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Essay/Short Answer Study Guide for Wednesday Tests
Natural Disasters Summer 2012
Chapter 2:
1. Draw and label a cross-section that explains the tectonic cycle.
2. Explain some evidence indicating the seafloors spread. Explain several lines of evidence
indicating that the continents move about the Earth.
3. Explain the concept of uniformitarianism in detail.
Chapter 3:
1. Draw cross sections of a normal fault and a reverse fault. What are the differing forces that
determine which one forms? Which involves tension? Compression?
2. What are the differences between earthquake magnitude and earthquake intensity? (discuss in
detail).
3. List and explain the five main variables affecting Mercalli intensities.
Chapter 4:
1. Explain why earthquakes at subduction zones are many times more powerful than spreadingcenter earthquakes. Now compare/contrast the earthquake hazards at the Peru-Chile Trench
zone to the earthquake hazards along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
2. Which part of the United States sits in an opening ocean basin? Evaluate the earthquake threat
there (hint: there are two types of plate boundaries here).
3. What factors combined to cause the resonance in Mexico City that was so deadly in the 1985
earthquake? Discuss this natural disaster in detail.
Chapter 8:
1. What is the energy source of: (a) everyday waves at the beach? (b) tidal waves? (c) tsunami?
Now describe why tsunami is much more powerful than everyday waves?
2. Draw a cross section and explain why an ocean wave breaks as it nears the shoreline.
3. Which two types of fault movements of the seafloor can generate the most powerful tsunamireverse (thrust), normal or strike-slip? Why (explain in detail).
Chapter 6:
1. Sketch a map of an idealized tectonic plate and evaluate the volcanic hazards along each type of
plate edge. Now explain the earthquake hazards along each type of plate edge (see previous
chapter).
2. Why do volcanoes above subduction zones erupt more explosively than volcanoes at spreading
centers?
3. Play the three V’s game. Pick various low, medium and high values for viscosity, volatiles and
volume, and then describe the resultant eruption styles and volcanic landforms. Do this for at
least 4 landforms.
Chapter 16:
1. Distinguish between a meteor, meteoroid, meteorite, an asteroid and comet.
2. List the evidence you could collect to demonstrate that a specific area was the site of an ancient
asteroid impact.
3. Describe the sequence of life-threatening events that occur when a 10 km (6 mile) diameter
asteroid slams into Earth.
Chapter 9:
1. Explain the greenhouse effect in detail and name some of the important greenhouse gases.
Which greenhouse gas are we most concerned about today? Why?
2. Explain the adiabatic cooling that occurs in a rising air mass. Is the lapse rate in a rising mass of
air greater in dry or moist air? (Make sure to explain how relative humidity changes in
rising/expanding air and the effects of latent heat when water vapor changes state to liquid
water which we see as clouds).
3. Use the terms high pressure, low pressure and pressure gradient to explain how winds form.
4. What causes the surface circulation of water throughout the oceans? Explain. What causes the
global circulation of water deep within the ocean? Explain.
Chapter 10:
1. Sketch a series of vertical cross-sections showing the stages of development of a late-afternoon
thundercloud. Label the processes occurring in the cloud during each stage.
2. Draw a map and explain how a Gulf of Mexico warm air mass, a Canadian cold air mass and the
polar-front jet stream can meet and generate tornadoes.
Chapter 11:
1. Draw a cross-section through a hurricane and explain how it operates. Label the internal flow of
winds. Be sure to explain the eye.
2. Compare a tornado to a hurricane. Discuss how each typically forms. Which has the most total
energy? Which has the highest wind speeds?
Chapter 12:
1. Climate is related to the amount of solar radiation received on Earth. How is incoming solar
radiation affected by (1) continental ice sheets?; (2) volcanic ash in the stratosphere?; (3)
elevated levels of atmospheric CO2?; and (4) SO2 blown into the stratosphere by volcanic
eruptions?
2. What causes glacial advances and retreats during an ice age? (make sure to discuss Milankovitch
theory).
3. When massive continental ice sheets melt, what happens to (1) sea level?; (2) deep-ocean-water
circulation?; (3) salinity of sea-surface waters?; (4) organisms living near the sea surface?
4. Describe what happens to produce the El Nino phenomenon? What changes does it bring to
Australia? To California?