-Causeway-spot.html]

Why exactly does Great Britain have zero volcanic activity? It happens to do with it's exact location on the Eurasian tectonic plate. When tectonic plates come together, if one plate is denser than the other it will move under the lighter one. In this process of subduction, the high temperature melts rocks and creates magma. According to the British Geological Survey, when the magma comes up through the earth, it creates a volcano. However, since Great Britain is nowhere near the edges of a tectonic plate, new volcanoes don't occur.

Since volcanoes happen quite frequently in Iceland, the UK air traffic control service NATS occasionally issues "ash warnings" to help protect the European aviation industry. from massive ash clouds.