hazards Flashcards
4 layers of the earth
inner and outer core, mantle and crust
whats the lithosphere
crust and upper-most solid mantle
whats the asthenosphere
lies beneath the lithosphere, this layer is semi-molten which the plates float and more
how thick is the oceanic crust
6-10km
how thick is the continental crust
30-70km
what was pangea and who founded it
alfred wegener published a theory in 1912 that a single continent existed 300 million years ago
what were the north and south of pangea called
north- laurasia
south- gondwanaland
geological evidence for pangea theory
- the fit of south america and west africa
-evidence of late carboniferous glaciation, deposits from which are found in south america , antarctica and india - striations on rocks in brazil and west africa
- rock sequences in northern scotland closely agree with those found in eastern canada indicating they were laid down under the same conditions
biological evidence for pangea theory
- fossil brachiopods found in indian limestone are comparable with similar fossils in australia
-fossil remains of the reptile mesosaurus are found in both south america and southern africa, it is unlikely that the same reptile could have developed in both areas or that it could have migrated accross the pacific - the fossilise remains of a plant which existed when coal was being formed have been located only in india and antarctica
what was wegeners theory unable to explain
continental movement, so when the mid-atlantic ridge was discovered sea-floor spreading was occcuring, so subduction must be occuring elsewhere
whats ridge push
when plates move apart ( constructive boundary) the magma rises from the mantle. it creates new hot and dense rock, it pushes the old rock out the way creating a ridge in the crust ( also called gravitational sliding )
slab pull
gravity pulls the old rock into the mantle because the rock has become colder and denser, this occurs at subduction zones in destructive boundaries
where are hotspots and magma plumes located
located along the plate boundaries and alot of them are along the mid-atlantic ridge. however there are a few hot spots in the centre of the pacific plate which are not along the plate boundary
how are hotspots formed
radioactive decay within earth core generates very hot temps
-if decay is conc hotspot forms
-hotpsot heat lower mantle creting localised thermal currents where magma plumes rise
- these plumes sometimes cause volcanic activity in the middle of plate boundaries
-can form islands such as hawaiian islands
physical causes of earthquakes
on plate boundary margins
some occur away from plate boundaries and are associated with the reactivation of old fault lines eg uk
human causes of earthquakes
buildings of large reservoirs
deep mining
fracking
whats the focus
the point at which pressure is released within the earths crust
whats the epicentre
the point on the earth surface immediately above the focus. this is where the earthquake is felt and where the most intense ground shaking takes place
how deep is a shallow focus
0-70km
how deep is a intermediate focus
70-300km
deep focus
300-700km
4 different types of shock waves
primary/pressure waves
secondary/shear waves
surface/love
rayleigh
3 scales in which earthquakes are measured
richter scale
mercalli scale
moment magnitude scale( mms)
mercalli scale
this measures how much damage is caused by observations
measured on a scale between I AND XII
good for insurance purposes