Exploring Taiwan---Taiwan Is Alive How does it feel like to live on a floating plate, unaware of probable earthquakes and tectonic movements? I understood how it feels like because I live in Taiwan! After an introduction to the geology of Taiwan, I found Taiwan a really active and dynamic island. This reminded me of an article I read on New York Times years ago; it titled: Taiwan Moves Closer to Mainland, Pulled by Forces That Molded Its Mountains. In the article, there were a research team built by three groups of geologists from three countries—Taiwan, United States of America and Japan. In order to learn the process of mountain building on Taiwan islands, they used seismic monitoring device and computer graphing to track the movement of tectonic plates. Such research found one of the facts that Taiwan is actually moving closer to Mainland China! Not to mention that Taiwan is growing taller and taller where our mountains has been rising above sea levels since 60 million years ago. I cannot help but wonder if Taiwan Island would join the Eurasia millions years after! Despite my fantasy of walking across Taiwan Strait to Eurasia many years after, it is amazing to learn that there are actually “underground” forces pushing and pulling Taiwan islands by millimeters every second. The most apparent connection between these forces and our lives on the island is earthquakes and volcanic activity. First, through my life until now, I have experienced at least thousand times of felt and unfelt earthquakes. The most recognizable one is 921 earthquake. My knowledge told me that to unleash an earthquake may take several years of energy accumulation. If lucky, a fault release its energy by small amount periodically, it is less likely to encounter a huge magnitude of earthquake; if not, energy may burst out creating a huge earthquake. Besides earthquakes, volcanoes are spotted around Taiwan Island and surrounded islets. On e of the famous volcanoes to the local and tourists is, namely, Tatun volcanic area lay in Yan Ming Shan. They are a group of volcanoes scattered around Taipei basin; and still, they are active volcanoes. The volcanic rocks comprise andesite; and, on the verge of Tatun volcanoes there are faults creating cracks beneath the ground, and vaporized gases are forced out from the nozzle on the surface. Geothermal heat heats up the water from cracks, and thus creating a captivating landscape--hot springs. The landscape and phenomenon mentioned above are amazingly fully or partly related to tectonic movements! How will Taiwan Island becomes in the future? Regarding of the tectonic effect, our mountain theoretically will rise higher and higher where its growth is measurable. The major force that pushes us is the Philippine Sea plate; it moves toward northwest at a speed of 7 to 8 centimeters pre year. This movement not only piles up our mountains but pushes Coastal Mountain toward Central Mountain Range. One day, as in theory, two mountains might crash together, and the East Rift Valley will vanish eventually. Besides Taiwan Island, the surrounded islets, such as Penghu, Lyu Island, and Small Ryukyu Islands, is formed due to geological activities. Some are volcanic islands, and some are made of coral reef, and still some are made of granite. I can feel the vitality of the earth now, because it creates the splendid landscapes on the ground via plates’ movements. It is so slow that I barely notice until it reminds me of its existence when the day an earthquake comes, when I soaked in a hot spring, and when I admire the magnificent mountains.

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