Study guide for Natural Hazards
General suggestions for studying
1. Read over the chapter contents on the first page of each chapter—this gives you
an overview of what’s in the chapter and also shows you how it’s broken down
into parts.
2. Look through all the graphics, the pictures and diagrams and read the captions.
This helps you visualize while you are reading and also gives you some snap
shots of what the author is presenting.
3. Read the brief reviews that summarize individual sections and the summary of
the entire chapter.
4. Scan the list of terms. Do you really know what each term means? If you are not
sure of the precise meaning, dig into the chapter and glossary to find out.
Remember to use the index at the end of the book to help you find terms.
5. Be able to answer the questions for review.
6. Read the chapter and take notes as you read.
7. Go over your notes from class.
Preface: What is science?
What is the difference between a hypothesis and a scientific theory?
You should be able to define both words. The scientific process is often called the
empirical method because it is based on measurements and/or observations.
PROCESSES OF CONSTRUCTION VS. DESTRUCTION:
Know the basic elements and processes of the rock cycle as shown in the diagram in the
Preface. Because we can measure the age of rocks of organic material using the decay
rates of radioactive nuclides (elements having specific properties), we can calculate the
age of the Earth and also the rate of geologic processes.
Chapter 1: Natural disasters and human population
What were some of the great natural disasters of the last decade?
How does human population increase change the nature and scale of disasters?
Are impacts of natural hazards different in developing vs. developed countries?
What are examples of hazardous natural processes?
What is mitigation?
What is the risk equation?
How are the magnitude of a hazardous process and its frequency of occurence (“return
period) related?
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How do we describe population growth mathematically? What is the doubling time?
How has human population changed through time?
Chapter 2: Earth’s internal energy and plate tectonics
How do scientists hypothesize the Solar System formed? What is the difference
between the four inner planets of the Solar System and the large outer planets?
How and when did the Moon likely form?
How old is the Earth and how did its early formation result in the present layering of the
planet into inner and outer core, mantle, and crust, each having a distinctive
composition and density?
What are the lithosphere and asthenosphere; how are they delineated?
What is the difference between stress and strain? Materials are said to undergo elastic,
ductile (plastic), and brittle deformation (change in shape). You should be able to
explain this.
What is isostacy and how does this relate to buoyancy of the continents? In other
words, if a mountain range is eroded down or a giant glacier melts, how will the crust of
the Earth respond?
What energy source powers Earth’s weather, ocean currents, and photosynthesis?
What are the sources of Earth’s internal energy, which powers volcanism and plate
tectonics?
What are the basics of plate tectonics including the main types of plate boundaries and
movements as they interact?
When and how did the theory of plate tectonics come about? How did studies of rock
magnetism help demonstrate seafloor spreading and plate tectonics?
What does the age of the ocean floor imply about plate tectonic processes? How do
subduction zones fit into the theory of plate tectonics?
Mantle plumes are said to the causes of hot spots. What is the evidence for hot spots
from places like the Hawaiian Island chain and Yellowstone?
What is Pangaea?
How is heat transferred via conduction, convection, and radiation? Which of these
mechanisms plays a critical role in plate tectonics?
Late 1700s pioneering geologist James Hutton’s ideas, called uniformitarianism
revolutionized our understanding about how geologic materials allow scientists to infer
Earth’s history and how its geologic processes work. Why is actualism perhaps a better
term for describing this?
Chapter 3 Earthquake waves and seismology
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What is an earthquake? What is a fault? How does a fault differ from a joint (rock
fracture)?
Lisbon Portugal was largely destroyed by a huge quake in 1755. What caused the
damage (both geologically and as related to the construction materials)?
What is the difference between stress and strain? Stress causes strain.
What are the implications of Steno’s simple geologic laws original horizontality,
superposition, and original continuity?
What are strike and dip?
What do the strike and dip tell us about a fault or layer of rock?
Faults can be describe by mining terms hanging wall and footwall. For a dip-slip fault
(one that moves along the dipping plane of the fault) know that which moves up or
down and know whether the fault rupture is caused by compression or tension on the
rocks.
A thrust fault is another name for a reverse fault having a very shallow angle (< 45˚)
What is a strike-slip fault? There are two kinds of movement along a strike-slip fault,
right-lateral and left lateral. Know how to describe these. What kind is the San Andreas
Fault? You should know that one!
When a strike-slip fault bends, or “steps”, it can cause either tension or compression on
the rocks near the fault. This is why there are normal faults and reverse faults (e.g
Northridge 1994) associated with major strike-slip faults.
Short strike-slip faults that separate spreading ridges are called transform faults.
What is a seismometer, seismograph, etc? What are amplitude, wavelength, frequency,
and period? What is the epicenter as opposed to the focus (aka hypocenter)
The two kinds of body waves are P waves and S waves. How do they behave and differ in
their motion and velocity? What have these waves told us about the internal structure
of the planet?
What are surface waves? [Love and Raleigh waves)
How do we locate earthquakes? How many seisometers would you need to do this?
What is earthquake magnitude vs. intensity. What is the Richter Scale? Know that it is
logarithmic. Why is the Moment-magnitude scale used instead of the Richter Scale
these days?
Aftershocks, foreshocks, etc...
What is the Mercalli Intensity Scale? What is acceleration?
Why is duration of shaking important? What about the importance of materials
buildings are constructed of? What is base isolation? ...a shear wall...diagonal bracing
What is retrofitting?
Chapter 4: Plate tectonics and earthquakes
We discussed a number of important earthquakes in class. Knowing the tectonic plates
interact by converging, diverging, or at transform boundaries, you should be able to
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recognize the importance of plate tectonics and the various boundaries of plates in
where earthquakes happen and also as to how plate tectonics influences the types of
earthquakes that happen.
What kind of faults would you expect at divergent, convergent, or transform
boundaries? How about the size of the earthquakes that happen in these various
places?
The 2008 Szechuan quake in China killed 90,000. Why did such a damaging quake
happen there? In other words, what’s the plate tectonics connection?
What are some examples of the places where earthquakes happen that relate to
different kinds of plate tectonic boundaries?
What is the significance of the three types of convergent plate boundaries? Those are
ocean-ocean, ocean –continent, and continent-continent.
In which type of plate tectonic setting might you find a megathrust subduction zone
fault? ....a rift? ...a major strike-slip fault?
What is a seismic gap? What is the sign that a fault is “locked”, and what does that
imply?
Know something about the major subduction zone megathrust quakes that have
happened in the past 60 years. Why are tsunamis sometimes associated with these
earthquakes? ..and why can the tsunamis be so huge?
Where did the Loma Prieta (“world series”) earthquake happen?
What causes most deaths in earthquakes?
Chapter 5 Lessons and regional settings of earthquakes
Along a long fault zone would you expect the shaking to be the same along the entire
length of the fault? Does the entire fault rupture at one time?
Where was the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and why was it so damaging?
The Puget Lowland earthquakes of 1949, 1965, and 2001 were relatively large, but
caused significantly less damage that similarly sized faults like that at Northridge, why?
Where were these normal fault earthquakes located?
What is paleoseismology? How is it useful for investigating the probabilities of future
quakes? How do you date a piece of carbon or twig you find buried in a fault zone? Can
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seismologists “predict” earthquakes? What is the difference between prediction and
forecasting?
Where is the New Madrid seismic zone?
Name several ways humans have caused earthquakes and give a couple of examples.
What data is used to create a shakemap ?
What are some of the main places you might find earthquakes in the United States?
Miscellaneous topics related to earthquakes
Effects of earthquakes:
strong ground motion (shaking)
liquefaction
landslides
tsunamis
What is liquefaction, and what soil conditions are needed for it to occur?
What is a lateral spread?
How fast do tsunamis travel in the open ocean?
What is the wavelength of a tsunami?
What is tsunami runup?
Is the first tsunami wave the biggest typically? How many wave arrivals may occur?
Pat’s lecture on hazardous volcanic processes, volcano assessments, and
monitoring of volcanoes:
Types of volcanoes (shield, composite cone/stratovolcano, cinder cone, maar, caldera),
their compositions, features, associated events, and examples on Earth— What kind of
eruptions build shield volcanoes vs. stratovolcanoes (aka composite volcanoes)?
Know the hazardous volcanic processes: (lahars or volcanic mudflows or debris flows,
landslides (ex: debris avalanche), tephra and ash, pyroclastic flows (aka “ash flows” or
“nuee ardentes”), tsunamis, gas discharges, lava flows, jokuhlhaup
Volcano hazard assessments: study of history of different processes at each volcano and
mapping of the size and extent; result: reports, maps, probabilities that can be used to
forecast future expectations of hazards
Volcanic Monitoring: earthquakes, deformation (swelling), and gases by measuring
changes. Also changes in heat—All can be used to assess a volcano’s “vital signs” in
realtime so that predictions can be made. What is measured by AFMs (acoustic flow
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monitors)? Where are AFMs deployed today in the Cascade Range? What is radar
interfereometry?
What is the difference between a forecast and a prediction? Know the difference between
assessments of past history and monitoring of current activity; and which one results in
a forecast vs. potential prediction
Stratovolcanoes of Washington State: Mounts Baker, Rainier, St. Helens, Adams, and Glacier
Peak. Where is Mount Hood?
Mount St. Helens 1980 scenario: what happened?
How can volcanoes warm they climate or cool it? Which gases do which? How is that the
climate is changed by these eruptions?
effusive or peaceful eruption vs. explosive? Which is mafic, and which is felsic?
See also Michael Ritter’s chapter on Volcanoes in his online book on Physical Geolography.
Select “topic outline” too see the topics for this chapter.
Chapter 6 Abbott: volcanoes and their plate tectonic context
Relationship between tectonic plates and volcano types and divergent, convergent,
transform plate boundaries
Eruptive style:
Craters and calderas
Fissure eruptions & flood (“plateau”) basalts
Formation of columns, pillows, lava tubes
Explosive pyroclastic eruptions
Relationship between magma silica content and viscosity
Relationship between magma gas and silica content and explosivity
The 3 Vs: Viscosity, volume, volatiles!
Chapter 7 Abbott: Case histories of volcanoes
Know the part about the Cascade Range and Mount St. Helens
Krakatoa’s 1883 eruption created a tsunami that killed more than 36,000.
You should know by now about the 1985 events at Nevado del Ruiz in Columbia that
killed more than 22,000 people in the town of Armero. What town lies the same
distance from Mount Rainier as Armero is from Nevado del Ruiz?
What is probably the biggest hazard at Mount Rainier?
Tambora 1815. This eruption was colossal. How did it affect the climate?
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What volcanic gas can cool the Earth, and which is a greenhouse gas that cause
atmospheric warming?
What happened at Lake Nyos in Cameroon?
What is the VEI?
Misc: volcano case histories: Vesuvius and Pompeii, Santorini, Long Valley California,
Yellowstone, Laki in Iceland, Mount Pelee, El Chichon, Krakatoa, Tambora, Pinatubo,
Toba 74 ka
Chapter 9 Weather
What is the difference between weather and climate?
How does the differing intensity of the Sun’s radiation on Earth affect circulation
patterns and weather?
What is albedo?
What is the electromagnetic spectrum and what are the main components of solar
radiation?
How does the Earth re-radiate solar energy, and in what part of the spectrum?
What are the “greenhouse” gases, and what is the “greenhouse effect”?
What are the main types of heat transfer?
Be able to define conduction, radiation, convection, latent heat
Be able to define humidity, relative humidity, and dew point.
What is the latent heat of condensation?
What is adiabatic cooling (or heating)?
Know the difference between dry adiabatic lapse rate vs the moist adiabatic lapse rate.
Differential heating of land and water
Air circulations: sea breeze, land breeze
Layers of the lower atmosphere: troposphere, tropopause, stratosphere—how
delineated?
Atmospheric pressure and wind: pressure gradiant
Coriolis effect how does it affect northern vs. southern hemisphere?
Northern hemisphere: sinking cold air = high pressure to low clockwise flow; rising warm
air = flows inward and upward counterclockwise (cyclonic)
General circulation model of the atmosphere: Hadley Cells, Ferrell cells, polar cells:
transports heat from low to high latitudes
Trade winds, westerlies, polar easterlies, jet streams,
ITCZ Intertropical Convergence Zone! What is it??
Air masses marine vs continental; tropical vs. polar; fronts
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Upper air movement vs lower air: how does wind interact with pressure gradients
differently in upper air vs. air near Earth’s surface?
Ocean surface circulation—what drives this? How do continents direct the flow of
surface ocean currents? How does humidity vary as a result?
Deep ocean circulation: aka thermohaline circulation or “global ocean conveyor belt”;
may take as long as a millennium to complete cycle. Driven by density differences
related to temperature and salinity: sinking of water in the higher latitudes.
Chapter 10 Tornadoes, lightning, heat and cold
Know volcabulary words: hypothermia, etc
Lake-effect snows
Thunderstorms—convective storms with lightning and thunder
“ordinary thunderstorms” vs. air-mass thunderstorms
Cumulus–mature–dissipating stages
down drafts, gust fronts
multicell storms
severe thunderstorms
supercell—long lasting, rotation
microburst, shelf cloud, roll clouds, etc
derecho
MCS-mesoscale convective complex, squall line
dryline thunderstorms (Texas)
lightning
tornado vs funnel cloud
dimensions of most tornadoes
speed (forward movement) of tornado
velocity of tornadic winds
tornado alley
Fujita Scale
tornado watch vs. tornado warning
supercell tornadoes, wall cloud
Mesocyclone
hook echo
gustnadoes
doppler radar
doppler lidar
NEXRAD
waterspouts
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Chapter 11: hurricanes
easterly wave or tropical wave—weak trough of low pressure near the equator
hurricane (defn) vs. tropical storm or depression
hurricanes also known as typhoons or tropical cyclones
eye and eye wall
relationship of hurricane strength and warm water
hurricane watch vs. hurricane warning
Saffir-Simpson Scale, p. 311
Chapter 12: Climate change
IPCC
Greenhouse gases
Proxy evidence of past climate: isotopes, tree rings, geologic environments (deposits
that form in different kinds of climates), corals, caves, pollen, ice cores, cores of bogs
and lakes, deep-sea drilling and marine fossils
Earth’s climate history—paleoclimate
Plate tectonics
First photosynthesis (know about when and know what life form was photosynthesizing)
Oxygen revolution and the banded iron deposits (when)
Snowball Earth
Oxygen reaches ~20% of Earth’s atmosphere and life explodes
PETM-Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
Pleistocene Ice Ages
interglacial periods
Younger Dryas
Little Ice Age
Maunder Minimum (p. 390)
Global Ocean Conveyor Belt
IPCC, greenhouse gases and radiative forcing
feedback mechanisms, p. 381
Milankovitch cycles: eccentricity, precession (wobbling), obliquity (inclination)
forcing factors
volcanoes and CO2
volcanoes and sulfate aerosols
ocean acidification
desertification
sea level rise
melting glaciers
Global climate models
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Chapter 15 Mass movements (aka mass wasting)
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Classification of events (material involved and nature and rate of movement)
Types of material involved (rock, debris, earth)
Types and relative speeds of movement (falls, slides, flows);
Creep and solifluction are slope failure types that work very slowly
Evidence of mass wasting on the landscape: scarps, cracks, etc; LIDAR imagery now of great
assistance in identification of landslides
F. Impacts of water, vegetation, oversteepening, undercutting, orientation of bedding (dipping
layers or beds), “rock quality” (how hard is the rock!), and fracturing on mass wasting
G. Mass wasting “triggers”: examples: saturation and increased pore water pressures, timber
harvesting and loss of root strength as cause of shallow, rapid (‘translational”) landslides;
earthquakes; overloading; unloading the toe of the slope, etc
H. Turbidity currents from submarine landslides
I. Noteworthy landslides…
Coastal hazards
Wave erosion
Wave refraction
Longshore current causes longshore drift (aka littoral drift)- sand moves along coast
Groins and jetties can cause accumulation or erosion of sand depending on direction of
longshore current
Tombolo, baymouth bars, spits, barrier islands
Coastal landslides
Sea level increase with climate change
Tsunamis
Chapter 17: Impacts with space objects
Asteroids, Asteroid Belt (2–4 astronomical units from Earth), meteroids, meteors,
meteorites (most from Asteroid Belt)
Many meteorite types include metallic (irons) and rocky (stones); irons more well
preserved
Impact scars
Period of heavy bombardment (early in history of Solar System)—evidence on the moon
in the Maria
High potential velocity of asteroids and comments
Comets
Sources of comets: Kuiper belt; Oort cloud
Perihelion vs. aphelion
Effects of Solar wind on comets tails, sublimates
Halley’s Comet; Shoemaker-Levy 9
Rates of meteoroid influx (surprising!)
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How does Earth’s atmosphere protect us? Shooting stars
Craters: simple vs. complex
Shocked quartz, stishovite, coesite, shatter cones, glassy spherules, microscopic
diamonds, iridium
Noteworthy impacts include, Meteor Crater Arizona, Chesapeake Bay impact structure,
Chicxulub impact crater Yucatan and offshore (66 Ma) Tunguska Siberia, and most
recently, Cheylyabinsk in Russia
near-Earth objects
Apophis
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