Question

.No.5:
Write at least two disadvantages of living near plate boundaries.​

Answer 1

There are 5 famous major mass extinctions in Earth’s recent history in which ~75%-96% of all existing life was wiped out. Tectonic plates likely played a role in all of them, and are directly blamed for 2–3 of them: the Permian-Triassic extinction, the Triassic-Jurassic extinction, and the Late Devonian extinction all had major volcanic eruptions accompanying them. These volcanic events are sometimes called trap volcanism, and they leave giant flood basalt deposits. (Such extreme volcanism is caused by tectonic plate movement).

One of the most dramatic events in Earth history, the slightly controversial “Snowball Earth” event, during which the Earth was completely encased in a thick layer of ice (tens of meters to kilometers thick), was likely caused by the arrangement of the tectonic plates. A bunch of small mid-latitude (tropical) continents is one of the most likely causes of snowball earth. This continental configuration allows rapid silicate weathering because of large coastlines, and higher precipitation due to a warmer tropical location. Also continents have a higher albedo than the ocean - they reflect more of the sun’s energy back into space. These feedback loops caused a runaway cooldown effect, freezing the Earth for an estimated millions of years.

So tectonic plates give us a climate in which we can survive, and they also can destabilize that climate and make it deadly for us.