The
article I
read was called "A Quake Shakes Loose an Island" by Henry Fountain, and
it was about an earthquake that happened in Pakistan about a week ago.
Pakistan is located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East, and
converges
with Central Asia and the Middle East. During the earthquake, a small
island,
about 100 feet by 250 feet and about 60 feet in altitude, rose above the
sea
surface. Experts say that it most likely formed when the shaking
released
methane gas and water trapped in undersea sediments, and the gas and
water
forced part of the seabed to the surface. The earthquake was said to
have a 7.7
in magnitude and was followed by a 6.8 magnitude aftershock. Townspeople
and
scientists who visited the island told news agencies that it was muddy
and
rocky and was letting out flammable gas, and Methane, the main component
of
natural gas, is highly flammable. The methane is created through the
action of
bacteria on organic matter, and would have been trapped in the sediments
as
free molecules of gas. The article also gave a few examples of similar
occurrences
such as this one at the end of the article, but I didn’t think they were
too
relevant.
I thought this
article was relevant because it talked about how the island released gas when
it emerged, and we are kind of learning about this in chemistry. Also, I
thought it was extremely interesting how the island just arose from the sea, and
it made me think about how many other things and possibly more islands underwater
around the world that are waiting for a large enough commotion to make it
emerge. I also think that scientists should take this topic into account,
because I think it’s fascinating thinking about more underwater wonders.
I think one strength in this article
is how the author did a great job at explaining the details of exactly what had
to happen for the island to show itself, and how it included everything about
the gas being emitted from the island. In my opinion, the author didn’t do a very
good job with explaining different viewpoints of the topic, like who thought what
about the earthquake and others ideas. One way to improve it would be include
different quotes from different scientists to see different viewpoint.
John has a great review of his article! I love how he gives us a description of where Pakistan is so we know where the country is that we are talking about. As a whole this review of the article is very descriptive and tells us a lot of details about what happened. I also really like how John tells us what the people from that area had to say about this situation and how they give us a description of what it now looks like.
ReplyDeleteJohns review was very good so there isn't a lot to criticize about it but i think he could have made the first paragraph a little shorter, because some readers may got lost with all that information in what paragraph so he could have broken it down. Another thing John could have done is talked more about why the article was relevant.
I was not aware that an earthquake occurred in Pakistan. This review was very informative and now i know a little more about what is going on in other places around the world.