Plate Tectonics

   

 Venezuela is on the northern coast of South America, so it falls into two tectonic plate boundaries; the South American plate and the Caribbean plate. The Caribbean plate is an oceanic plate right above the South American plate. The type of plate boundary is a convergent (subduction). The ocean plates sink beneath the continental plate, which causes many natural disasters for Venezuela like Earthquakes and flooding. According to Volcano Discovery, "in 2021, Venezuela was shaken by 7 quakes of magnitude 5.0 or above, 75 quakes between 4.0 and 5.0, 305 quakes between 3.0 and 4.0, and 254 quakes between 2.0 and 3.0. There were also 9 quakes below magnitude 2.0 which people don't normally feel." That's a total of 650 earthquakes in one year! According to Dr. Stephen Hicks, "Venezuela is one of the largest ever recorded earthquakes along the boundary between the Caribbean & South American plates."  

Convergent plate boundaries occur where plates move toward each other. When this happens, the oceanic plate must descend under the continental plate because the continental crust is too low to allow the oceanic plate to sink below into the asthenosphere. These plate boundaries create landforms, like the Andes Mountains which parts of it are actually located in Venezuela.

Keller, Edward A., Duane DeVecchio. Natural Hazards: Earth's Processes as Hazards, Disasters, and Catastrophes, 4th Edition. Pearson, 2015.

https://twitter.com/seismo_steve/status/1032033529998311424

https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/earthquakes/venezuela/archive/2021.html

https://venezuelakuehnelm.weebly.com/environment.html#:~:text=Venezuela%20lies%20in%20two%20different,plates%20is%20a%20convergent%20boundary.