Geol 111
Marine organisms preserve the current oxygen-isotope ratio in their _______________.
shells
The background in the painting, The Scream, by Edvard Munch is evidence of what?
the high amount of sulfur dioxide put into the atmosphere by the eruption of Krakatau in 1883.
Approximately 40,000 people died as a result of the 1883 eruption of Krakatau. What were the two volcanic hazards responsible for these deaths?
tsunamis and pyroclastic flows
A transform plate boundary involves
two plates sliding laterally past each other.
The sun's peak radiation is in the _______ part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
visible light
As a result of mass movements on the slope above the Vajont Dam, _______.
water levels in the reservoir were raised and lowered several times in an attempt to reach hydraulic equilibrium between the water level in the reservoir and the nearby rocks.
When is a large natural event such as a major earthquake not considered a disaster?
when it happens in an area without any people
Why is it warmer in the northern hemisphere in July than it is in December?
The sun's rays shine more directly on the northern hemisphere in the summer than in the winter.
In a single year, which of the following is the largest emitter of carbon dioxide into Earth's atmosphere?
coal-fired power plants
The effect of aerosols can be best described as ____.
reflecting sunlight and cooling the atmosphere
Seismic waves are used to determine that the interior of the Earth is divided into layers of rock with different properties. Seismic waves will accelerate or slow down depending on the density of the material they're traveling through. When seismic waves reach the boundary between two layers, some waves will also reflect (bounce) off that boundary and some will refract (bend) at the boundary.
1- Accelerate 2- Density 3- Reflect 4- Refract
Which of these conditions will cause a rock to melt? Increase in temperature with pressure remaining the same High water content Decrease in pressure with temperature remaining the same
1- Increase in temperature with pressure remaining the same 2- High water content 3- Decrease in pressure with temperature remaining the same
Between 20,000 - 800,000 years ago, there were several ice ages (periods of global cooling interspersed with periods of warming). During these extended periods of cooling (we call these glaciations), ice advanced over the land and CO2 concentrations decreased. During warming periods (we call these interglacials) atmospheric CO2 concentrations increased. What was the average atmospheric CO2 concentration during the ice ages?
185 ppm
Approximately what year did CO2 levels start to noticeably increase from the pre-industrial levels? This part of the animation moves quickly so you will have to pause and rewind.
1850
Review the portion of the animation that spans the hundreds of thousands of years before industrialization (between the year 1800 and 800,000 BCE). What is the largest amount of atmospheric CO2 during that time?
300 ppm
How many states were directly affected by the 1993 Flood?
9
The wetlands surrounding New Orleans are rapidly disappearing. Why?
A and B
It was assumed that Yellowstone's heat source was an extinct volcano. What event made scientists realize that Yellowstone was still active and prompted them to take a closer look at the seismic activity of the national park?
A large earthquake in Yellowstone National Park in 1959.
1. [A] crust is denser and thinner than (B] crust.2. The [C] is the weak layer in the mantle that allows the tectonic plates to slip, collide, and separate.3. Oceanic lithosphere is created at [D] and returns to the mantle at [E].4. At convergent plate boundaries, the subducting oceanic plate grinds along the base of the overriding plate, generating large [F].
A- Oceanic B- Continental C- Asthenosphere D- Mid-Ocean Ridges E- Subduction Zones F- Earthquakes
What was the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere on January, 2019?
411
What is the elevation of the city of New Orleans?
7-10 feet below sea level
Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels increase every year but there are large annual fluctuations in the northern mid-latitudes (red dot/line) but not in the southern high latitudes (blue dot/line). What causes this oscillation?
Carbon dioxide level change with the seasons primarily due to photosynthesis.
Which town's levee failure was credited with saving St Louis, Missouri from flooding.
Columbia, IL
Earthquakes associated with reverse faulting results in crustal shortening, which is generally found at which type of boundary?
Convergent
Earthquakes associated with normal faulting cause the extension of Earth's crust. This type of faulting is generally associated with which type of plate boundary?
Divergent
Match the three major types of plate boundaries to the motion at those boundaries.
Divergent Plate Boundary- The plates are moving away from each other at mid-ocean ridges Convergent Plate Boundary- The plates are colliding with each other Transform Plate Boundary- The edges of the plate slide past each other
Which agency manages the rivers, dams, and levees in the United States.?
Army Corp of Engineers
All the engineering structures below are used to alter or slow coastal wave erosion except...
levee
When pore spaces in sediment becomes saturated with water, the sediment loses strength and cohesion. This phenomenon is called __________.
liquifaction
Earth's active volcanoes are found at convergent boundaries, divergent boundaries, and transform fault boundaries.
False
The Great Tohoku earthquake occurred without any warning.
False
The Hawaiian Islands are a volcanic arc atop an oceanic subduction zone.
False
What was unique about the 2014 Oso Landslide?
Given the height of the slope, the slide debris traveled 5 times farther than it should have.
Why does the intensity map for the Dec. 16, 1811, earthquake not show any intensities on the west side of the map?
Intensities are not shown on the west side of the map because the population of European settlers in that part of the U.S. was sparse.
Select all the methods used to mitigate or reduce the impact of natural hazards to people.
Land use planning, public education, insurance
After the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over New Orleans, why did the flood waters continue to rise in the low-lying areas of the city?
Levee along two canals failed and water from Lake Ponchartrain drained into the city center.
How does pahoehoe lava differ from aa lava?
Pahoehoe is ropy-looking, and aa is clinkery.
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was reported to have a moment magnitude of Mw7.1. What is the difference in the moment magnitude (Mw) and the Richter magnitude (M)?
The Richter magnitude is based on the highest amplitude of seismic waves measured on a seismogram, whereas the moment magnitude takes into account the area of rupture, the amount of movement along the fault, and the strength of the rocks that ruptured.
Which of the following statements is NOT true with respect to Earth's mechanical layers?
The lithosphere encompasses the crust and the upper part of the asthenosphere.
Why is Yellowstone's supervolcano so explosive?
The magma beneath Yellowstone is full of gas and very viscous because it is silica-rich.
Which of the following was the main reason why most scientists did not believe in the concept of continental drift?
The originator of the concept of continental drift did not adequately explain how the continents could separate from Pangaea.
What was the origin of the pumice rafts associated with the 1883 eruption of Krakatau?
The pumice rafts formed when hot ash from pyroclastic flows encountered cold seawater.
Which of the following did not occur as a result of the eruption of Krakatau?
The sound of the explosions could be heard as far away as San Francisco, California.
Which of the following is not true with respect to the strongest aftershock during the 1811-1812 earthquakes?
The strongest aftershock caused the formation of the bluffs along the Missouri River near Council Bluffs, Iowa.
The terms 'tsunami' and 'tidal wave' mean the same thing and are interchangeable when discussing a seismic sea wave.
False
Where in North America are sinkholes most prevalent and why?
Florida, because it is almost all limestone and has abundant groundwater
Which of the following is the major driving force in all mass movements?
Gravity
The most recent supervolcano to erupt was _________ and it occurred ________ years ago. This volcano may have nearly ended human life on earth.
Toba; 74,000
Which proxy records are used in the NOAA CarbonTracker reconstruction of the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations before modern direct measurements and monitoring stations?
Ice cores
Natural gas was the largest source of electricity/power generation in the United States in 2016.
True
When the Dec. 16, 1811 New Madrid earthquake occurred, people as far away as New York and South Carolina felt the shaking.
True
Why did the 17th Street and London Street canals fail?
Water soaked into the underlying peat layer and weakened the soft sediments beneath the levee wall.
An unstable marine sediment with a disorganized structure that can flow like water if disturbed is called _________.
quick clay
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
Other than limestone, what types of rocks are soluble in water and can form cavities that collapse?
salt and gypsum
What is the principal difference between the inner core and outer core?
the inner core is solid while the outer core is liquid
What does the Richter Magnitude Scale depend on?
the maximum amplitude of earthquake waves on a seismograph
Which of the following would be a modern analogy to the Reelfoot Rift when it was active?
the triple junction centered around the Afar Triangle in northeast Africa.
When waves approach the shore and enter shallow water
the waves slow down and the wave height increases
Based upon the Modified Mercalli Shake Map, the highest intensity estimated for the New Madrid December 16, 1811 earthquake was _____.
X+
What is Yellowstone?
Yellowstone is a caldera that overlies an active magma chamber.
What is the source of Yellowstone's volcanism?
Yellowstone sits on a hotspot.
The boundary between the Gonave microplate and the Caribbean plate is _____.
a strike slip fault.
Why are seacliffs so prone to erosion?
seacliffs are exposed to wave action, and they are also steep slopes, which can make them susceptible to landslides
Why does a delta form when a river meets the ocean?
All the above
Which of the following volcanoes formed over a hot spot?
Kilauea (Hawaii)
What do the red and blue dots represent on the graph and small map?
NOAA observatory stations
Which of the following is not true with respect to the San Andreas fault?
The San Andreas fault represents the convergent boundary between the North American and the Pacific plates.
A rapid retreat of the shoreline can indicate a tsunami wave is imminent.
True
Like all hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean, Hurricane Katrina began as _____.
a storm off the west coast of Africa.
Why are the impacts of coastal hazards such as erosion, storm surge, and flooding so great?
because densely populated areas are located at or near the coasts
Which type or types of seismic waves can travel through the mantle of the Earth and be recorded by seismographs?
both P and S waves
What contains the largest reservoir of carbon?
carbonate rock
How might global warming exacerbate coastal hazards?
global warming is accompanied by sea level rise
Select the 3 ENGINEERING flood-control methods.
-Channelization -Levees -Dams
When Charles Keeling began monitoring CO2 at the Mauna Loa Observatory in 1960, he recorded CO2 levels at around 320 ppm. Calculate the rate of change in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels between 1960 and 2017?
1.5 ppm/yr
Increases in precipitation lead to increased landslide risk. On average, how many landslide-related deaths occur in Nepal during each monsoon season?
100
The October 1963 Vajont Dam landslide killed around 2,500 people. How long did it take for the mass movement to flow out of the reservoir, over the dam, and into the valley below?
12 minutes
After scientists installed seismographs, how many earthquakes per week did they record?
25
From the time the siren went off and the tsunami hit the city of Sendai, how long did the residents of Sendai have to evacuate to higher ground before the tsunami hit?
3 minutes
An unusually wet summer was the primary cause of the 1993 Flood. The jet stream became locked over the midwest and ____ inches of rain fell over ____ months.
30, 6
Over the last 800,000 years before industrialization (between the year 1800 and 800,000 BCE), when was the largest peak of CO2?
325,000 yrs ago
According to the video, how many people died in the Oso Landslide?
43
How many states in the United States are affected by landslides
50
During the 1993 flood, Quincey, Illinois experienced flooding at the ________ recurrence interval.
500 years
The 1993 Flood had a recurrence interval of ______.
500 years
What would the Volcanic Explosivity Index be if Yellowstone erupts?
8
The Japanese islands formed from a volcanic island arc. At convergent ocean - ocean boundaries volcanoes form when the subducted plate is at what depth?
80 - 100 km
Which of the following did not occur during the Dec. 16, 1811, New Madrid earthquake?
Downed power lines caused numerous small fires along the Mississippi River.
Due to the force of the water that hit the Vajont Dam, the dam itself sustained severe damage.
False
The October 1963 Vajont Dam landslide occurred without any warning.
False
The Reelfoot Rift formed when the supercontinent of Pangaea began to split apart around 700 million years ago.
False
If you are at the beach and feel a large earthquake, what should you do, and when should you do it?
Immediately run up slope as far as possible.
Eye witness accounts reported that the Mississippi River flowed backward during at least one of the larger earthquakes during the New Madrid 1811-1812 earthquake swarm. What is the best explanation for why the river 'flowed backward?'
Intense shaking along the river caused water to bounce from one side of the river to the other. This formed waves that flowed upriver, making it appear that the river was flowing backwards.
Which earthquake waves travel the fastest and are felt first and appear first on a seismogram?
P waves
Which town's levee withstood the flood?
Prairie du Rocher, IL
Besides wind, what is the biggest hazard from hurricanes?
Storm surge
What is the tectonic reason for the Sunda Strait?
The Sunda Strait formed as a result of the wrenching motion caused by the north-northeast motion of the island of Sumatra and the east motion of the island of Java.
What caused the Industrial Canal & Intercoastal Waterway levees to fail?
The storm surge sent a huge wave of water up the Intercoastal Waterway, over-topping the canal walls and scouring away the earthen levees.
Why would a home built on the floodplain behind a levee be safe from flooding?
This statement is not true.
In a coastal area, why build a groin? (a series of groins are shown in the picture)
To stop longshore drift and trap sand to extend the beach.
Major eruptions of volcanoes emit large amounts of CO2 and CH4, but their total contribution to atmospheric carbon levels is small.
True
The island of Hispaniola, which Haiti is a part of, has a history of devastating earthquakes.
True
The theory of continental drift did not explain how the continents separated from a single landmass and thus replaced by the theory of plate tectonics in the 1960s
True
Volcanoes with high silica magmas generally have more explosive eruptions than those with lower silica magmas.
True
Beach nourishment _______________.
a coastal engineering method that replenishes the sand to provide a recreation beach and helps protect coastal properties from erosion by widening the beach
The point along a fault where movement first occurs during an earthquake is called the earthquake's ______.
focus
Landslides associated with the 2010 Haiti earthquake were
found mostly on slopes steepened at their base by road construction.
What is the primary cause of landslides
gravity exceeds strength of the slope
A strike-slip fault has what type of motion?
horizontal
The Great Tohoku earthquake occurred _______.
in the Japan trench subduction zone.
As a tsunami approaches land, the height of a tsunami wave ____.
increases primarily because the water depth and velocity decreases.
We can see the correlation between the start of industrialization (increasing manufacturing) and the increasing CO2 levels. What activity related to industrialization would add increasingly large amounts of CO2 to the atmosphere?
increasing use of fossil fuels
How do impermeable surfaces (ie: concrete) from urbanization affect runoff and flooding?
it increases runoff and decreases the time between the precipitation event and the water reaching the stream.
All the engineering approaches below are put in place to prevent a river from flooding except...
jetties
Unlike regular ocean waves, tsunami waves are different because they ____.
move much faster
The massive loss of life in the 2010 Haiti earthquake was primarily due to _____.
poor construction and lack of attention to building design in residential homes.
When you watch the segment for 1979-2011, you'll see the CO2 levels fluctuate (most dramatically at monitoring stations in the northern mid and low latitudes - around the equator) during each year. Why is this?
seasonal changes in vegetation photosynthesis
Which of the following does NOT affect the amount of runoff from a precipitation event?
shape of the stream
The Great Tohoku earthquake occurred as a result of ______.
subduction of the Pacific plate under the North American plate.
What are two main causes of tsunami?
subduction-zone earthquakes and landslide into the ocean
The 1811-1812 New Madrid earthquakes were different from most California earthquakes because
the New Madrid earthquakes were centered in a plate interior
Using LIDAR mapping and carbon dating, geologists found evidence that _______.
the area around Oso had a history of landslides
The recurrence interval for a flood of a given magnitude is defined as...
the average number of years between occurrences of a flood of that magnitude or greater.
How did mountain ranges like the Himalayas, Alps, and Appalachians form?
they all formed along continent-continent convergent plate boundaries
Which of the following is NOT a common reason cited for building large dams on rivers?
to raise groundwater levels
What are the two most abundant gases in magmas?
water vapor and carbon dioxide
Yellowstone's most recent eruption was _______. There is evidence that Yellowstone has errupted _____ in the last 2.3 million years.
~600,000 years ago, 3 times
Approximately when did the rapid increase in human-produced atmospheric CO2 begin?
1800s
The meteorologist who originally proposed the idea of continents being able to move around on Earth's surface was _____.
Alfred Wegener
The force of the October 1963 Vajont landslide was enough to _____.
All of the above are results of the 1963 Vajont Dam landslide.
What makes Houston susceptible to flooding?
All the above
Which is true of sinkholes?
All the above
Which does NOT control the characteristics or shape of a coastline
dominant wind direction
On average, more people die from which type of natural disaster than any other?
flash floods and flooding
What aspect of tropical cyclones tends to cause the greatest death and destruction
flooding from rain, waves, and storm surge
One of the geologists listed some potential precursors to a Yellowstone eruption. The precursors he listed are earthquake swarms, heating of the ground, increasing hydrothermal events, and _____.
ground uplift.
What keeps a stream flowing year-round, even though it may not rain for many months?
groundwater seepage from the adjacent ground into the stream
Most of Earth's active volcanoes are found _____.
in the Ring of Fire.
Over the last 30 years, hurricanes have become more ______ due to _______.
intense, warmer ocean temperatures
Select all the things that can occur BEFORE a catastrophic landslide.
- Extensional cracks near the top of a slope - Slumping of soils and sediments on a slope - Small Landslides
Select all the factors that contributed to the destabilization of the slope and led to the 2014 landslide.
- Higher than average precipitation -Undercutting of the slope by the Stillaguamish River -Slope composed of glacial sediments with high porosity
Based upon knowledge of landslide physics, where did geologists direct rescue workers to search for survivors?
At the distal edge of the slide
In what way can the construction of dams and levees INCREASE flood damage (both loss of property and life) on a floodplain?
by giving a false sense of security that encourages building and living on the floodplain
If a 100-year flood occurred this year, when is the next 100-year flood possible?
anytime
Select all the engineering systems or structures mentioned in the video that were put in place in New Orleans to deal with potential flooding.
-Levees -Flood walls -Pumps -Drainage Canals
Select the 3 methods inspired by the 1993 Flood to prevent future damage and loss from flooding.
-Returning agricultural land to natural wetlands -Leaving crop residue on the land to reduce soil and erosion and run-off -Elevating homes above flood level
In the spring of 2003, some unusual events occurred in Yellowstone that caused some to worry that Yellowstone might erupt. Select the 3 events that occurred in 2003.
-The ground heated up and cracks opened up -A pack of bison died from poisonous gas -Streamboat Geyser, a geyser that can be dormant for up to 50 years, began erupting
In the days preceding Hurricane Katrina, many people decide to stay in New Orleans even though they were instructed to evacuate. Why did some people stay in the city? (select all the reasons given in the video)
-They were elderly or sick -They did not have transportation -They had survive previous hurricanes without evacuating
Mass wasting or slope failures include _____.
All of the above
A tsunami may occur when _____.
All of the above have the potential to cause a tsunami.
What was (were) the cause(s) of the La Conchita mudslides of 1995 and 2005?
All of the above.
The Dec. 16, 1811 earthquake ________.
all of the above. -Occurred without warning -Was accompanied by a loud roaring noise -Was felt as far away as Quebec
Eruptions dominated by basalt compositions are found where?
along divergent boundaries at mid-oceanic ridges
Greenhouse gases include all of the following. Which gas is thought to have the greatest effect on global warming or increasing global temperatures?
carbon dioxide