Quiz #2 GEOL Study Guide

Which of the following statements is true regarding tsunami and volcanoes?

Volcanic eruptions can result in tsunami as they explode, collapse, or send debris into the water.

Which state listed below is most likely to have a magnitude 9 or larger earthquake in the next several hundred years?

Washington

In the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, the Marina District building collapses were extensive, and numerous destructive fires broke out, due to all but which one of the following?

Widespread looting and arson

At Hebgen Lake in 1959 an earthquake larger than magnitude 7 greatly affected ____________.

Yellowstone National Park

Earthquake epicenters east of the Rocky Mountains are in random locations and do not cluster in certain areas.

false

The best course of action to take if you suspect a tsunami is headed your way is to __________.

head to higher ground and stay there

Tsunami are created by big "splashes" made in the deep ocean by all but which of the following?

hurricanes

Constraining bends in large strike-slip faults commonly "lock up"; thus, movements there tend to be __________.

infrequent and large

The crustal thickness in the Great Basin is __________ than mid-continental North American crust.

thicker than oceanic crust and thinner

A series of 5 moderate earthquakes moved northward up to the Calaveras Fault preceded both the large quakes of 1865 and 1868.

true

During the Japanese Tsunami, the seafloor was thrust up 5 m to 8 m (16 feet to 26 feet).

true

New England has a long record of significant earthquakes.

true

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was caused by Earth's third-most powerful earthquake in the last 100 years.

true

The Dead Sea fault zone is an Eastern Hemisphere analogue of the San Andreas Fault in California.

true

The sloshing of a swimming pool during an earthquake is called a seiche.

true

The Japanese Tsunami inflicted destruction along the coast and in Sendai, the wave travelled inland __________.

10 km

Tsunami arrive as a series of several waves separated by periods typically in the _________ range.

10- to 60-minute

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

23%

Regarding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) hopes that they will be able to remove the melted nuclear fuel masses in __________.

30-40 years

Paleoseismologic analysis of trenches cut across faults and folds in the New Madrid, Missouri, area has led the U.S. Geological Survey to forecast a 25% chance of a magnitude __________ earthquake here within the next 50 years.

6 to 7

Tsunami wavelengths can be as great as _________.

780 km

Tsunami are typically about _________ high in the open ocean, and 6 to 15 m high on reaching shallow water.

1 m

If Alaska and California are ignored, the list of 10 largest U.S. earthquakes shows ____________.

10 events affecting at least 10 different states

Most tsunami travel at speeds of _________ miles per hour.

420 to 480

In the last 5.5 million years, rifting action tore Baja California and California west of the San Andreas Fault from the

North American Plate and piggybacked them onto the Pacific Plate

Which of the following states has the lowest earthquake risk?

Florida

On 9 January 1857, the San Andreas fault segment between Cholame and San Bernardino broke loose at its northwestern end, and the rupture propagated southeastward in the great __________ earthquake with a magnitude of about 7.9.

Fort Tejon

The great 1960 Chile earthquake (M 9.5) unleashed a tsunami that killed over 1,000 Chileans. These waves also killed 61 people in Hilo, Hawaii, 14 hours after the earthquake, and another 185 people in ________, 22.5 hours after the earthquake.

Japan

Several recent earthquakes in Washington's Puget Sound region were caused by movement of the subducting ______________ Plate.

Juan de Fuca

The largest historic tsunami wave run-up ever recorded was caused by a massive rockfall into the water at ________________.

Lituya Bay, Alaska

The __________ Rift is the rift below the New Madrid region and is responsible for the seismic activity in the area.

Reelfoot

__________ are the down-dropped areas in the middle of spreading-center domes that are being pulled apart.

Rift valleys

In 1959, the water stored behind Hegben Lake Dam in Montana began to slosh violently back and forth in a series of oscillating waves. These seiches were caused by __________________.

a sudden drop of the lake bottom during an earthquake

The best time for an earthquake to occur to minimize loss of life is __________.

during the night when most people are home and asleep

When a number of earthquakes along in the same general area over the course of a few months or years, the event is referred to as a(n) __________ .

earthquake cluster

Prehistoric earthquakes may be interpreted using faulted pond sediments. The amount of offset of sediment layers from one earthquake is proportional to the ________________.

earthquake magnitude

When rock heats and liquefies into magma its volume _____________.

expands, and neighboring brittle rock must fracture and move out of the way

Earthquakes below Kilauea volcano are dominantly deep events in the mantle.

false

Eastern U.S. damages may be experienced over a smaller area than they would be for an equivalent-sized earthquake in California.

false

Historic earthquakes in the Rio Grande Rift area have had only small to moderate magnitudes, but the continental lithosphere continues to compress and shorten, thus presenting a real hazard for large earthquakes.

false

Iceland is built on a mature spreading center that has been opening for the last 100 million years.

false

In 1958, Lituya Bay (AK) witnessed a tsunami resulting from a rockfall of approximately 9 million tons of debris falling 90 meters into the bay.

false

In the San Francisco Bay area, during the nineteenth century, earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 6 were much less common than in the 20th century.

false

In the last 30 million years, the region between the eastern Sierra Nevada in California and the Wasatch Mountain front in central Utah has contracted in an east-west direction, so Nevada is now half of its former width.

false

It is virtually impossible for small ships at sea to survive a passing tsunami.

false

Most of the 131 fatalities from the Good Friday earthquake in Alaska in 1964 were due to fire caused by rupturing of gas lines.

false

Most of the deaths associated with Japanese Tsunami were caused by earthquake collapsed buildings.

false

Much of Utah's population lives within sight of the scarps of the 370-km-long Wasatch Front, the zone of reverse faults separating the mountains from the Great Basin.

false

On 28 October 1983, the Lost River Fault broke free for a magnitude 7.3 MS event, moving Borah Peak, Idaho's highest point, 4 m lower.

false

People always feel the distant earthquakes that form the tsunami that hit their local coastline.

false

People living around Lake Tahoe have to worry about seiches but not tsunami.

false

Removing coral reefs is a good way to reduce the damage caused by tsunami.

false

Spreading ridges produce the largest number of great earthquakes.

false

The English language term tidal wave is a good description of a tsunami because of their relationship to ocean tides.

false

The Imperial Valley sits on an actively closing ocean floor.

false

The New Madrid and San Francisco earthquakes were of similar magnitudes, but the felt area of the New Madrid quakes was much smaller.

false

The San Francisco section of the San Andreas Fault has had an excessive number of earthquakes relative to other parts of the San Andreas Fault.

false

The biggest disasters occur when great earthquakes occur at great depths.

false

The bounding faults on the eastern side of the Great Basin are mostly down to the east, whereas the bounding faults on the western side (in eastern California and western Nevada) are down to the west.

false

The destructive power of a tsunami is due mostly to the great height of the wave.

false

The duration of shaking in 1985 in Mexico City was decreased due to seismic energy being trapped within the soft sediments.

false

The duration of strong ground shaking in the 1964 Alaskan Good Friday earthquake was 70 minutes.

false

The primary cause of deaths in earthquakes in modern times is people being swallowed alive by the ground, rather than by building collapse.

false

The sizes of the felt areas of large earthquakes in North America are always the best indicator of earthquake magnitude.

false

The southernmost segment of the San Andreas Fault, from San Bernardino to the Salton Sea, is a complex zone that has generated several truly large earthquakes in historic times, but it has no locked zones within it.

false

There is little threat of a tsunami striking the East Coast of the United States.

false

There is little threat of a tsunami striking the crowded beaches of Southern California.

false

Thrust faults that do not reach the surface are called dark thrusts.

false

While California has experienced many deadly earthquakes, it has never experienced fatalities from tsunami.

false

In 1964, 12 people were killed during a tsunami at Crescent City, California. All of these fatalities were caused by the _______ wave, which was the highest in the series.

fifth

Tsunami that reach the shallow water slow down due to __________.

friction with the bottom and internal turbulence

The ongoing collision between Asia and the subcontinent of India is resulting in __________.

great earthquakes over a gigantic area

Tsunami is a Japanese word that means __________ waves.

harbor

The Great Basin region between the eastern Sierra Nevada in California and the Wasatch Mountains in Utah ______________________ in response to plate-tectonic forces.

has expanded in an east-west direction

The Pacific Plate subducts along _________ edges and creates enormous earthquakes, such as the 1923 Tokyo seism.

its northern and western

In San Francisco's Marina district in 1989, some fill underwent permanent deformation and settling, and some formed slurries as underground water and loose sediment flowed like a fluid in a process known as __________.

liquefaction

Tsunami typically have _________ relative to wind-blown waves.

long periods and long wavelengths

When compared to California, seismic energy in the eastern U.S. is transmitted __________.

more effectively in the older, more solid rocks

Another class of active faults is created by southern California pushing into the "Big Bend" of the San Andreas Fault; these faults are __________.

mostly east-west-oriented thrust faults (reverse faults)

Earthquakes in Hawaii are mostly related to ________________.

movement of volcanic magma beneath the ground

The dominant type of faulting in the Great Basin region is ______________.

normal faulting

Which of the following states has the highest earthquake risk?

Arkansas

We know that the part of California on the Pacific Plate will not break off in a giant earthquake and sink into the Pacific Ocean because ______________________.

of isostasy

Most earthquakes are explainable using __________.

plate-tectonics theory

In 55 years, from 1962-2017, the more than 156,000 in Iran earthquakes mostly from a result of __________.

poor construction

The New Madrid earthquakes are apparently related to an old buried ____________.

rift zone

The trees that died in the Pacific Northwest after the great earthquake of 1700 were killed by __________.

seawater after faulting dropped the land below sea level

The seismic-gap method of earthquake forecasting works by identifying __________.

segments along a fault that not moved for the longest amount of time

A _________ is an oscillating wave that sloshes back and forth within an enclosed body of water such as a sea, bay, lake, or swimming pool.

seiche

The great 1964 Alaska earthquake (M 9.2) set off a tsunami that killed 122 people along the state's sparsely populated coastline. This tsunami also killed 12 people in the state of _________.

California

Which four states account for 91% of all U.S. earthquakes of magnitude 3.5 and above?

California, Alaska, Hawaii, and Nevada

Which of the following correctly states the order in which a continental area is transformed into an ocean basin as a spreading center forms?

Centering, doming, rifting, and finally spreading

In 1868, the USS Wateree was carried several miles inland by a tsunami along the coast of ______.

Chile

In 1985, because of the Michoacan earthquake many buildings collapsed and killed about 8,000 people in Mexico City, even though the city lies 350 miles from the epicenter. All but which of the following caused this?

Collapse of thousands of single-story frame houses

Three basic classes of collisions include all but which of the following?

Continental plate versus mantle plate

Detailed mapping of the ocean bottom around the Hawaiian Islands revealed a previously unrecognized tsunami source. What did geologists discover on the seafloor in this area?

slumps and debris avalanches formed by volcanic flank collapse

When magma is on the move at shallow depths it commonly generates a swarm of __________.

small earthquakes referred to as harmonic tremors

The __________ segment of the San Andreas fault is the only one not to have a long rupture in historic time. In prehistory, it has ruptured every 250 years on average, but the last big movement was in 1690.

southern

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

subduction zones

The theoretical velocity of a tsunami in the deep ocean is calculated by taking the square root of the product of __________.

the acceleration due to gravity and the depth of the ocean

Prior to the 2004 event, the last major 1883 tsunami in the Indian Ocean struck in 1883 and killed about 36,000 people. This tsunami was caused by _________________.

the collapse of Indonesia's Krakatoa Volcano

Modern tsunami warning systems primarily use __________.

DART II stationsand reports from Coast Guard ships

A triple junction is the point where __________.

three tectonic plates touch

The large left step in the San Andreas Fault in the Los Angeles area causes compressive ruptures along east-west-oriented ________ faults as in the 1971 San Fernando and 1994 Northridge events.

thrust

Adjustments related to plate-tectonic activity cause earthquakes from Washington to New Mexico, from Montana to California, and at other points throughout the West.

true

Aftershocks of the 1811-12 New Madrid, Missouri, earthquakes are still occurring today.

true

As much as 20% of the relative motion between the Pacific and North American Plates may be accommodated by the extensional stretching of the Basin and Range province, leaving numerous north-south-oriented mountain ranges separated by down-dropped, sediment-filled basins.

true

At depths below 100 km, subduction zone earthquakes occur almost exclusively in the interior of the colder oceanic lithosphere, the heart of the subducting slab.

true

Common reasons for building failure in the World Series quake included poor connections of houses to their foundations, buildings made of unreinforced masonry or brick-facade construction, and two- to five-story buildings deficient in shear-bearing internal walls and supports.

true

Earthquakes at subduction zones result from different types of fault movements, depending on whether they occur in shallow versus deeper realms.

true

Estimated Mercalli intensities of VIII (significant damage) from the new New Madrid quakes of 1811-1812 reached into Ohio.

true

Failed rifts remain as zones of weakness that may be reactivated by later plate-tectonic stresses to once again generate earthquakes.

true

Human activity has likely triggered earthquakes with magnitudes between 3 and 5.

true

In 2011, after the nuclear plant destruction, evacuation orders were given to 150,000 residents living within 20 km (12.4 mi) of the failed plant.

true

In historic time, Nevada has averaged one earthquake with a magnitude in the 6s per decade and one with a magnitude in the 7s every 27 years.

true

In the Pacific Northwest, stresses are transmitted upward from the subducting plates, forming strike-slip faults that rupture the surface, as in Seattle.

true

In the areas of most rapid subduction, the down-going slab may remain rigid enough to spawn large earthquakes to depths of 700 km.

true

In the central United States, ancient rift valleys remain from failed spreading centers and these ancient rifts today are zones of weakness whose faults can be reactivated due to long-distance effects of Atlantic Plate spreading and Pacific Plate collision.

true

In the last 6,000 years, a magnitude 6.5 or stronger earthquake has occurred about once every 350 years on one of the Wasatch System Faults, but no large earthquakes have been reported along the Wasatch Front Faults since the arrival of Brigham Young in 1847.

true

In the last three years alone (2014-2016), Oklahoma has accounted for roughly 10% of all earthquakes of states in the top 10 most active earthquakes states.

true

It is possible that a large hunk of Hawaii could be plunged into the sea following a large earthquake, generating a powerful tsunami.

true

Major southern California faults, such as the Imperial, San Jacinto system, Cerro Prieto, Elsinore, and Laguna Salada, also appear to be part of the San Andreas Plate boundary fault system carrying peninsular California to the northwest.

true

Most North American earthquakes occur in the west along the edges of the active plates, but the central and eastern regions also have earthquakes—not as many but just as large.

true

Most of the subduction-zone earthquakes of today occur around the rim of the Pacific Ocean or the northeastern Indian Ocean.

true

Nevada has several gaps in the belt of historic seismicity, suggesting residents in these seismic gaps may be in for some future earthquakes.

true

Ocean ridge spreading still occurs offshore of northernmost California, Oregon, Washington, and southern British Columbia, as well as in the Gulf of California.

true

Pumping fluids into Earth has been found to sometimes trigger small earthquakes (magnitudes < 5).

true

Recent work has shown that the last major earthquake in the Cascadia subduction zone occurred about 9 PM on 26 January 1700 and was about magnitude 9.

true

Resonance can increase the duration buildings shake during an earthquake.

true

Rivers, such as the Mississippi River, have a drainage pattern that flows along a zone of weakness.

true

The 1985 Mexico City earthquake was caused by eastward subduction of a small plate, the Cocos Plate, beneath the North American Plate.

true

The 1994 Northridge event was similar to the 1971 San Fernando earthquake in magnitude, number of people killed, and type of faulting.

true

The Cascadia subduction zone is 1,100 kilometers long, and its characteristics of youthful oceanic plate and strong coupling with the overriding plate are similar to situations in southwestern Japan and southern Chile where very large earthquakes have occurred.

true

The New Madrid, Missouri, 1811-1812 earthquakes have never been equaled in the history of the United States for the number of closely-spaced, large seisms and for the size of the felt area.

true

The New Madrid, Missouri, 1811-1812 earthquakes were felt from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic seaboard, where clocks stopped, bells rang, and plaster cracked.

true

The North Anatolian fault in Turkey is a 1,400-km-long fault zone made of numerous subparallel faults that split and combine, bend and straighten, and there is reason to expect major earthquakes to occur progressively farther to the west, ever closer to Istanbul.

true

The Owens Valley quake of 1872 is estimated to have had a magnitude of 7.8 to 8, indicating that big earthquakes can and do happen far away from the coastal zone and the San Andreas Fault.

true

The Rio Grande Rift in New Mexico, Colorado, westernmost Texas, and Mexico is one of the major continental rifts in the world where the continental crust is being heated and stretched from below.

true

The San Andreas Fault has different behaviors along its length.

true

The biggest earthquake ever recorded instrumentally occurred on 22 May 1960 in southern Chile with a seismic moment magnitude of 9.5.

true

The compressional movements at subduction zones and continent-continent collisions generate the largest tectonic earthquakes and they affect the widest areas.

true

The creeping movements along some segments of the San Andreas Fault are shown by millimeters per year of offset of sidewalks, fences, buildings, and other features.

true

The deadliest earthquake in history occurred in 1556 when about 830,000 Chinese were killed in and near Xi'an on the banks of the mighty Huang River.

true

The epicenters of the larger New Madrid, Missouri, earthquakes line up along the Mississippi River Valley, possibly because of an ancient rift valley, known as the Reelfoot Rift, formed about 550 million years ago.

true

The fires from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake did about ten times as much damage as the earthquake itself.

true

The subducting Juan de Fuca Plate is only 10- to 15-million-years old and is warm and buoyant. However, as it is subducted, its density increases, causing a buildup of stress.

true

The zone of dangerous faults in Southern California is much wider than in the San Francisco Bay area, largely because the major plate-bounding fault (the San Andreas) is bent so far to the west that it makes it difficult for the Pacific Plate to slide along on its northwestward journey.

true

Tsunami have long wavelengths and very short wave heights in the open ocean.

true

The captain of a ship tells you that he once experienced a huge tsunami while sailing in the Pacific Ocean several hundred miles from any landmass. You decide that this sounds a little far-fetched because _________.

tsunami are rarely felt in deep water because they have long wavelengths and low heights

Geologists have shown that the east coast of the United States faces a serious tsunami threat from ________.

volcanic flank collapse in the Canary Islands

Which of the following factors is the reason for the increase in Oklahoma earthquakes over the past 3 years?

wastewater disposal

Liquefaction occurs when seismic waves cause __________.

water to be injected into sediment causing the grains to lose cohesion and behave like a fluid

Today, North America has several small- to medium-sized plates subducting beneath its ____________.

western margin

The greatest earthquakes in the world occur _____________.

where plates collide with each other

Multiplying 1.25 by the square root of the wavelength results in the velocity of a __________.

wind-blown wave in deep water

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was generated by a magnitude 9.2 earthquake along __________ off the shore of Sumatra.

a subduction zone

The deadly 1998 tsunami in Papua New Guinea was caused by ________.

an undersea landslide triggered by an earthquake

Recent work has shown that the last major earthquake in the Cascadia subduction zone occurred about 9 p.m. on 26 January 1700 and was about magnitude 9. This is known by __________________.

analysis of annual growth rings in trees of downed forests along the Oregon-Washington-British Columbia coast showing no rings after 1699 and Tsunami of 2-m (7-ft) height that hit Japan from midnight to dawn pointing to a 9 p.m. earthquake along the Washington-Oregon coast on 26 January 1700.

The Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee __________________.

are pull-apart basins and the result of strike-slip motion

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

blind

Tsunami events at a coastline __________.

can start with a drawdown or rising of the sea

Organic material in sediment layers is dated by measuring the amount of radioactive ________ present.

carbon

When the part of California west of the San Andreas Fault plows into Alaska it will __________.

become part of Alaska's southern margin

Which of the following does not have a significant convergent margin?

African Plate

On 3 November 2002, a large earthquake occurred in __________. Because of its similarity to the 1857 Fort Tejon earthquake on the San Andreas Fault, this event has been compared to the much-anticipated "Big One" in Southern California.

Alaska

The 1946 April Fool's Day tsunami at Hilo, Hawaii, was caused by an earthquake near ________.

Alaska

The 1964 tsunami that killed 12 people at Crescent City, California, was caused by a major earthquake in _________.

Alaska

Which state accounts for the greatest percentage of all U.S. earthquakes of magnitude 3.5 and above?

Alaska

Which of the following is not a divergent margin?

Aleutian Island Arc

Shallow subduction zone earthquakes occur __________________.

All of these are correct.

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

All of these choices are correct.

Which of the following represents evidence for major fault movement on the Seattle Fault zone about 1,100 years ago?

All of these choices are correct.

How does a locked zone in a fault typically catch up with a creeping section?

By infrequent but large fault movements

According to figure 4.40, the _________ has the greatest probability for one or more 6.7 magnitude earthquakes between 2003 and 2032.

Hayward Fault

The 2004 _________ Ocean tsunami killed an estimated 245,000 people in 13 countries.

Indian

Most of the 245,000 deaths from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami occurred in _______.

Indonesia

Which of the following sections along the San Andreas fault remained as a seismic gap as of late 2015?

The Crystal Springs area south of San Francisco

Using the seismic gap method, scientists identify section "C" of a fault as a seismic gap. Which of the following possible answers correctly states what this means?

The next major earthquake will likely occur in section "C" but it is not a guarantee.

Which of the following statements is about tsunami in the deep ocean?

They are always "feeling" the bottom.

The slide-past motions of long transform faults occur in all but which of the following?

Where the Indian subcontinent touches Asia

The spreading-center segment at the southern end of California's Salton Sea is marked by all but which of the following?

a lack of small earthquakes because magma is too close to Earth's surface

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