Boston public schools, for example, recently switched to the Gall-Peters projection , which more accurately depicts the true size of landmasses. As well, Google, whose map app is used by approximately one billion people per month, took the bold step of using different projections for different purposes in The Earth is depicted as a globe at further zoom levels, sidestepping map projection issues completely and displaying the world as it actually is: round.
In , mathematician and astronomer, Karl Mollweide, created a namesake projection that trades accuracy of angles and shape for accuracy of proportion. The Mollweide projection has inspired many other attempts at a user-friendly equal area map. Another evolution in cartography was the Dymaxion map , invented by Buckminster Fuller and patented in In this version, the continents are no longer in their familiar positions—however, there is more spacial fidelity than in previous projection methods.
Using a new map-making method called AuthaGraph , Japanese architect, Hajime Narukawa, may have created the most accurate map of the world yet. AuthaGraph divides the globe into 96 triangles, transfers them to a tetrahedron and unfolds into a rectangle. The end result? Landmasses and seas are more accurately proportioned than in traditional projections. The biggest downfall of the AuthaGraph map is that longitude and latitude lines are no longer a tidy grid.
As well, continents on the map are repositioned in a way that will be unfamiliar to a population that is already geographically challenged. That said, depicting our round world on a flat surface will always come with some trade-offs. As demand grows for a true equal-area map, it will be exciting to see what the next generation of map projections have to offer.
Looking to learn more about maps and map projections? This fantastic tool , created by Florian Ledermann, allows users to take a vast selection of projection styles, and modify them in different ways. This hands-on approach is a fun way to learn how the shape of landmasses shift as the projection changes.
This interactive map explores global alcohol consumption per capita. Alcohol might be one of the oldest and most frequently used recreational substances in the world, but examining countries by alcohol consumption shows that usage is not equal.
Consumption levels, and types of alcohol consumed, vary widely based on location. Furthermore, the availability of fruits and grains used in alcohol production impacts which drinks are more commonly consumed, as does the predominant culture.
Some cultures see alcohol consumption as a pleasurable experience, while others see intoxication as a sin. These boundaries don't produce spectacular features like mountains or oceans, but the halting motion often triggers large earthquakes, such as the one that devastated San Francisco. All rights reserved. They move at a rate of one to two inches three to five centimeters per year. Convergent Boundaries Where plates serving landmasses collide, the crust crumples and buckles into mountain ranges.
Divergent Boundaries At divergent boundaries in the oceans, magma from deep in the Earth's mantle rises toward the surface and pushes apart two or more plates. Share Tweet Email. Read This Next Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London. Animals Wild Cities Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London Love them or hate them, there's no denying their growing numbers have added an explosion of color to the city's streets. India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big.
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Travel 5 pandemic tech innovations that will change travel forever These digital innovations will make your next trip safer and more efficient. But will they invade your privacy? Go Further. Animals Wild Cities This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city. Animals This frog mysteriously re-evolved a full set of teeth. Animals Wild Cities Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London. For example, a magnitude 8. The December 26, , earthquake in the Indian Ocean had a magnitude of 9.
Three months later, on March 28, , a magnitude 8. Despite the small numerical difference in magnitude just 0. You may find it easier to understand another measurement of earthquake size, its intensity. Intensity is based on the observed effects of an earthquake's shaking e.
This scale features increasing levels of intensity effects and ranges from not felt to total damage. Unlike magnitude, intensity varies with location. Since intensity values are assigned after an earthquake, they do not support the real-time needs of tsunami warning centers. Earthquakes are not unusual. According to the U. Geological Survey, there are an estimated , detectable earthquakes in the world each year. Magnitude 2. On average, earthquakes greater than magnitude 7.
The word tectonics comes from the Greek root 'to build. Geological Survey. Please Contact Us. Toggle navigation JetStream. Layers of the earth. All plates Plate motion. Mariana trench Mid-Atlantic ridge Pacific-Antarctic ridge. Reverse fault Normal fault Strike-slip fault. Reverse fault. The average rate of continental collisions, and the average speed with which the continents change latitude, has doubled over the last 2 billion years Precambrian Research , doi.
When crust sinks back into the mantle, oceanic water gets sucked down too, and although most comes back to the surface in volcanic emissions, over the aeons the store of water in the mantle has grown vast. Some of this water forms hydrous minerals that essentially make the mantle more runny, says Condie, speeding up the flow of rock. The effect is strong enough to overcome the stiffening of the mantle caused by the gradual cooling inside Earth, he says.
Van Kranendonk is not ready to change his mind.
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