1.
Fault (geology)
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In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock, across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movement. Large faults within the Earths crust result from the action of tectonic forces. Energy release associated with movement on active faults is the cause of most earthquakes. A fault plane is the plane that represents the surface of a fault. A fault trace or fault line is the intersection of a plane with the ground surface. A fault trace is also the line commonly plotted on maps to represent a fault. Since faults do not usually consist of a single, clean fracture, the two sides of a non-vertical fault are known as the hanging wall and footwall. By definition, the wall occurs above the fault plane. This terminology comes from mining, when working a tabular ore body, because of friction and the rigidity of rocks, they cannot glide or flow past each other easily, and occasionally all movement stops. A fault in ductile rocks can also release instantaneously when the rate is too great. The energy released by instantaneous strain-release causes earthquakes, a common phenomenon along transform boundaries, slip is defined as the relative movement of geological features present on either side of a fault plane, and is a displacement vector. A faults sense of slip is defined as the motion of the rock on each side of the fault with respect to the other side. In practice, it is only possible to find the slip direction of faults. Based on direction of slip, faults can be categorized as, strike-slip. Dip-slip, offset is predominantly vertical and/or perpendicular to the fault trace, oblique-slip, combining significant strike and dip slip. The fault surface is usually vertical and the footwall moves either left or right or laterally with very little vertical motion. Strike-slip faults with left-lateral motion are known as sinistral faults. Those with right-lateral motion are known as dextral faults
2.
Guatemala
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With an estimated population of around 15.8 million, it is the most populated state in Central America. Guatemala is a democracy, its capital and largest city is Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción. The territory of modern Guatemala once formed the core of the Maya civilization, most of the country was conquered by the Spanish in the 16th century, becoming part of the viceroyalty of New Spain. Guatemala attained independence in 1821 as part of the Federal Republic of Central America, from the mid to late 19th century, Guatemala experienced chronic instability and civil strife. Beginning in the early 20th century, it was ruled by a series of dictators backed by the United Fruit Company, in 1944, authoritarian leader Jorge Ubico was overthrown by a pro-democratic military coup, initiating a decade-long revolution that led to sweeping social and economic reforms. A U. S. -backed military coup in 1954 ended the revolution, from 1960 to 1996, Guatemala endured a bloody civil war fought between the US-backed government and leftist rebels, including genocidal massacres of the Maya population perpetrated by the military. As of 2014, Guatemala ranks 31st of 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries in terms of the Human Development Index, Guatemalas abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems includes a large number of endemic species and contributes to Mesoamericas designation as a biodiversity hotspot. The country is known for its rich and distinct culture. The name Guatemala comes from the Nahuatl word Cuauhtēmallān, or place of many trees and this was the name the Tlaxcaltecan soldiers who accompanied Pedro de Alvarado during the Spanish Conquest gave to this territory. The first evidence of habitation in Guatemala dates back to 12,000 BC. Evidence, such as obsidian arrowheads found in parts of the country. There is archaeological proof that early Guatemalan settlers were hunters and gatherers, pollen samples from Petén and the Pacific coast indicate that maize cultivation had been developed by 3500 BC. Sites dating back to 6500 BC have been found in the Quiché region in the Highlands, archaeologists divide the pre-Columbian history of Mesoamerica into the Preclassic period, the Classic period, and the Postclassic period. Until recently, the Preclassic was regarded as a period, with small villages of farmers who lived in huts. This period is characterized by urbanisation, the emergence of independent city-states and this lasted until approximately 900 AD, when the Classic Maya civilization collapsed. The Maya abandoned many of the cities of the lowlands or were killed off by a drought-induced famine. The cause of the collapse is debated, but the Drought Theory is gaining currency, supported by such as lakebeds, ancient pollen. A series of prolonged droughts, among other such as overpopulation, in what is otherwise a seasonal desert is thought to have decimated the Maya
3.
Guatemala City
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Guatemala City, locally known as Guatemala or Guate, is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala, and the most populous in Central America. The city is located in the part of the country. In 2009, it had a population of 1,075,000, Guatemala City is also the capital of the local Municipality of Guatemala and of the Guatemala Department. Human settlement on the present site of Guatemala City began with the Maya who built a city at Kaminaljuyu, the Spanish colonists established a small town, which was made a capital city in 1775. At this period the Central Square with the Cathedral and Royal Palace were constructed, after Central American independence from Spain the city became the capital of the United Provinces of Central America in 1821. The 19th century saw the construction of the monumental Carrera Theater in the 1850s, at this time the city was expanding around the 30 de junio Boulevard and elsewhere, displacing native settlements from the ancient site. Earthquakes in 1917–1918 destroyed many historic structures, during the Guatemalan Civil War, terror attacks beginning with the burning of the Spanish Embassy in 1980 led to severe destruction and loss of life in the city. In May 2010 two disasters struck, the eruption of the Pacaya volcano, and two days later Tropical Storm Agatha, Guatemala City serves as the economic, governmental, and cultural epicenter of the nation of Guatemala. Guatemala City is subdivided into 22 zones designed by the engineering of Raúl Aguilar Batres, each one with its own streets and avenues. Zones are numbered 1-25 with Zones 20,22 and 23 not existing as they would have fallen in two other municipalities territory. Addresses are assigned according to the street or avenue number, followed by a dash, the zones are assigned in a spiral form starting in downtown Guatemala city. Efforts to revitalize this important part of the city have been undertaken by the government and have been very successful thus far. This plan denominated POT aims to allow taller building structures of mixed uses to be next to large arterial roads and gradually decline in height. It is also worth mentioning, that due to the Airport being in the city, to the south and this limits the maximum height for a building, at 60 metres in Zone 10, up to 95 metres in Zone 1. The city is located in the South-Central area of the country and has a lot of green areas, besides the parks, the city offers a portfolio of entertainment in the region, focused on the so-called Zona Viva and the Calzada Roosevelt as well as four degrees North. Also include projects such as Zona Pradera and Interamerica´s World Financial Center http, the location of the La Aurora international airport within the city limits the construction of skyscrapers, changing the limits permitted directly by its location within the urban area. According to the 2017 census, the Guatemala City metropolitan area had a population of 3.3 million, making it the most populous urban agglomeration in Central America. The growth of the population has been robust since then
4.
Adobe
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Adobe is a building material made from earth and often organic material. Adobe is among the earliest building materials, and is used throughout the world, modern methods of construction allow the pouring of whole adobe walls that are reinforced with steel. In dry climates, adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for some of the oldest existing buildings in the world. Adobe buildings offer significant advantages due to their greater thermal mass, cases where adobe structures were widely damaged during earthquakes include the 1976 Guatemala earthquake, the 2003 Bam earthquake and the 2010 Chile earthquake. Puebloan peoples built their structures with handfuls or basketfuls of adobe. Adobe bricks were used in Spain from the Late Bronze and Iron Ages and its wide use can be attributed to its simplicity of design and manufacture, and economics. A distinction is made between the smaller adobes, which are about the size of ordinary baked bricks, and the larger adobines. The word adobe /əˈdoʊbiː/ has existed for around 4000 years with little change in either pronunciation or meaning. The word can be traced from the Middle Egyptian word ɟbt mudbrick, Middle Egyptian evolved into Late Egyptian, Demotic or pre-Coptic, and finally to Coptic, where it appeared as τωωβε tōʾpə. This was borrowed into Arabic as الطوب aṭ-ṭawbu or aṭ-ṭūbu, with the definite article al- attached, tuba, English borrowed the word from Spanish in the early 18th century. In more modern English usage, the adobe has come to include a style of architecture popular in the desert climates of North America. An adobe brick is a material made of earth mixed with water. The soil composition typically contains sand, silt and clay, straw is useful in binding the brick together and allowing the brick to dry evenly, thereby preventing cracking due to uneven shrinkage rates through the brick. The most desirable soil texture for producing the mud of adobe is 15% clay, 10–30% silt, another source quotes 15–25% clay and the remainder sand and coarser particles up to cobbles 50 to 250 mm with no deleterious effect. Modern adobe is stabilized with either emulsified asphalt or Portland cement up to 10% by weight, no more than half the clay content should be expansive clays with the remainder non-expansive illite or kaolinite. Too much expansive clay results in uneven drying through the resulting in cracking. Typically the soils of the Southwest United States, where construction is in use, are an adequate composition. Adobe walls are bearing, i. e. they carry their own weight into the foundation rather than by another structure
5.
Homelessness
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Homelessness is the condition of people without a permanent dwelling, such as a house or apartment. People who are homeless are most often unable to acquire and maintain regular, safe, secure, the legal definition of homeless varies from country to country, or among different jurisdictions in the same country or region. According to the UK homelessness charity Crisis, a home is not just a space, it also provides roots, identity, security, a sense of belonging. American government homeless enumeration studies also include people who sleep in a public or private place not designed for use as a sleeping accommodation for human beings. There are a number of organizations who provide help for the homeless, in 2005, an estimated 100 million people worldwide were homeless, and as many as 1 billion people live as squatters, refugees or in temporary shelter, all lacking adequate housing. In Western countries, the majority of homeless are men. Most countries provide a variety of services to assist homeless people and these services often provide food, shelter and clothing and may be organized and run by community organizations or by government departments or agencies. These programs may be supported by the government, charities, churches, many cities also have street newspapers, which are publications designed to provide employment opportunity to homeless people. While some homeless have jobs, some must seek other methods to make a living, begging or panhandling is one option, but is becoming increasingly illegal in many cities. People who are homeless may have conditions, such as physical or mental health issues or substance addiction. In 2004, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs defined a homeless household as those households without a shelter that would fall within the scope of living quarters. They carry their few possessions with them, sleeping in the streets, in doorways or on piers, or in another space and this category includes persons living in the streets without a shelter that would fall within the scope of living quarters, Secondary homelessness. This category may include persons with no place of usual residence who move frequently between various types of accommodations and this category includes persons living in private dwellings but reporting no usual address on their census form. The CES acknowledges that the approach does not provide a full definition of the homeless. Homelessness is perceived and addressed according to country. The ETHOS approach confirms that homelessness is a process that affects many vulnerable households at different points in their lives. The typology was launched in 2005 and is used for different purposes, as a framework for debate, for collection purposes, for policy purposes, monitoring purposes. This typology is an exercise which makes abstraction of existing legal definitions in the EU member states
6.
Electricity
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Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence of electric charge. Although initially considered a separate to magnetism, since the development of Maxwells Equations both are recognized as part of a single phenomenon, electromagnetism. Various common phenomena are related to electricity, including lightning, static electricity, electric heating, electric discharges, in addition, electricity is at the heart of many modern technologies. The presence of a charge, which can be either positive or negative. On the other hand, the movement of charges, which is known as electric current. When a charge is placed in a location with non-zero electric field, the magnitude of this force is given by Coulombs Law. Thus, if that charge were to move, the field would be doing work on the electric charge. Electrical phenomena have been studied since antiquity, though progress in theoretical understanding remained slow until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Even then, practical applications for electricity were few, and it would not be until the nineteenth century that engineers were able to put it to industrial and residential use. The rapid expansion in electrical technology at this time transformed industry, electricitys extraordinary versatility means it can be put to an almost limitless set of applications which include transport, heating, lighting, communications, and computation. Electrical power is now the backbone of modern industrial society, long before any knowledge of electricity existed, people were aware of shocks from electric fish. Ancient Egyptian texts dating from 2750 BCE referred to these fish as the Thunderer of the Nile, Electric fish were again reported millennia later by ancient Greek, Roman and Arabic naturalists and physicians. Patients suffering from such as gout or headache were directed to touch electric fish in the hope that the powerful jolt might cure them. Ancient cultures around the Mediterranean knew that certain objects, such as rods of amber, Thales was incorrect in believing the attraction was due to a magnetic effect, but later science would prove a link between magnetism and electricity. He coined the New Latin word electricus to refer to the property of attracting small objects after being rubbed and this association gave rise to the English words electric and electricity, which made their first appearance in print in Thomas Brownes Pseudodoxia Epidemica of 1646. Further work was conducted by Otto von Guericke, Robert Boyle, Stephen Gray, in the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin conducted extensive research in electricity, selling his possessions to fund his work. In June 1752 he is reputed to have attached a key to the bottom of a dampened kite string. A succession of jumping from the key to the back of his hand showed that lightning was indeed electrical in nature
7.
Soil liquefaction
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In soil mechanics the term liquefied was first used by Allen Hazen in reference to the 1918 failure of the Calaveras Dam in California. The phenomenon is most often observed in saturated, loose, sandy soils and this is because a loose sand has a tendency to compress when a load is applied, dense sands by contrast tend to expand in volume or dilate. If the soil is saturated by water, a condition that exists when the soil is below the ground water table or sea level. In response to the soil compressing, this increases in pressure. These contacts between grains are the means by which the weight from buildings and overlying soil layers are transferred from the surface to layers of soil or rock at greater depths. This loss of soil structure causes it to all of its strength. Although the effects of liquefaction have been understood, it was more thoroughly brought to the attention of engineers after the 1964 Niigata earthquake and 1964 Alaska earthquake. It was also a factor in the destruction in San Franciscos Marina District during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. A state of soil liquefaction occurs when the stress of soil is reduced to essentially zero. This may be initiated by either monotonic loading or cyclic loading, in both cases a soil in a saturated loose state, and one which may generate significant pore water pressure on a change in load are the most likely to liquefy. As pore water pressure rises a progressive loss of strength of the soil occurs as effective stress is reduced and it is more likely to occur in sandy or non-plastic silty soils, but may in rare cases occur in gravels and clays. A flow failure may initiate if the strength of the soil is reduced below the required to maintain equilibrium of a slope or footing of a building for instance. This can occur due to loading or cyclic loading, and can be sudden. A historical example is the Aberfan disaster, casagrande referred to this type of phenomena as flow liquefaction although a state of zero effective stress is not required for this to occur. The term cyclic refers to the occurrence of a state of soil when large shear strains have accumulated in response to cyclic loading. A typical reference strain for the occurrence of zero effective stress is 5% double amplitude shear strain. This is a soil test based definition, usually performed via cyclic triaxial, cyclic direct simple shear and these tests are performed to determine a soils resistance to liquefaction by observing the number of cycles of loading at a particular shear stress amplitude before it fails. Failure here is defined by the shear strain criteria
8.
Los Amates
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Los Amates is a municipality in the Izabal department of Guatemala. The mayor is currently Marco Tulio Ramirez Estrada, Los Amates is located on the Motagua River,6 kilometres from the ruins of the ancient Maya city of Quiriguá. Quiriguá is an ancient Maya archaeological site in Los Amates and it is a medium-sized site covering approximately 3 square kilometres along the lower Motagua River, with the ceremonial center about 1 km from the north bank. During the Maya Classic Period, Quiriguá was situated at the juncture of several important trade routes, the site was occupied by 200, construction on the acropolis had begun by about 550, and an explosion of grander construction started in the 8th century. All construction had halted by about 850, except for a period of reoccupation in the Early Postclassic. Quiriguá shares its architectural and sculptural styles with the nearby Classic Period city of Copán, the previous landowner, by the surname of Payés, had related the existence of the ruins to his sons and to Carlos Meiney, a Jamaican Englishman resident in Guatemala. Stephens had other duties to attend to, but Catherwood was able to accompany the Payés brothers to Quiriguá, a longer account of the ruins was made in 1854 by Dr. Karl Scherzer. He was able to return on three occasions, the last being in 1894, and he made the first efforts to clear the monuments before recording them. The new line would had one hundred and one miles, more archaeological work was carried out from 1910 to 1914 by Edgar Lee Hewett and Sylvanus Morley for the School of American Archaeology in Santa Fe. Duplicates of the stelae of Quiriguá made from Hewitts plaster casts of the originals were exhibited at the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego, California, the casts are still on display at the San Diego Museum of Man in their Maya, Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth exhibition. The Carnegie Institution conducted several intermittent projects at Quiriguá from 1915 through 1934, Los Amates municipality was established by an executive action of president Manuel Estrada Cabrera on 30 June 1916, and ratified and organized on 24 June 1920. On 28 January 1944 the municipality capital was moved to Quirigua, new labor chapters opened both in Morales and Los Amates banana plantations, while Puerto Barrios had more than 250 members. In the 1960s, the importance of the known as Franja Transversal del Norte was in livestock, exploitation of precious export wood. Colonization of the area was made through a process by which areas of the Franja Transversal del Norte were granted to native peasants. The Northern Transversal Strip was officially created during the government of General Carlos Arana Osorio in 1970, by Decree 60-70 in the Congress, Los Amates has a tropical monsoon climate and its municipal capital is 78 m above sea level. Guatemala portal Geography portal Franja Transversal del Norte Izabal Department Quiriguá Tragic Week United Fruit Company
9.
Sand boil
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Sand boils or sand volcanoes occur when water under pressure wells up through a bed of sand. The water looks like it is boiling up from the bed of sand, a sand volcano or sand blow is a cone of sand formed by the ejection of sand onto a surface from a central point. The sand builds up as a cone with slopes at the angle of repose. A crater is seen at the summit. The cone looks like a volcanic cone and can range in size from millimetres to metres in diameter. The process is associated with soil liquefaction and the ejection of fluidized sand that can occur in water-saturated sediments during an earthquake. The New Madrid Seismic Zone exhibited many such features during the 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes, adjacent sand blows aligned in a row along a linear fracture within fine-grained surface sediments are just as common, and can still be seen in the New Madrid area. In the past few years, much effort has gone into the mapping of liquefaction features to study ancient earthquakes, the basic idea is to map zones that are susceptible to the process and then go in for a closer look. The presence or absence of soil liquefaction features is strong evidence of past earthquake activity and these are to be contrasted with mud volcanoes, which occur in areas of geyser or subsurface gas venting. Sand boils can be a mechanism contributing to liquefaction and levee failure during floods and this effect is caused by a difference in pressure on two sides of a levee or dike, most likely during a flood. This process can result in erosion, whereby the removal of soil particles results in a pipe through the embankment. The creation of the pipe will quickly pick up pace and will result in failure of the embankment. A sand boil is difficult to stop, the most effective method is by creating a body of water above the boil to create enough pressure to slow the flow of water. A slower flow will not be able to move soil particles, the body of water is often created with sandbags forming a ring around the boil. During the flood of spring 2011, the United States Army Corps of Engineers had to work to contain the largest sand boil ever discovered. The sand boil measured 30 feet by 40 feet and was located in the city of Cairo, Illinois at the confluence of the Mississippi River, an example of this is during the 1989 earthquake in San Francisco, when sand boils brought up debris from the 1906 earthquake. This process is a result of liquefaction, by mapping the location of sand boils that erupted in the Marina District during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, scientists discovered the site of a lagoon that existed in 1906. The lagoon developed after the Fairs Seawall was constructed, and was filled in in 1915 in preparation for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition
10.
Puerto Barrios
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Puerto Barrios is a city in Guatemala, located within the Gulf of Honduras. The bay in which the harbour is located is called Bahia de Amatique, Puerto Barrios is the departmental seat of Izabal department and is the administrative seat of Puerto Barrios municipality. It is Guatemalas main Caribbean Sea port, together with its more modern port town just to the southwest. In 2003 the estimated population of Puerto Barrios was 40,900 people, Puerto Barrios is located 297 kilometers northeast of Guatemala City. It is the terminus of Highway CA9 which begins at the Pacific port city of Puerto San José, the citys population is a mix of mostly Afro-Guatemalans, Maya, Afro-Caribbean, and other West Indian groups. Puerto Barrios is divided by many neighborhoods or Barrios such as El rastro, las champas, los tanques, la veinte, la veintedos, la catorce, la trece, and el estrecho. Although the town is small, due to its harbor nature, Puerto Barrios is starting to get more visitors in the new century as the nearby town of Santo Tomás de Castilla has started receiving cruise ships. Puerto Barrios Airport is currently being refurbished in order to receive scheduled flights in the near future, among the many nearby tourist attractions are the Mayan ruins of Quirigua. The Castillo de San Felipe de Lara, an old Spanish fort in Río Dulce, another popular attraction is the lively town of Livingston where Garifuna culture can be experienced, with its Punta and Yankunu dances. However, after the death of Barrios in the Battle of Chalchuapa in 1885. It was not until 1892, when José María Reyna Barrios assumed power, on 19 July 1895, Reina Barrios issued executive action #513, which established that a city was to be founded between the Escondido and Estrecho rivers, to be called Puerto Barrios. The ceremonial act of foundation took place on 5 December 1892, given that in those days most visitors arriving from Europe and North America arrived at the port on the Caribbean Sea shore, Reina Barrios pushed for the Northern Railroad to be finished on time. Not only was the railroad vital for the Expo success, it was key to move merchandise, completing a transoceanic railway was a main objective of Reina Barrios government, with a goal to attract international investors at a time when the Panama Canal was not built yet. The harbor was partly built by Theodore Roosevelts Corps of Engineers in 1906–1908. He also issued an Agrarian Reform that impacted UFCO land, eventually, Árbenz was accused of Communism and was ousted in 1954, but the highway was almost completed and was completed by his successor, colonel Carlos Castillo Armas. Just as Arbenz had hoped, IRCAs last profit was reported in 1957, in the 21st century, Puerto Barrios remains an important hub for Dole and Fresh Del Monte Produce industries, which are what remains from United Fruit Company. Construction of the highway began by the Roads Department of the Ministry of Communications and it was planned to be built parallel along the railway line, as much as possible. The construction of the new port was aimed to break another UFCO monopoly, since Puerto Barrios was owned and operated solely by The Great White Fleet
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