Landslide Risks

Landslides are a risk in Thailand, during periods of intense rainfall. These often happen during floods, and so the damage from this rain is dangerous.


This image shows some of the slides in the Krabi Province in March of 2011. These slides were brought about when lots of water entered the soil layer, and then slipped off. Landslides in Thailand almost always come during the rainy season, and so they are affected by mudslides most often.

Resources: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=49976

5,395

5,395. That is a very large number and it can be hard to visualize.

But that is the number of confirmed deaths in Thailand due to the massive tsunami in 2004. And Thailand got off lucky. Indonesia alone had 130,000 deaths, and possibly up to 170,000. That is as if Monterey all of a sudden was gone. Thailand was less impacted due to better economic conditions, and that near the shore were concrete hotels, rather than bungalows.


Three months ago, memorials were held on the 10th anniversary of the tsunami. One, on Phuket Island, consisted of paper lanterns released into the air, and hundreds of candles placed in sand castles, as locals and tourists watched in silence.

The Boxing Day Tsunami was caused by a 9.0 Richter scale earthquake located in the Indian Ocean. Waves crashed onto the shores of Indonesia, Thailand, India, Myanmar, and rippled across the world. This tsunami is the greatest catastrophe since 1976, and the worst tsunami in human history.

Before and After arial view of the Khao Lak coastline

Today, there are many changes in Thailand. In every hotel room, there are emergency flashlights, while hazard signs show the actions to take in case. Thailand is now much better prepared, with a massive tsunami warning system. They should have at least three hours warning now, if the epicenter is in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and with those hours have time to evacuate. The southern infrastructure is stronger, and tourism has returned.





Image Sources:
www.worldatlas.com
www.iwallhd.com
www.trekearth.com
www.surfersvillage.com 
Text Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_the_2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_on_Thailand
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami
https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-2004-indian-ocean-tsunami
http://mashable.com/2014/12/26/tsunami-10-year-anniversary/ 

Volcanoes

Before we begin, let us provide a quick background. There are 3 major types of volcanoes: shield, composite, and cinder cone, though more complex volcanoes exist as well. These types cover the composition of inner material. Cinder cones contain mostly ash, and tend to smoke, but not cause major damage. Shield volcanoes contain mostly low viscosity magma, slipping out, and tend not to have violent eruptions. Composite or stratovolcanoes contain a mixture of high viscosity (thick) magma and ash. These volcanoes are the most damaging, with huge explosions.

http://perri-n-natural-hazards.wikispaces.com/1.+What+is+a+Volcano+-+History+and+Types+of+Volcanoes

Thankfully, Thailand has no stratovolcanoes, and no active volcanoes. Thailand used to be a hotbed, with lots of active shield volcanoes, but now these volcanoes are extinct because their magma source has been cut off. Shield volcanoes today just look like mountains, and have for hundreds or even thousands of years. Phanom Rung is a temple that the Khmer people built on top of one sometime in the 10-13th century. This temple is dedicated to Shiva, goddess of destruction, and represents her home. Fitting then that it is a volcano.

http://thailandkhmertemple.blogspot.com/2013/11/phanom-rung-temple.html

The oldest volcano in Thailand is in Loei, and is approximately 400 million years old.

http://www.ourweb.info/01/photos/thailand/013/

 

 

Sources:
http://www.chiangraitimes.com/what-natural-disasters-could-you-experience-in-thailand.html
http://n-poypoy.blogspot.com/2010/12/volcanoes-in-thailand.html
http://thailandkhmertemple.blogspot.com/2013/11/phanom-rung-temple.html
Pictures sourced from the link below.

Tectonics! Oh No!

Most people know about the major tectonic plates of the world, mostly corresponding to whole continents. But there are little plates too, ones slinking along. Thailand is on one little plate, the Sunda plate. This little plate rests in between four three plates, the Eurasian, Australian, and the Philippine.

 

 Red lines indicate a divergent boundary, green a transform fault, purple a convergent boundary, and blue with arrows a subduction zone. As you can see, the Australian and the Philippine plates are sliding underneath the Sunda plate, pushing it upwards. The Burma plate is moving away from Thailand, but shrinking from India pushing in.

Thankfully, Thailand is far enough away from the Australian plate to avoid volcanoes. Phew. That is a big relief.

Pictures taken from Google Images. Sources are from previous Geology classes, and the legend of the plate map.

Mineral Resources

While Thailand is mostly an agricultural nation, it does have a small amount of mine-able resources. Its most major productive minerals are Tin (Sn) and Tungsten (W). Thailand has one of the largest tin exports of any nation.

Thailand also has minor deposits of Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Silver (Ag), and Lead (Pb). These veins are found mainly in andesite.

Coal and oil filled shale are extensive across the land, with large belts in the Northwestern regions. It is estimated that the oil reserve has 10 trillion cubic feet of gas.

There are two major gemstones mined in Thailand, sapphires, and rubies.

The final, and I suppose most exicting, (yes I saved the best for last), are the large gold deposits mined for centuries. Even now, I suppose you could say there is a bit of a Gold Rush there.

Raw gold

Sources from http://www.dmr.go.th/main.php?filename=Mineral_re_En