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Geography Case Studies and Key Terms > HAZARDS: key terms > Flashcards

HAZARDS: key terms Flashcards

1
Q

what is a NATURAL HAZARD?

A

a perceived event that threatens life, the built environment and the natural environment, occurring in the lithosphere, the atmosphere and the hydrosphere

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2
Q

what is RISK?

A

the exposure of people to a hazardous event that places potential threat to them, their possessions and their built environment

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3
Q

what is VULNERABILITY?

A

the potential for loss

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4
Q

what is FATALISM?

A

such hazards are natural events which are part of living in the area

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5
Q

what is ADAPTATION as a hazard perception?

A

people seeing they can prepare and survive hazards by prediction, prevention and protection

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6
Q

what is FEAR?

A

people feeling so vulnerable that they move away to a perceived safe area

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7
Q

what is RESILIENCE?

A

the sustained ability to utilise available resources to respond to, withstand and recover from the effects of natural hazards

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8
Q

what is INTEGRATED RISK MANAGEMENT?

A

a management technique to confront the natural hazard by considering the social, economic and political factors, incorporating:
- hazard identification
- risk analysis
- establishing priorities
- treating and reducing risk
- developing public awareness
- monitoring and reviewing

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9
Q

what is PREDICTION?

A

the ability to to give warnings so action can be taken to reduce the impact of a hazard event

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10
Q

what is DISTRIBUTION?

A

the area affected by the hazard, or where the hazard is found

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11
Q

what is FREQUENCY?

A

the distribution of a hazard through time

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12
Q

what is MAGNITUDE?

A

the assessment of the size of the impacts of a hazard event

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13
Q

what is a PRIMARY EFFECT?

A

events resulting directly from a hazard event

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14
Q

what is a SECONDARY EFFECT?

A

events resulting from the primary effects

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15
Q

what is a HAZARD?

A

a threat posed to people by the natural environment

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16
Q

what is a DISASTER?

A

a hazards that causes severe harm to a community

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17
Q

what is PERCEPTION?

A

the way in which an individual or group views the threat of a hazard

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18
Q

what is MITIGATION?

A

long-term action taken to reduce or eliminate the risk to life and property

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19
Q

what is SOIL LIQUEFACTION?

A

the process by which saturated, unconsolidated soil is converted into a suspension during an earthquake

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20
Q

what is the ASTHENOSPHERE?

A

the part of the mantle below the lithosphere that is hotter and more fluid

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21
Q

what is the LITHOSPHERE?

A

the crust and upper mantle

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22
Q

what is a CONSERVATIVE PLATE MARGIN?

A

two tectonic plates move past each other

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23
Q

what is a CONSTRUCTIVE PLATE MARGIN?

A

two tectonic plates move apart to generate new crust

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24
Q

what is a DESTRUCTIVE PLATE MARGIN?

A

two plates converge, destroying crust

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25
Q

what is PALEOMAGNETISM?

A

the study of the polarity of ancient magnetic particles in rocks

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26
Q

what is a RIFT VALLEY?

A

a long, deep valley in the centre of a spreading ridge, formed between parallel faults where a block of crust has sunk

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27
Q

what is the theory of SEA-FLOOR SPREADING?

A

the theory that the ocean floor is moving away from the mid-oceanic ridge across the deep ocean basin to disappear beneath continents and island arcs

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28
Q

what is a TECTONIC PLATE?

A

one of a series of rigid section of the crust that floats on the upper mantle and move relative to each other

29
Q

what is SLAB PULL?

A

the subducted oceanic crust creates suction, pulling more down

30
Q

what is RIDGE PUSH (gravitational sliding)?

A

ridges form, and gravity acts on them as they reach high elevations, pushing the plates down and apart

31
Q

what is PRIMORDIAL HEAT?

A

heat left over from the formation of the Earth

32
Q

what is RADIOGENIC HEAT?

A

heat produced when radioactive isotopes decay, such as Uranium-238

33
Q

what is OCEANIC CRUST?

A

relatively thin, dense and made of basalt

34
Q

what is CONTINENTAL CRUST?

A

thicker, less dense and made of granite

35
Q

what is CONTINENTAL DRIFT?

A

the theory that, 300 million years ago, there was one giant continent: Pangaea, which split in Laurasia and Gondwana, which further split into the modern continents

36
Q

what is PLATE TECTONIC THEORY?

A

the theory stating that Earth’s crust is made of several rigid plates moving relative to each other

37
Q

what is a MID-OCEAN RIDGE?

A

a constructive plate boundary landform that is a system of submarine mountains and volcanoes

38
Q

what is SUBDUCTION?

A

when the denser plate is forced under the lighter plate

39
Q

what are FOLD MOUNTAINS?

A

parallel chains of high volcanic mountains formed from deformed sediments

40
Q

what are ISLAND ARCS?

A

a line of volcanic islands

41
Q

what is a HOT SPOT?

A

local heating at the boundary between the mantle and the core

42
Q

what is VISCOSITY?

A

how liquid something is

43
Q

what is an EFFUSIVE eruption?

A

one where the gases rise easily, so less pressure forms and eruptions are more gentle

44
Q

what are EXPLOSIVE eruptions?

A

one where gases rise with difficulty, so pressure builds up causing more violent eruptions

45
Q

what is TEPHRA?

A

solid material of varying grain size ejected into the atmosphere by the volcano

46
Q

what are PYROCLASTIC FLOWS/NUEES ARDENTES?

A

gas-charged, hot, high speed flows of ash and tephra

47
Q

what are LAHARS (volcanic mudflows)?

A

unconsolidated ash combined with water sweeping down a river valley

48
Q

what is an EARTHQUAKE?

A

the release of pressure from a slow build up of stress within rocks

49
Q

what is the FOCUS of an earthquake?

A

the point at which the pressure release occurs within the crust

50
Q

what is the EPICENTRE of the earthquake?

A

the point immediately above the focus on the Earth’s surface

51
Q

what is GROUND RUPTURE?

A

the visible breaking and displacement of the Earth’s surface
- this is a primary effect/hazard of a volcano

52
Q

what is SEISMIC GAP?

A

an area that has not had any real seismic activity for 20 years

53
Q

what is RETROFITTING?

A

making older structures more hazard resistant

54
Q

what is the MOMENT MAGNITUDE SCALE (MMS)?

A

measurement of the size of the earthquake in terms of the energy released

55
Q

what is the MERCALLI SCALE?

A

measurement of the intensity of the event and its impacts

56
Q

what is a LANDSLIDE?

A

slope failure as a result of ground shaking

57
Q

what is DRAWDOWN?

A

nthe wave trough in front of the tsunami causing a reduction is sea level

58
Q

what is a WILDFIRE?

A

a large, uncontrolled inferno that burns and quickly spreads through wild landscapes

59
Q

what is an IGNITION SOURCE?

A

the thing that starts a fire

60
Q

what is FUEL?

A

something that feeds the wildfire

61
Q

what are RETARDANTS?

A

chemicals that slow fires

62
Q

what is PYROPHYTIC VEGETATION?

A

plants adapted to tolerate wildfires

63
Q

what are CROWN FIRES?

A

wildfires that spread through the canopy

64
Q

what are SURFACE FIRES?

A

fires that sweep rapidly along the ground

65
Q

what is a TROPICAL STORM?

A

a low pressure revolving weather system that develops in the tropics

66
Q

what is the CORIOLIS FORCE?

A

rotational force of the Earth

67
Q

what is STORM SURGE?

A

a rapid rise in sea level where water is piled up against a coastline to a level in excess of a normal high tides

68
Q

what is CONVECTION?

A

the movement caused by the tendency for hotter material to rise and cooler material sink

Geography Case Studies and Key Terms (10 decks)

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