Japan has had a lengthy past history of earthquakes and also seismic activity. It is an area of high seismicity considering that it lies near significant tectonic plate limits and is positioned on the Pacific Ring of Fire.
The islands of Japan are mostly the outcome of numerous big oceanic movements occurring over numerous millions of years from the mid-Silurian to the Pleistocene as a result of the subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate underneath the continental Amurian Plate and Okinawa Plate to the south, and subduction of the Pacific Plate under the Okhotsk Plate to the north.
Japan was initially attached to the eastern coast of the Eurasian continent. The subducting plates, being further than the Eurasian plate, pulled Japan eastward, opening up the Sea of Japan around 15 million years earlier. The Strait of Tartary and also the Korea Strait opened much later. Today the Japanese archipelago is considered a fully grown island arc and is the outcome of several generations of subducting plates. Approximately 15,000 km of oceanic flooring has actually passed under the Japanese location in the last 450 million years, with a lot of being totally subducted.
Japan is positioned in a volcanic zone on the Pacific Ring of Fire. Frequent low intensity earth tremors as well as periodic volcanic task are really felt throughout the islands. Damaging quakes, usually resulting in tidal waves, take place several times a century.
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