Refuerzo, Aneeza Bea C.

11 STEM Aquinas

In what ways do endogenic processes affect the following:

Global Climate

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.

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 for as long as three to four
years in the stratosphere.

Major eruptions alter the Earth's radiative balance because volcanic aerosol clouds
absorb terrestrial radiation, and scatter a significant amount of the incoming solar
radiation, an effect known as "radiative forcing" that can last from two to three
years following a volcanic eruption.

"Volcanic eruptions cause short-term climate changes and contribute to natural

climate variability," says Georgiy Stenchikov, a research professor with the
Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University.

Earth’s surface features

Endogenic processes involve multiple forms of the geological changes produced

by actions of abyssal factors such as heat field fluctuation, migration of products
of metamorphism products and of volcanic material, and ground surface
subsidence as a result of the formation of defects in rock masses at depth, and so
on.

From the environmental point of view, of the greatest interest are various forms of
neotectonic movements as well as earthquakes and volcanic activity.
Neotectonic movements can cover both very extensive areas and groups of
geological blocks. It is noteworthy that if at a given time some blocks undergo
compression or uplift, the adjacent blocks can be, at the same time, in a state of
extension or sinking.

Differential movements of lithospheric strata have both geological and

environmental consequences especially in areas between geodynamically active
blocks which may become geomechanically weakened and likely to develop a
high surface water content (lakes, swamps, rivers) with correspondingly diverse
fauna and flora communities.

It is obvious that abrupt changes of the geoenvironmental state in such regions

lead to a structural change of the area such as an increase or decrease of
permeability (depending on the sign of geodynamic stresses) and to a change in
the distribution and behavior of surface water bodies leading to consequent
faunal migration to (or from) that region. For example, channels of large rivers can
be found distant from the present channel location.

Vertical motions of the earth's crust are observed everywhere, but are most
intensive and provide the greatest contrast in mountainous areas. In some cases,
high-accuracy leveling data has detected parts of some fold mountain systems
that are being uplifted with a velocity of 10 to 15 mm per year.

Although at present the environmental consequences of such displacements may

not be apparent, it can be supposed that during geologically long time periods
directional movements of large blocks of the earth's crust should have led to
considerable changes in the habitat conditions.