The Scarred Earth.

• Autores: Madhusree Mukerjee
• Localización: Scientific American, ISSN 0036-8733, Vol. 292, Nº. 3, 2005, págs. 18-20
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This article focuses on the geographical effects of the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. A year of death and destruction wreaked mostly by humans ended with nature flexing her own muscles, to terrifying effect. A section of the earth's crust hundreds of kilometers long tore off its moorings, slamming into the seawater above. The resulting tsunami traveled at 700 kilometers per hour to rear up like a hydra onto shores, sweeping away some 225,000 lives and millions of livelihoods across 12 nations. Now, scientists are scrutinizing the oceanic and island terrain to determine how the crust has changed and to gauge what further horrors the earth may have in store. At the same time the tsunami scoured the planet, the earthquake permanently altered its shape. The earthquake and its aftershocks changed the shape and orientation of virtually the entire Burma plate and the lands it supports. INSET: WHEN OLD WAYS TRUMP NEW WAYS.