Earthquake/Volcano Flashcards
Fault
(of a rock formation) be broken by a fault or faults.
ring of fire
The Ring of Fire is an area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean where a large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.
transform / strike-slip
A transfom fault or transform boundary, also known as conservative plate boundary since these faults neither create nor destroy lithosphere, is a type of fault whose relative motion is predominantly horizontal in either sinistral or dextral direction.
divergent / normal
a boudary
convergent / reverse
a bounary
P-waves
P-waves are a type of body wave, called seismic waves in seismology, that travel through a continuum and are the first waves from an earthquake to arrive at a seismograph. The continuum is made up of gases (as sound waves), liquids, or solids, including the Earth.
S-waves
S-waves, secondary waves, or shear waves (sometimes called an elastic S-wave) are a type of elastic wave, and are one of the two main types of elastic body waves, so named because they move through the body of an object, unlike surface waves.
epicenter
the point on the earth’s surface vertically above the focus of an earthquake.
focus
(of a person or their eyes) adapt to the prevailing level of light and become able to see clearly.
Richter scale
a numerical scale for expressing the magnitude of an earthquake on the basis of seismograph oscillations. The more destructive earthquakes typically have magnitudes between about 5.5 and 8.9; the scale is logarithmic and a difference of one represents an approximate thirtyfold difference in magnitude.
explosive volcano
An explosive eruption is a volcanic term to describe a violent, explosive type of eruption. Mount St. Helens in 1980 was an example.
nonexplosive volcano
A second type of volcanic eruption is a non-explosive or effusive eruption (Figure 8.11). Because the composition of magma is different in different volcanoes, the properties of the lava are different. In effusive eruptions, lava flows are relatively calm and do not explode out of the volcano.
Krakatoa
Krakatoa, or Krakatau, is a volcanic island situated in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung.
Yellowstone supervolcano
The Yellowstone Caldera is the volcanic caldera and supervolcano located in Yellowstone National Park in the United States, sometimes referred to as the Yellowstone Supervolcano.
San Andreas fault
The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly 1300 km through California. It forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is right-lateral strike-slip.
