Geol 105

What would be the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere without the greenhouse effect?

0 Degrees F

One of the greatest weather disasters in U.S. history occurred during the ________, when several years of drought turned grain-growing areas in the center of the nation into the "Dust Bowl."

1930s

What percent of the Earth's water is contained within ice sheets, snow fields and glaciers?

2.15%

California accounts for _______ of all U.S. earthquakes of magnitude 3.5 and above.

23%

At what time of day will the albedo for a region be highest?

4:00 PM

How fast do tornadoes move along the ground?

50 to 80 km per hour

If the density of ocean crust near the edge of a continent is 3 g/cm3 and the density of the mantle is 3.3 g/cm3, how much will the ocean crust submerge into the mantle? Give your answer in terms of percentage.

90%

Which of the following states has the lowest earthquake risk?

Florida

The December 26, 2004 Indonesian earthquake occurred:

From subduction of the Indian-Australian plate

The best-known successful prediction of a major earthquake was where and when?

Haicheng, China, in 1975

__________ eruptions are the most violent types of explosive eruptions.

Plinian-type

Welded tuffs form from:

Pyroclastic flows

Which of the following situations would be not be considered a type of mitigation?

Refurbishing and reoccupying areas that have had a natural disaster.

During industrialization, many mistakes were made by building without considering the effects on nature. Which of the following is NOT one of them?

Towns were built on higher terraces for protection.

Which of the following is the most important reservoir for heat?

Water

Which gas contributes the most greenhouse gas warming?

Water vapor

In the northern hemisphere, ocean-wide currents in the Atlantic and the Pacific move ____.

clockwise in the Atlantic and clockwise in the Pacific

The main cause of caldera collapse is:

collapse of the roof of a magma chamber as magma erupts

Which of the following volcanoes would you expect to find at a subduction zone?

composite

The lithosphere is _____________ than the asthenosphere:

cooler and more rigid

Hurricanes rotate in a ________________ around a central core in the Northern Hemisphere.

counterclockwise direction

The stability of a hillslope is improved by __________________.

decreasing the weight of hillslope materials

Several geologic phenomena are being studied as signs of an impending volcanic eruption. These include seismic waves, ________________, and the release of gases.

deformation

Natural disasters generally involve which of the following?

events that involve overlapping natural causes

Which of the following would decrease slope stability and possibly lead to a landslide?

excavating the toe (bottom) of a slope to make a flat area.

The flow of carbon between sites of storage is known as _____________.

flux

People live in dangerous areas for what reasons?

for the views because of cheap land because the land is fertile for proximity to recreational opportunities

What is probably the least expensive approach for avoiding shoreline hazards?

forbid the building of houses or other structures in high-risk areas

What is one reason why the East Coast is experiencing severe shoreline retreat?

global sea level is rising while East Coast shorelines are subsiding.

What keeps a stream flowing year-round, even though it may not rain for many months?

groundwater flow from the adjacent ground into the stream

Which of the following would NOT be a good idea in an area that has a high risk for earthquakes?

have many new buildings be made of rigid concrete or masonry

What factors most affect the energy of a wave impacting the shore?

height of the wave and wave length

Which of the following would NOT result from impact of a large asteroid on Earth?

high radioactivity in the crater

Lava domes that grow in the central pipes of composite volcanoes like Mt. St. Helens are dangerous because they consist of lava that is:

high viscosity and high in silica

What kind of material is most likely to fall in a rotational slide?

homogeneous, cohesive materials

Comets are composed of _____________________.

ice and rocky debris

Which of the following techniques are NOT used to fight fires?

igniting a fire close to the wildfire to burn the area between it and the wildfire

Wildfires are beneficial to forests in all of the following ways EXCEPT:

improving views

Where, east of California, are the most frequent earthquakes?

in Utah and eastern Idaho

Which of the following would be the safest place to be in an earthquake?

in a frame (wood) house

The net flux of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere has been ____________ since 1958.

increasing

Which of the following is the most common cause of river and stream flooding?

intense precipitation

The eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991 endangered people, animals, and property because of ____________________.

lahars and pyroclastic flows

Catastrophic natural disaster losses in developed countries involve which of the following?

large financial costs to individuals and companies

Evidence for the impact that occurred near Chicxulub, Mexico, includes all but which of the following?

large pieces of meteorite found in Mexico

What could cause a region to be higher in elevation than an average part of a continent?

less dense continental crust

Catastrophic subsidence into sinkholes tends to occur more often in areas underlain by _______________.

limestones

Shaking during an earthquake can

liquefy unconsolidated sediments, causing destruction of buildings on top of them. generate a tsunami. trigger landslides. cause rigid buildings to collapse.

Which form of radiation enters the atmosphere?

long wavelength

The temperature of the atmosphere only rises until greenhouse gases absorb a maximum amount of:

long wavelength radiation

Earthquake-induced ground motions cause buildings to sway at certain periods. In general, the taller the structure, the _______ the period.

longer

Which of the following is NOT an approach communities have tried to address shoreline problems?

lowering the local sea level

Which of the following Earth layers is the thickest?

mantle

Which of the following is most likely associated with a divergent plate boundary?

mid-ocean ridge

Since 1988, federal policy has shifted to emphasize __________.

mitigation

The costs of catastrophic events continue to increase primarily because __________.

more people are moving into more hazardous areas

Earthquakes in Hawaii are mostly related to __________________.

moving magma beneath the ground

Which of the following places did NOT experience a major earthquake?

All of these places experienced major earthquakes: Northridge area of Los Angeles MexicoCity Charleston, South Carolina New Madrid, Missouri

Which of the following states has the highest earthquake risk?

Arkansas

The deepest parts of the seafloor are:

oceanic trenches

When a meteorite large enough to cause a crater hits the Earth, the size of the impact crater is __________________.

often 10-20 times the diameter of the meteorite

The danger of (northern hemisphere) storm surge is most extreme _____________ of a hurricane, due to the forward motion of the storm motion and the direction of rotating winds.

on the front-right side

Wave orbits decrease in size with depth, and motion is essentially gone at a depth of _____

one half wavelength

Which of the following would NOT be typical of a composite volcano?

pahoehoe lava

Areas of cities that are subjected to significant natural hazards should be used for which of the following?

parks and golf courses

The highest death tolls from earthquakes are generally due to

people living in areas with high risks for earthquakes. high population densities. substandard construction practices.

Which of the following would NOT minimize fire danger to houses for people living in the woods?

piling firewood next to the house

Basaltic lava that erupts along a midocean ridge forms:

pillow basalts

One way in which water CANNOT be removed from a wet slope that may slide is to ____.

place a load on the slope to squeeze water out of it

What process results in flux of carbon dioxide into soil?

plant decay

Which of the following always decreases as we go upward in the atmosphere?

pressure

Which of the following does NOT lead to formation of sinkholes?

pumping waste fluids into the ground for disposal

Greenhouse gases include all of the following except ____.

radon

Most natural disasters are which of the following?

rarely if ever cyclic because there are too many overlapping effects

Population increase is susceptible to a cruel feedback loop that __________.

reduces population to sustainable levels

Because of varying topography and angle of wave approach, waves bend as they approach the shore, a process known as wave ___________________.

refraction

If a stream experiences more energetic water flow, the stream _____________________.

responds by increasing the sinuosity of its channel pattern through meandering

Which of the following greenhouse gases accounts for 60% of global warming?

Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

In addition to Meteor Crater in Arizona, there is evidence that a meteorite impact occurred in:

Chesapeake Bay

Why would astronomers have difficulty spotting a large incoming asteroid headed for Earth?

Coming in directly, it remains in position in space, so astronomers cannot see its trajectory.

Explain the cause of earthquake hazards in Western Nevada:

Continent-continent extension

The greatest number of large magnitude earthquakes occur at:

Convergent Boundaries

Compared to the other layers of earth, the crust is:

Cool and less dense than the mantle

When approaching the Western Hemisphere, hurricanes commonly move north on clockwise-curving paths due to the ___________________.

Coriolis effect

Usually, the biggest concern in designing buildings to withstand large earthquakes is the ____________ components of movement.

sideways push from the horizontal

The main reason Santa Ana winds are warm is because ____.

sinking air warms by compression

The air in the eye of a hurricane ________________________.

sinks, warms, and absorbs moisture, leaving the core clear and cloud-free

Which type of surface would have the highest albedo?

snow

Sediment may build up off a point of land to form a _____.

spit

Most of the really large earthquakes in the world are due to ______________________.

subduction

Earthquake-related tsunami are created by sub-sea fault movements with pronounced vertical offsets of the sea floor. Such movements occur most commonly along ____________________.

subduction zones

Which type of earthquake waves shake with the largest amplitudes (largest range of motion)?

surface waves

Which waves have the lowest frequencies?

surface waves

Earthquake moment is calculated by multiplying all but which of the following quantities together?

the amplitude of the largest seismic wave

A hurricane is defined as a large area of sustained winds greater than 74 miles per hour. This is the wind speed at which ________________________.

the center of the storm develops a calm area known as the eye

Many of the deaths at Mt. St. Helens on May 18, 1980 were related to __________________.

the effects of lateral blast

What is "cohesion" as applied to slope failure?

the holding together of otherwise loose grains on a slope, often by a little moisture

The frequency of a wave is ____________________.

the number of waves passing a given point per unit time

What is the angle of repose?

the steepest angle at which loose material remains stable

The size of clasts that a river can carry is primarily controlled by:

the velocity and turbulence of the current

A hydrograph is a plot of ___________________.

the volume of water or stream-surface height versus time

A hurricane acts as a heat engine, transferring heat from __________________________.

the warm, moist air above tropical seas into the core of the hurricane

The energy that moves sand along a beach ultimately comes from _____.

the wind

How do most oceanic plateaus form?

they are constructed by volcanic eruptions probably over mantle plumes

How do most oceanic islands and seamounts form?

they are constructed by volcanic eruptions that first occur under water

The southern San Andreas fault near Los Angeles is considered a candidate for a major earthquake because

this segment of the fault has not moved for more than 100 years.

The large left step in the San Andreas fault in the Los Angeles area causes east-west-oriented ________ faults.

thrust

Analysis of a seismogram record allows seismologists to do all but which of the following?

to develop a Modified Mercalli Intensity map

How do sand dunes help maintain sand on a beach?

Eroding dune sand spreads over the beach and takes up wave energy

What are the world-wide trends in fatalities, people affected and numbers of natural disasters reported over the last century? Select all that apply.

Fatalities are decreasing More people are being affected The number of natural disasters being reported is increasing

"Hard" solutions to natural disasters do NOT include:

updating zoning laws.

Which of the following would NOT follow impact of a large asteroid on Earth?

vaporization of much of Earth's oceans

Which of these natural hazards causes the LEAST amount of fatalities in the United States annually?

volcanoes

What are Chinook winds?

warm, dry, downslope winds

Most of the gas released during a volcanic eruption is ___.

water vapor

Which of the following is true about how shorelines are affected from the water side?

waves can erode, deposit, or simply transport sediment

When is a large event such as a major earthquake not a disaster? population subsists on less than $2 per day

when it happens in an area without any people

If a 100-year floodplain was flooded in 2003, when should we expect the next 100-year flood?

anytime

Coastal communities don't try to educate visitors and new residents about natural hazards in their areas because they view such information as __________

bad for business

The crust beneath the world's oceans is:

basalt

Asteroids lie mostly ____________________.

between the inner and outer planets

The 17 January 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles was generated on a _______ thrust fault.

blind

Which of the following is the best answer for a "soft" solution?

both zoning to prevent building in certain areas and strict building codes

Which of the following is the best option for describing mitigation?

building in accordance with nature, in safe areas out of harm's way

The Vaiont dam disaster in Italy in 1963 was caused by _______________________.

A.Sedimentary rock layers folded into a trough-like configuration (syncline) with daylighted beds on each side of the river valley B.water filling the reservoir and saturating the rocks at the top of the slopes, causing elevated pore-water pressures C.the presence of old slide surfaces in the rocks, along with some rock layers containing thin seams of weak clays D.limestone in the hills with numerous caverns dissolved into it

Why are floods so common along the Red River of the North (in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota)?

A.The Red River valley is geologically young (about 9000 years old) and has not carved a deep valley. B.The gradient or slope of the riverbed is very low. C.River flow increases as winter snow melts and meltwater runs northward into still frozen parts of the river.

Why does the magma from some volcanoes flow smoothly and relatively peacefully, while the magma from other volcanoes blasts forth violently and deals death over wide areas?

A.The tectonic setting of explosive volcanoes is different than non-explosive volcanoes. B.The composition of magma of explosive volcanoes is different than non-explosive volcanoes. C.The temperature, gas content, and viscosity of explosive magmas is different than non-explosive magmas

A negative of groins, jetties, sea walls and break waters is:

A.They are expensive to install. B.They all eventually cause erosion somewhere else. C.They sometimes trap sand where sand is not wanted.

Humans can cause landslides to occur by ________________________.

A.adding fill dirt high on hill slopes to improve the view, thus adding to the driving mass. B.removing material from the base of a slope to widen or clear a road or to form a building lot, thus weakening the resisting mass

Why are US Coastlines eroding?

A.due to rising global sea level B.due to a reduction in the sediment delivered to the shore in rivers C.subsidence of East Coast and Gulf Coast beaches

What types of rocks would be common in a composite volcano?

A.felsic and intermediate lava flows B.pyroclastic rocks from an eruption column C.pyroclastic rocks from pyroclastic flows D.volcanic breccia formed by debris avalanches

What types of internal surfaces are LEAST prone to sliding?

A.planes sloping at somewhat steeper angles than the slope

The largest earthquakes along western North America are due to subduction beneath the continent. They include __________________.

A.the magnitude 9.2 Alaska earthquake in 1964 which was due to subduction of the Pacific plate B.the magnitude 8.1 Mexico City event in 1985 which was caused by subduction of the Cocos plate C.the plates subducting beneath Oregon and Washington which generated a magnitude 9 earthquake on 26 January 1700

The climatic cooling of the last 40 million years has been caused by ____________________.

A.the ongoing breakup of Pangaea into separate continents B.continental masses moving into polar latitudes C.the changing positions of the continents altered circulation patterns within the oceans, thereby changed the distribution of heat around the globe. D.snow and ice accumulating on polar landmasses, increasing albedo

In the US, the highest risk of earthquakes occurs in:

Alaska and the Aleutian Islands

Which of the following evidence does NOT indicate that a barrier island migrated landward?

Barrier island beaches are now more easily eroded than they were one hundred years ago.

Why do you think there is a lag time between peak stream flow and peak rainfall in the following hydrograph of a storm that occurred along a stream?

Because some of the water infiltrates the ground

Hydrographs from urban settings _______________________.

Both show higher rates of runoff than rural settings, for a given precipitation event and show floods are of shorter duration than in rural settings, for a given precipitation event are correct.

What is the historical relationship between atmospheric carbon dioxide concentations and temperature?

Increases in global temperature correlate with increases in carbon dioxide.

How is fire danger or risk now determined over large areas?

Infrared sensors on satellites measure greenness versus average greenness.

Explain the cause for earthquake hazards in Arkansas:

Intraplate movement along the New Madrid Fault

If you erect a barrier for protection against some natural event, what detrimental effect can follow?

It can have detrimental effects on others nearby.

What happens to a barrier island as sea level rises?

It gradually moves landward, rising with rising sea level.

What main changes occur in an El Niño weather pattern?

It rains and storms in northwest Washington and southeastern British Columbia.

Which of the following is true of the 1994 Northridge earthquake in the Los Angeles area?

It was a blind thrust fault tens of miles from the San Andreas Fault.

What are oxbow lakes and how do they form?

Oxbow lakes are cut off meanders, left behind as a flooding stream takes a shorter path downstream.

The asteroid belt, orbiting the sun, contains asteroids in a belt between the orbits of __________.

Mars and Jupiter

A major extraterrestrial impact occurred in ________ at the Cretaceous-Tertiary time boundary.

Mexico

A genuine success story of advance warning before a large eruption occurred in the Philippines in 1991 before the climactic eruption of ___________________.

Mt. Pinatubo

When people or government agencies try to control the activities of natural events, the common result is which of the following?

Our problem with nature is transferred elsewhere, to someone else, or postponed.

The month that historically has more hurricanes than any other month is _________________.

September

You would find the most explosive magmas erupting at:

Subduction zones

Sudden movement on a fault can cause a tsunami when:

The fault suddenly uplifts or downdrops the seafloor

What is the difference between the lithosphere and asthenosphere?

The lithosphere is rigid and brittle while the asthenosphere is weak and plastic

What is the relationship between the size of meteorites and the number of a given size?

There are many small, a moderate number of larger, and few giant meteorites of any given type.

Why do grass, needles, and shrubs burn easier and faster than trees?

They have a large surface area compared with volume of solids.

Where do asteroids originate in space?

They originate in a belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Which of the following is NOT distinctive about a cloud that might develop a tornado?

a dark, stationary cloud with a rounded bulbous top

Which of the following is a condition favoring deposition of sediment?

a decrease in gradient of the stream

Which of the following would NOT be likely if global warming continues?

a general lowering of mean sea level

What is a seismic gap?

a part of an active fault that has not had recent earthquakes

A hot spot is interpreted to have formed from

a rising plume of hot mantle material.

A caldera collapse occurs __________________.

after the magma chamber is mostly empty

The main factors that affect the chance that a slope will fail in a landslide do NOT include ____.

age of the slope

Why are fires more frequent and hotter now than they were several decades ago?

aggressive fire suppression for many decades

Which of the following is the best answer for a "hard" solution?

all except the Ostrich technique

If you wanted to locate hot spots on Earth, which of the following would NOT be good place to look?

all of the above would be good places

Where in the United States and Canada are strong earthquakes most frequent?

along the western fringe of California (onshore)

Much of the San Francisco Marina District is built on artificial fill debris from the buildings ruined by the 1906 earthquake. Seismic waves in 1989 were ____________ in this artificial fill.

amplified

The Charleston, South Carolina, earthquake of 1886 occurred along a seismic belt that may be related to ___________________.

an adjacent oceanic fracture zone on the Atlantic seafloor

The New Madrid earthquakes are apparently related to ________________.

an old buried rift zone