Quizzes
Which is MOST likely to damage a building?
horizontal ground motion causing the building to move side to side at its natural frequency
In comparison, pyroclastic flows are ______ while lahars are ______.
hot and fast; colder and slower
The frequency of a wave with a period of 2 seconds is ______ cycles/second.
0.5
If the air temperature and dew-point temperature are 15 °C, then the height of the lifting condensation level (LCL) is ______.
0km
To help save lives, the textbook recommends these five aspects of hazard management should be carried out in chronological order. Select the aspects in each dropdown box to place them in their correct order
1) [determination of likely locations] 2) [estimation of probability of occurrence] 3) [survey of precursor events] 4) [forecasting the disaster] 5) [warning the public]
Arrange the layers of the atmosphere, in order from the Earth's surface upward.
1)Troposphere 2)Stratosphere 3)Mesosphere 4)Thermosphere
A disaster of magnitude 8 has a return period of 4 years. During 40 years of record, this disaster was observed how many times?
10
Suppose you have an air parcel at height 1 km above ground with temperature 0 °C. If you lower this air parcel to the ground, its new temperature will be ______ °C.
10
How much bigger is a VEI 7 eruption compared to a VEI 6 eruption?
10 times
How much MORE shaking does a magnitude 9 quake cause than a magnitude 7?
100 times
How much more GROUND MOVEMENT does a magnitude 5-earthquake cause than a magnitude 2 earthquake?
1000 times
If the mass of a moving object doubles, its kinetic energy changes by what factor?
2
If twice as much liquid water evaporates, then ______.
2 times as much sensible heat is hidden as latent heat
Suppose 3 meteorite impact events of magnitude 10 on the Torino scale occurred within the past 600,000 years. The return period (in years) for such disaster events is ______.
200,000 (Return Period = number of years/ occurrences)
What is the minimum number of independent seismograms needed to estimate an earthquake's location?
3
In the open ocean, tsunami have a typical wavelength of ______.
300 km
The snowstorm that hit the Lower Mainland in early January 2004 was about as severe as the storm that occurred in 1996 (8 years ago). The estimated Return Period for this category of storm is about:
4 years
The population of British Columbia was 4.5 million in 2010. By the year 2020 it is projected to become about ______ million.
5.1 million
The common logarithm of 1,000,000 is:
6
If the population growth rate were to decrease from 1.2% to exactly 1% per year, then the doubling time for population will be about ______ years.
70 Years ( years=70/1=70)
Which best describes caldera formation?
A caldera forms when huge amounts of magma is ejected, causing the collapse of the roof of the magma chamber.
Which of the following statements is FALSE? A. Body waves travel faster than surface waves. B. An earthquake occurs when the friction between two blocks is overcome. C. The point where motion begins on the fault is called the hypocentre. D. A strike slip fault is the result of tensional stresses. E. A reverse fault is the result of compressional forces.
A strike slip fault is the result of tensional stresses.
Seiches are generated by ______.
A. tsunami B. earthquakes C. landslides D. strong winds
The next big earthquake in southwest BC could result in ______.
A:liquefaction of unstable ground B. damage to natural gas networks C. landslides D. damage to transportation corridors
Three waves are traveling through 5 m deep water; one has a wavelength of 100 m, another has a wavelength of 120 m, and the third one has a wavelength of 140 m. Which of the following is TRUE?
All three of these waves travel with the same speed.
How does a layer of soft sediment at the ground surface affect shaking?
Amplify's shaking
Which statement is TRUE? A. There is no limit to the population that the world can hold. B. The Earth is a fragile system. C. As population grows, larger percentages of the population can be protected from natural disasters. D. Savage competition for resources will diminish as population grows. E. As population increases, the cost of loss of transportation, communication, and utilities due to natural disasters will increase significantly.
As population increases, the cost of loss of transportation, communication, and utilities due to natural disasters will increase significantly.
The count of all protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom is called the ________.
Atomic Mass
Consider a 1000 kg boulder perched 5 meters above a roadway. Which of the following statements is FALSE? A. Pushing the boulder a horizontal distance of 5 meters with 200 newtons of force requires 1000 joules of work. B. The force of gravity (or its weight) exerted by the boulder on the ground is 1000 kg. C. When the boulder is lifted 10 meters higher, its potential energy increases by about 100,000 kg-m2/sec2 D. If the boulder remains in place, it's kinetic energy will NOT change. E. A similar boulder on the moon moving at 10 m/sec would have the same amount of kinetic energy as the boulder on Earth moving at the same speed.
B. The force of gravity (or its weight) exerted by the boulder on the ground is 1000 kg.
Which province is likely to have the most landslides?
BC
Which of the following disaster scales applies to wind and waves over the ocean?
Beaufort Scale
Why are the paths of the body waves in the figure below NOT straight?
Body waves refract in different densities
Which of the following is NOT typically found in a pyroclastic flow?
Bombs
WHICH IS FALSE A. Satellites can see the anvil tops of thunderstorms, and their shadows cast on the ground. B. Both radar and satellite can predict the formation and future location of thunderstorms. C. Radar can see the rain areas in the updraft/downdraft "stem" of the mushroom cloud. D. A hook echo indicates the presence of mesocyclonic rotation, but can NOT predict whether a tornado has been spawned. E. Both radar and satellite can observe the movement of storms by comparing their locations in successive images.
Both radar and satellite can predict the formation and future location of thunderstorms.
An object that breaks when stresses are applied is called _________.
Brittle
What was the volcanic hazard that caused the tragedy at Lake Nyos in Cameroon?
CO2 gas
The population that can be sustainably supported in a given domain is known as ______.
Carrying Capacity
The fault near Vancouver which produces the largest earthquakes is the ______ which can produce magnitude ______ earthquakes.
Cascadia Subduction Zone fault; 9
Which of the following is FALSE about cinder/scoria cones? a. Cinder cones produce hot mafic eruptions. b. Cinder cones can form on flanks of shield volcanoes. c. Cinder cones are likely to have VEIs of 6 or greater. d. Cinder cones usually erupt only once, lasting a few hours to a few years. e. Cinder cones produce small eruptions that can be watched from a safe distance.
Cinder cones are likely to have VEIs of 6 or greater.
Which is false A. Condensation absorbs latent heat in a thunderstorm. B. Condensation in a thunderstorm warms the air. C. Warmer air has more buoyancy, causing upward motion. D. Upward motion in a thunderstorm can cause horizontal winds near the surface due to continuity. E. Rainfall rate is a measure of heating rate in the thunderstorm.
Condensation absorbs latent heat in a thunderstorm.
Which is true? A. Spreading centres produce the largest number of great earthquakes (magnitude 8 or higher). B. Transform faults are where the world's deepest earthquakes occur. C. Subduction zones are the source of heat that drives plate tectonics. D. Convection within the mantle helps drive the motion of plates. E. Gravity pulling on the roots of continents helps drive the motion of plates.
Convection within the mantle helps drive the motion of plates.
The majority of the world's explosive volcanoes are found at ______.
Convergent plate margins
Which statement is FALSE? A. Atoms arranged in a regular lattice structure form crystals. B. Atoms with non-zero charge are called ions. C. Gases are very fluid and very compressible. D. Cleavage planes follow the strongest bonds in a crystal lattice. E. Magma has higher viscosity than water.
D. Cleavage planes follow the strongest bonds in a crystal lattice.
Which statement is FALSE? a. Hazards can be anticipated through scientific analysis. b. Risk analysis is an important element of understanding the effects of hazardous processes. c. Linkages exist among different natural hazards and between hazards and the physical environment. d. Damage from natural disasters is decreasing. e. Damage and loss of life from natural disasters can be minimized.
Damage from natural disasters is decreasing.
Strain is ______.
Deformation of an object
Stratification of the Earth, ocean, and atmosphere is expected because of the ______ of the materials involved
Density
What happens to seismic waves when they encounter a thick layer of unconsolidated sediments?
Low frequencies are amplified
TRUE about volcanism in an ocean-ocean convergence setting?
Mafic-intermediate lavas are common
A weather satellite is orbiting the Earth. It is at an altitude 850 km above the Earth's surface, and moves with speed 7.4 km/s. It has a mass of 2,200 kg. Because of its altitude, it has potential energy. Because of its speed, it has kinetic energy. Consider total energy defined as the sum of kinetic + potential energies. Which process would increase the total energy the most?
Doubling the velocity (speed)
Which is False? -Natural disasters occur when diffuse sources of energy are concentrated and then released into a compact area -During natural disasters, energy in one form is transformed into another or many other forms. -Solar energy is the ultimate source of energy fueling thunderstorms. -Earth's geological history consists of a series of disastrous events separated by brief periods of calm. -Natural disasters occur when energy builds up over a long period of time, then released suddenly and violently.
Earth's geological history consists of a series of disastrous events separated by brief periods of calm.
What is the BEST explanation of how earthquakes are globally distributed?
Earthquakes mainly take place along the edges of plate boundaries.
Matter able to temporarily change its shape and to return to its original shape when the force is released is ______.
Elastic material
What statement is FALSE? A. The redistribution of water in the Earth, ocean, atmosphere system involves the build-up and release of energy. B. Energy released during each natural disaster can sometimes occur over very short time periods of seconds or over longer time periods of days. C. Over the past 4.57 billion years, the Earth has been absorbing energy from external sources and releasing the same amount to the rest of the Universe. D. Energy released during natural disasters must be on the same time scale of energy build-up. E. The catastrophic potential of natural disasters depends on the timescale of energy build-up.
Energy released during natural disasters must be on the same time scale of energy build-up.
Which of the following does NOT cause particle cohesion to increase or decrease?
Failure Surfaces
Which statement is TRUE? A. Falls involve the rock detaching from a steep slope along a surface on which little shear displacement takes place. B. Topples involve the backward rotation of a rock block, with the toe of the block moving outwards first. C. Translational slides move in a rotational manner, accommodated by deformation of the weak soil. D. Flows move downslope as a coherent mass. E. Liquefaction is usually related to slow creep-like movements of a soil slope.
Falls involve the rock detaching from a steep slope along a surface on which little shear displacement takes place.
On the Moment Magnitude scale, earthquake magnitude is determined by the intensity of shaking.
False
The Richter scale is the most common earthquake magnitude scale used by seismologists.
False
The distribution of earthquakes on Earth is random.
False
Which disaster type results from a DILUTION of energy?
Floods
In North America, thunderstorms and lightning occur most frequently in or near ______.
Florida
When building in an earthquake zone, which ground type would be the WORST to build on?
Loose Wet Sediment
A billion meters can be abbreviated as _________.
Gm
Shear stress is composed of ______ and ______.
Gp ; Gt
A renewal forecast of earthquake probability for a fault takes into account ______.
Gradual stress build-up between earthquakes
Swelling and deflation of active volcanoes is NOT measured by ______.
Gravity Meters
What is/are the main source(s) of energy fueling the motion of tectonic plates?
Gravity and Radioactive Decay
Dust storms are called ______.
Haboobs
If the phase speed of the wave were to remain constant at 4 m/s, but the wavelength were to double, then the wave frequency would ______.
Half
How does viscosity CONTROL explosivity?
High viscosity magma traps gas, increasing the pressure.
You live in a house built on unconsolidated sediments. During an earthquake, you can expect to experience a ______ Modified Mercalli Intensity compared to that of your neighbours' whose house is built on bedrock.
Higher
______ waves are transverse waves that propagate by shearing or shaking particles in their path at right angles to the direction of advance.
Love and S waves
Over short-time scales (hours to days) under Earth's surface pressure, which of the following is considered NOT very fluid?
Ice
During the 1986 Lake Nyos eruption, the most dangerous areas to be in were ____ because the gas was _____.
In valley, denser than air
In developed countries such as Canada where population levels are increasing, we can expect economic losses due to natural disasters to ______.
Increase significantly
When earthquake scientists poll residents of a city struck by an earthquake, what are they trying to figure out?
Intensity
_________ is the term used to characterize the amount of shaking experienced some distance from an earthquake's hypocenter.
Intensity
The element that is the greatest component of the Earth's core is _________.
Iron
In the earth's core, the most common element is ______.
Iron (Fe)
Which method is an "active" technique for making buildings safer during an earthquake?
Isolating the building from the ground using huge rubber pads.
Why is the concept of saturation so important in understanding how storms work?
It determines when condensation occurs.
What is the importance of the recurrence interval (frequency through time) of large earthquakes along a fault?
It is an estimate of the probability of a future damaging earthquake.
The Richter scale is no longer in use to measure earthquake magnitude because ______.
It is not accurate for large earthquakes or those not occurring in California.
What part does water play in volcanism at arcs?
It lowers the melting temperature of rock.
When was the last magnitude 9 Cascadia earthquake?
January 26, 1700
The Cascade arc sits adjacent to a plate boundary where the ______ plate is ______ the ______.
Juan de Fuca; subducting beneath; North American plate
Which order of hazards (from EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS to NOT VERY) correctly describes the situation if you lived in a valley 20 km away and downwind from a glacier-covered active stratovolcano?
Lahar, pyroclastic flow, ash fall, lava flow
Which of the following volcanic hazards is the LEAST hazardous to humans?
Lava
What two parameters (values) do seismologists monitor for all earthquakes around the world?
Location and Magnitude
Most disaster scales are _______.
Logarithmic
A high volcano explosivity index (VEI) generally corresponds with _________.
Long recurrence intervals
The chart below shows the number of earthquakes in British Columbia in one year. What is the BEST label for the horizontal axis of this chart?
Magnitude
_________ is the term used to characterize the energy released at an earthquake's hypocenter.
Magnitude
When choosing the best place to buy a house, which advice is NOT helpful regarding earthquakes?
Make sure that there hasn't been a big earthquake in the area in the last 5 years
Which landslide type poses the greatest threat to a large number of lives at once?
Massive rock avalanche
Of the following, which type of natural disaster has the longest time scale for energy build-up time compared to the time scale of energy release?
Meteor Impact
The 1949 earthquake in the Queen Charlotte Islands was about the same magnitude as the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. Why was there so much more property damage as a result of the San Francisco earthquake and little damage done by the Queen Charlotte Islands earthquake?
Most of the shaking motion in San Francisco was vertical while in the Queen Charlottes, the motion was horizontal.
Which volcano poses the GREATEST risk to life and property in Vancouver and southern British Columbia?
Mount Baker
Which of these Cascade Range volcanoes do geologists believe has the ability to greatly affect (i.e. be very hazardous) the largest area around it?
Mount Rainier
Suppose you are a geological engineer hired to improve safety along a steep portion of Highway 99 between Horseshoe Bay and Squamish. You need to prevent SMALLER BLOCKY rock material from falling onto the road. Which engineering technique would you use?
Netting
The MOST abundant element in the Earth's atmosphere is ______.
Nitrogen
Earthquake hazards are difficult to predict.
Not True
When an earthquake will happen can be easily predicted.
Not true
Which is FALSE? A. Strain is the change in shape, or deformation, of a solid object. B. Stress is a force per unit area parallel to a surface. C. The three phases of matter are solid, liquid, gas. D. Objects that are not very plastic are said to be ductile. E. Viscosity is a measure of how much fluids resist flowing.
Objects that are not very plastic are said to be ductile.
What is NOT a SIGNIFICANT source of energy for natural disasters?
Oil Deposits
The location in North America that has the most frequency of hail AND of tornadoes is ______.
Oklahoma
For the Earth's surface, ocean, and atmosphere, the ONE element that ranks within the top 2 most common elements is ______.
Oxygen
The ______ wave travels fastest and moves in a push-pull fashion of alternating pulses of compression (push) and extension (pull).
P waves
Which seismic waves travel the fastest?
P waves
A unit of pressure is the ______.
Pascal (Pa)
The layering of less-dense materials on top of more-dense materials is called ______.
stratification
Every year, more people are affected by natural disasters MOSTLY because ______.
Population increasing, more people are at risk
which is true? A. Population is self-limiting. Namely, the death rate increases when the carrying capacity is exceeded. B. The maximum population that can be carried by the earth is fixed. C. The survivability rate of people in natural disasters will increase as population grows, due to better social networks. D. Earth's carrying capacity increases as more people occupy our planet. E. You have almost no control over your own chances of surviving a natural disaster.
Population is self-limiting. Namely, the death rate increases when the carrying capacity is exceeded.
Which two quantities have the same units?
Pressure and Stress (pascal Pa)
The order in which seismic energy waves arrive at a recording station is _______.
Pwaves, Swaves, Surface waves
Based on the number of recorded events, quick clay problems are common in what part of Canada?
Quebec
How does a cinder cone form?
Relatively short-lived eruptions of pyroclastic material build up a small volcano.
Which magma composition will produce the most explosive volcanoes?
Rhyolite
Arrange the rock types from LOWEST to HIGHEST silica content:
Rhyolite Basalt Dacite
Which of the following cities in British Columbia has the HIGHEST risk of liquefaction?
Richmond
The probable severity that a destructive event will occur multiplied by the event's likely impact on people and property is called ______.
Risk
If a large earthquake happened in the Pacific Ocean just west of British Columbia, the disaster(s) you would expect in greater Vancouver is/are mostly related to ______.
Shaking, tsunami, Landslides
A common example of a mafic volcanic landform is a ________.
Shield Volcano
By volume, the largest type of volcanic landform is a ______.
Shield Volcano
What type of volcanic landform is MOST commonly associated with Hawaiian mafic volcanism?
Shield Volcano
The amount of heat that 1 kg of matter holds when it warms 1 degree Celsius is called ____________.
Specific Heat
You have just heard that a large earthquake occurred 320 kilometres below the surface of the Earth at a spreading zone. Why should you be skeptical?
Spreading zones have shallow weak surfaces
Which of the following statements is FALSE? A. Stabilization of a landslide may be achieved by clearing the trees from the slope. B. A landslide may be stabilized by applying a resisting force at the toe of the slope. C. Landslides may occur without an apparent trigger because of processes that gradually bring the slope to failure. D. The rapid infiltration of rainfall is the mechanism by which most shallow landslides are generated during storms. E. High pore pressures may adversely affect the stability of a slope due to a decrease in effective normal stress.
Stabilization of a landslide may be achieved by clearing the trees from the slope.
Which of the following correctly describes volcanism at a continental volcanic arc?
high viscosity dacitic lavas and explosive volcanism
Which of the following is NOT a hazard of thunderstorms?
Storm Surge
Mount Baker is an example of a _______.
Stratovolcano
What type of fault is shown by the displaced lines on this field?
Strike Slip
Which instrument is used by governments to characterize ground motion so they can define suitable local building codes?
Strong motion seismograph
Which is False A. Subduction zone earthquakes are the most frequent. B. Earthquakes at spreading centres are nearly always small and shallow. C. Earthquakes along transform plate boundaries are generally of smaller magnitude than those at subduction zones. D. The deepest earthquakes occur where one plate is being forced to dive under a second plate. E. Earthquakes at strike-slip plate boundaries between two oceanic plates are frequent but rarely large.
Subduction zone earthquakes are the most frequent
Which is False? A. High intensity natural disasters occur less frequently than low intensity natural disasters. B. Disaster intensity is often quantified using logarithmic scales. C. The Saffir-Simpson scale for hurricanes is based on measuring damage. D. Tornadoes of intensity 2 on the Fujita scale are more common than tornadoes of intensity 3. E. In Canada, the highest wind speeds typically occur in coastal areas.
The Saffir-Simpson scale for hurricanes is based on measuring damage.
A. Gases are the least compressible compared to liquids and solids. B. Fluids with low viscosity such as air resist flow more that those with high viscosity such as magma. C. Heat of sublimation is released when solids become gases. D. The ability of solids to permanently change shape or deform when forced is called plastic. E. Liquids and gases can change their shape easily, thus are not fluids.
The ability of solids to permanently change shape or deform when forced is called plastic.
What happens when two different surface waves run into each other?
The effect of the two waves is added together, making a more complex wave.
which is false A. Tornadoes can be visible due to cloud droplets and debris. B. Tornadoes are violently rotating columns of air in contact with the ground. C. All violent tornadoes are attached to thunderstorms. D. Supercell thunderstorms are the ones most likely to spawn the most violent tornadoes. E. The most violent tornadoes have the largest diameters.
The most violent tornadoes have the largest diameters.
The strength of a slope is INCREASED by which of the following?
cohesion
Which of the following climate-related factors is MOST likely to increase landslide hazards in a particular area?
higher precipitation
Which one of the following aspects of earthquakes can be "predicted" most reliably?
The probability that an earthquake of a given magnitude will occur within the next 20 years, at some locations along the San Andreas Fault 100%
What is one reason that fewer than expected very small earthquakes are recorded in British Columbia?
There are not enough seismometers distributed across BC to detect all earthquakes, large or small.
If a major disaster such as a big earthquake actually happens in Vancouver, which is likely to be TRUE?
There will be a lot of confusion and insufficient information to make appropriate decisions.
Which of the following disaster scales applies to impacts from space?
Torino
Earthquake intensity" describes the effects of shaking on people and structures.
True
Earthquakes can occur both between and within tectonic plate boundaries.
True
Foreshocks, mainshocks, and aftershocks are all earthquakes that are part of the earthquake cycle.
True
The LEAST explosive style of eruption, as discussed in the textbook, is ______.
VEI 1 Hawaiian
Which statement is TRUE? A. Warm air rises due to buoyancy, warms due to expansion, and then holds more water at saturation. B. Warm air sinks due to buoyancy, warms due to compression, and holds more water at saturation. C. Warm air rises due to buoyancy, cools due to expansion, and holds less water at saturation. D. Cold air sinks due to buoyancy, warms due to expansion, and then holds more water at saturation. E. Cold air rises due to buoyancy, cools due to compression, and holds more water at saturation.
Warm air rises due to buoyancy, cools due to expansion, and holds less water at saturation.
The distance between crest and neighboring crest of a wave is called:
Wavelength
Waves are the result of energy traveling across the ocean. Ultimately, all of the following happen to that energy, EXCEPT ______.
Waves collide with adjacent waves and their energy is lost.
What is True? A. Waves transport energy at the group speed. B. Waves transport energy at the phase speed. C. The height between ocean wave trough and crest is called wavelength. D. All waves are displacement waves. E. Waves occur only at the Earth's surface.
Waves transport energy at the group speed.
The Tsunami Warning Centre responsible for providing tsunami warning messages to people living along the coast of British Columbia is the ______.
West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Centre
Which of the following is not an aspect of earthquake prediction?
Why does it occur?
Large earthquakes are caused predominantly by _______.
horizontal and vertical movements in the Earth's lithosphere
A material that is NOT very compressible and flows easily is ______.
a liquid with low viscosity
Which of the following slopes is LEAST likely to fail? A. a quick clay slope at 5 degrees B. a sand slope at 40 degrees C. a rock slope at 40 degrees D. a rock slope at 90 degrees E. a clay slope at 70 degrees
a rock slope at 40 degrees
A mesocyclone is ______.
a rotating supercell thunderstorm
Which of the following is a landslide "cause" and not a landslide "trigger"?
a weak clay layer
Which of the following was an important contributing factor to the 2005 La Conchita landslide fatalities in Southern California?
a.presence of steep, high slopes b. presence of weak rocks c. prolonged and intense rainfall d. presence of a previous landslide e. all of the above
The MOST LIKELY place to find an active subaerial volcano is ______.
above a subduction zone
Which would NOT cause a landslide?
adding the same amount of material to the driving mass and the resisting mass
What inexpensive revision to a building can prevent "soft storey" collapse?
addition of shear walls
Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, and Mount Garibaldi MOST likely erupted ______.
andesite
The main visibly recognizable feature that you can use to determine if a cloud is a thunderstorm is the ______.
anvil cloud
Pressure and strain are similar because both ______.
are related to earthquakes
What type of rock is produced by a'a lava flows?
basalt
When twice as much liquid water evaporates in the air, the air ___________.
becomes 2 times cooler
The primary cause of earthquake-related deaths in modern times is from ______.
being crushed by collapsing buildings
Southern California is a particularly challenging area to understand or predict earthquakes for because
bends in the San Andreas fault result in complex deformation and faulting
Consider the following three phenomena: 1) a flood caused by a thunderstorm 2) a storm surge caused by a hurricane 3) a tsunami caused by an underwater earthquake These are ALL directly associated with ______.
both the concentration and dilution of energy
Mitigating the damage to buildings may involve all of the following EXCEPT ______.
building "soft" stories
Which of the following primarily drive vertical motions in thunderstorms?
buoyancy
Which of the following volcanic hazards is NOT caused by pyroclastic material?
burial in Lahars
A landslide trigger is an external stimulus that ______.
causes a near-immediate response by rapidly decreasing slope strength
How does a debris slide differ from a debris flow? A debris slide _______.
confined to a channel
Vertical motions can create horizontal motions and circulations due to the ______ effect.
continuity
Waves ______ on headlands releasing ______ wave energy than in embayments.
converge, more
Where do most subaerial volcanoes occur?
convergent plate tectonic boundaries
Compared to mafic magma, silicic magma is ______.
cooler, more viscous, and more gas-rich
Which landslide type may cause a significant amount of damage, while posing a low threat to life?
creep
When atoms in molecules line up in a regular lattice, the result is called
crystal lattice
A sudden vertical movement of unsorted soil is called a(n) ______.
debris fall
Most magma is generated by melting of pre-existing rock through _________.
decompression melting
Which factor does NOT contribute to why hurricanes are long lived?
deep ocean water is cold
three seismograms with different ground displacements during the Northridge earthquake. What is the main reason for these differences?
different rock types
If you double the distance that you push an object with a constant force, the amount of work ________.
doubles
Hazards associated with air-fall tephra include all of the following EXCEPT ______.
drowning
The most common element in the __________.
earths crust is oxygen
Matter able to temporarily change its shape and to return to its original shape when the force is released is ________.
elastic
A force is gently applied to a stick, causing it to bend. When the force is removed, the stick returns to its original shape. The deformation experienced by the stick is similar to the ______.
elastic deformation that prevents a bungie jumper from hitting the ground
"Joule" is the unit for ______.
energy
A fully developed sea state occurs when ______.
energy added to the ocean by wind equals energy lost by waves breaking
If a meteor strikes the ocean at the equator and causes sea water to boil, this is an example of ______.
energy conservation
If you are on the beach when a hurricane approaches, for safety you should ______.
evacuate and drive inland away from the ocean
If you live at the seashore where a hurricane or typhoon is approaching, your best course of action is to __________.
evacuate away from the shoreline
Which disaster is MOST RISKY?
event happens once a day, killing 2 people
Over the past several hundred years, the world growth rate curve is ______.
exponential
Pyroclastic flows originate in all of the following ways EXCEPT _______. A. dome collapse B. eruption column collapse C. directed blast D. over-spilling of the crater rim E. fall of ballistic debris
fall of ballistic debris
Which of the following will make this statement FALSE? "During movement on a fault, ______."
fault blocks return to their original position
The so-called "New Madrid" earthquakes that occur in the central US near the states of Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee are MOST LIKELY due to __________.
fault motion associated with an ancient, buried, divergent boundary
The type of magma most likely to cause a violent volcanic eruption is________.
high viscosity and relatively cool
When choosing materials to build a steep slope, which of the following should you NOT use, i.e. the material that would have the LOWEST stable slope angle (angle of repose)?
fine,dry sand
P-waves can travel through ________.
gas, liquid, solid
If a tornado approaches, the SAFEST course of action is to ______.
get into a ditch or basement
If 10,000 J of energy were transferred to each kilogram mass sample of air, granite, or water, which one shows the greatest change of temperature?
granite
GPS, InSAR, and tiltmeters help predict volcanic eruptions by measuring ______.
ground deformation
______ are primary effects of earthquakes while ______ are secondary effects.
ground shaking and surface rupture ... land-level change and liquefaction
Soil liquefaction occurs when _______.
ground shaking causes saturated loosely packed soil grains to lose strength and behave as a fluid
The speed at which wave energy propagates is called the ______ speed.
group speed
The S-wave shadow zone provides evidence that the Earth _____.
has a liquid outer core
The difference between magma and lava is that magma ______.
has not erupted
The most common trigger of landslides worldwide is ______.
heavy rainfall
What happens to the different frequencies in a seismic wave as it travels long distances through the Earth's mantle?
high frequencies disappear
When does hail occur most frequently?
in summer when the air is hot
Evidence that rocks can deform plastically can be found ________________.
in the curves and bends of the layers seen in some mountain ranges
A liquid is relatively ______.
incompressible, regardless of the viscosity
Based on a renewal forecast for great (M9+) Cascadia earthquakes, the probability of such a quake occurring since 1700 _____ with time.
increases
Tensioning a rock anchor helps to stabilize a slope by ______.
increasing the normal stress and therefore increasing the frictional strength
Arrange the following lava types in order of DECREASING viscosity.
intermediate felsic mafic
NOT a product of a volcanic eruption?
intrusive igneous rocks
To evaporate water vapour from your skin, sensible heat ______.
is changed into latent heat
When water vapour condenses, latent heat ______.
is released as sensible heat
An object is ductile if ______.
it deforms easily and remains deformed after the stress is removed (Ex: gold)
A building's resonant frequency is related to ______.
its Height
Although recent earthquakes that occurred south of Seattle, Washington (Feb 2001), in Kobe, Japan (1995) and at Bam, Iran (2003) were of similar magnitude, the Seattle earthquake did NOT cause as much devastation because _____.
its hypocentre was much deeper than the other earthquakes
What aspect of a tsunami is the most predictable?
its speed
Volcanic landslides can be triggered by all of the following EXCEPT ______.
lahar
Which volcanic hazard does hydrothermal alteration promote?
landslides
Energy that is hidden when matter changes phase is called ______.
latent heat
On the Moon gravity is weaker than on Earth. Hence on the Moon, relative to the Earth and ignoring friction and drag ______.
less work is required to lift a 20 kg object a distance of 10 m
The Earth and oceans are layered because ________.
less-dense materials float on top of denser materials
Which of the following is NOT an approach to landslide mitigation?
litigation/legal action
Which of the following magma types is produced by partial melting of the Earth's mantle?
mafic
Why does an increase in volcanic seismicity suggest a possible eruption? It indicates that ______.
magma is moving below the volcano
The scale of Disaster X is three orders of magnitude greater than that for Disaster Y. Comparing these disaster magnitudes, ______.
magnitude of Disaster X = 1000 × magnitude of Disaster Y
Landslide fatalities are typically underestimated because ______.
many fatalities are associated with the triggering event (e.g. an earthquake or flood) and not the landslide
The SI standard unit of distance is the ______.
meter
Most disaster scales are logarithmic; namely, each increase by 1 of the scale value corresponds to roughly a ten-fold increase in the strength of the disaster. The main reason for using this type of disaster scale is ______.
most disasters vary by many orders of magnitude
The most common type of thunderstorm is the ______.
multicell
On a GLOBAL SCALE, if population increases, then there is a greater chance that ______.
natural hazards will cause increasing fatalities in spite of better predictions and warnings
Which type of fault poses the LEAST risk from earthquake damage to residents of southwest BC?
normal fault in the continental upper crust
The straight-line outflow of air under a thunderstorm ______.
occurs behind the gust front
The main reason that hurricanes rarely reach Eastern Canada is because ______.
of the cold water offshore
The three greatest chemical elemental components of the Earth's crust are ______.
oxygen, silicon, aluminum
All of the following are common ways that volcanic ash have caused loss of life EXCEPT ______.
people being hit and killed by fast-falling ash
In terms of population growth, the phrase "doubling time" refers to __________.
period of time required to double the present population
Careful observations of ground motion all along a fault show that ______.
portions of the fault may move much more than other portions
A rock from the top of a mountain starts rolling downhill as a landslide. The further down it gets, the faster it goes. The DOMINANT energy conversion is ______.
potential energy into kinetic energy
Stress is most LIKE ______.
pressure
______ create horizontal winds and ______ create vertical winds.
pressure gradient force; buoyancy force
Which of the following is the BEST way to minimize the damage and loss of life due to a pyroclastic flow?
prevent construction and development at the volcano base
What volcanic hazard was responsible for the most devastation at Mt. Mayon, Philippines (1968) and Mt. Unzen, Japan (1991)?
pyroclastic flows
Which of the following causes of landslides is LEAST important in British Columbia?
quick clays
Other than through rapid erosion, a heavy rainfall event may also trigger a landslide by ______.
reducing the effective stresses
When a tsunami hits a bay or a harbour, its effects can be AMPLIFIED by ______.
resonance, if the bay or harbour is in phase with the tsunami
A magma erupting at a temperature of 600-800°C, with high silica content, high gas content, and high viscosity will erupt as a/an _________.
rhyolite pyroclastic flow in a caldera
Objects of low density relative to the fluid they are immersed in will generally ______.
rise due to buoyancy (float)
Which of the following is the fastest type of mass movement?
rock fall
MOST earthquakes occur in just the top 20 km of the Earth's crust because at greater depths ______.
rocks behave plastically
Which of the following are the most hazardous for ships at sea?
rogue wave
If you're at the beach and you notice the ocean water receding to an unusually low level, you should ______.
run for higher ground and take your friends with you
The International System (SI) standard unit for time is ______.
second
When a tornado warning is issued you should ______.
seek shelter immediately
Which of the following scientific work helped us "see" the subducting plate under Vancouver Island?
seismic echo sounding carried out by the Lithoprobe project
One reason that soft rocks are more hazardous for structures than hard rocks is ______.
seismic waves generally have larger amplitude in soft rocks
Which of the following does NOT measure permanent ground motion?
seismometers
Which statement is TRUE? You can recognize thunderstorm cells on VISIBLE SATELLITE images by the ______.
shadow under the anvil
At a transform plate boundary ______.
shear stress builds up and produces a strike slip fault
Two objects (A and B) of the same mass receive the same amount of heat, but the increase in temperature of object A is less than that of object B. The parameter that describes how the temperature of an object changes with heat input per unit mass is called ________.
specific heat
British Columbia has the highest landslide frequency in Canada partially because of ______.
steep slopes
Stresses change when an earthquake happens. This can increase the risk in some areas near the fault because ______.
stresses suddenly increase in locked segments near the ends of the zone that slipped
The volcanoes that compose the Cascade Range are at a ______.
subduction zone
Immediately after an eruption at Kilauea in Hawaii, the surface of the volcano ______.
subsides, making the slopes of the volcano less steep
Which aspect of recovery from a disaster could benefit from the knowledge you gain in this course?
surviving the disaster while it is happening, and aiding search and rescue
Which of the following are NOT measured in volcano monitoring programs?
temperature of the magma body at depth
Which of the following artificial barriers do NOT modify sediment transport?
tethered-float breakwater
Hurricanes don't form at, and don't cross, the equator, because at the equator __________.
the Coriolis effect is zero
Most landslides on record in this province are located in southern British Columbia because ______.
the population density is much higher in southern B.C. and so landslides are considered natural disasters
The explosivity of hot spot volcanism is dictated by which of the following?
the composition of the overlying plate
When two buildings of different heights are built very close to one another, the potential hazard (in terms of earthquake safety) is from ______.
the different frequencies that the buildings shake at which could cause them to collide with each other.
Which of the following factors does NOT influence the Modified Mercalli intensity of an earthquake?
the distribution of seismic stations
The explosivity of magmatic eruptions is most dependent on ______.
the ease with which dissolved gases can escape from the magma
The part of a hurricane with the strongest winds is ______.
the eyewall
Temperature changes in the horizontal can cause wind speed to increase with height because ______.
the horizontal pressure gradient increases with height
Earthquake P-waves that have traveled by the fastest route through the body of the Earth are not picked up in the shadow zone because _______.
the outer core material allows the waves to slow down, hence refracted
Most landslides on record in this province are located in southern British Columbia because ______
the population density is much higher in southern B.C. and so landslides are considered natural disasters
When lightning strikes a tree, often ______.
the sap explodes
Landslides are MOST likely to occur if _______.
the shear stresses in the slope exceed the shear strength
The angle of repose is ______.
the steepest angle a slope can hold before failure
In order to estimate an earthquake's location using seismograms, what do you need to know along with the P-wave and S-wave arrival times?
the velocities of the P-wave and S-waves
Fatalities from volcanic eruptions have increased steadily over the past 200 years because _________.
the world's population has increased and people are living closer to volcanoes.
Why are tsunami so common in the Pacific Ocean?
there is a large amount of tectonic and earthquake activity around the Pacific
Hurricanes can exist for weeks because ______.
they create their own fuel supply
There are as many as 1500 to 2000 earthquakes in western Canada every year. Most of them tend to be ______.
too small for people to feel
Arrange the following types of mass movement from FASTEST to SLOWEST.
translational slide rock fall slump creep
Most of our weather happens in the ______.
troposphere
What process can transfer both matter and energy?
turbulence
The process of establishing a model of the Earth by "inverting" seismic data involves _______________.
using large quantities of seismic data to figure out details about Earth's structure
The partial pressure exerted by water vapour in air is called ______.
vapour pressure
In the Vaiont Dam disaster, ________ was both a cause and a trigger for the slide.
water
Which of the following is NOT an indication that a home may be on an unstable slope?
water pooling on the surface during heavy rainfall
Most large-magnitude earthquakes occur ______.
where plates converge
A wave with a frequency of 100 Hz is traveling across the ocean. The probable generating force for this wave was ______ and the restoring force will be ______.
wind, surface tension
Which form of energy is related to the distance an object moves times the force moving it?
work
The typical timescale for earthquake energy to build up is ______ and to be released is ______.
years; minutes
A student with a mass of 50 kg walks 5 m up the steps for Biology class, another 5 m up to the next floor for Natural Disasters class and walks back down 10 m to the ground floor for lunch. At this point, the student's potential energy is ______.
zero
Suppose that your refrigerator has mass 100 kg. It rests on frictionless feet to make it easier for you to slide it across the floor. If you move the fridge 3 m across your kitchen, the amount of work you do is ______.
zero