L1 - Environmental Hazards

Question 1

What date was Tunguska?

Answer 1

30 June 1908

Question 2

What were the effects of Tunguska?

Answer 2

• Set of Earthquake

- Flattened 2000km2 area

Question 3

Define a hazard

Answer 3

Naturally occurring or human induced event or condition with the potential to create loss i.e. general source of danger

• Threat to people, goods or environment
• A potential threat to humans and their welfare (cause)

Question 4

Three categories of hazard by how voluntary they are

Answer 4

• Natural
• Quasi-Natural
• Technological

Question 5

Define a diaster

Answer 5

When a large number of people/goods/environment are killed, injured or killed by a hazardous event (community scale)
- The realisation of a hazard (actual consequence)

Question 6

Give an example of a disaster

Answer 6

Aberfan Disaster, 1966, Wales

• Mining waste landslide
• Destroyed primary school

Question 7

Define risk

Answer 7

Actual exposure of something of human value to a hazard
- Probability of hazard occurring & creating loss (likely consequence)
(Probability x Severity of Loss)

Question 8

Three general types of hazard

Answer 8

• Natural Hazards
• Technological Hazards
• Context Hazards

Question 9

Define a natural hazard

Answer 9

Extreme geophysical or biological events

Question 10

Give four sub-types of natural hazard

Answer 10

• Geologic
• Atmospheric
• Hydrologic
• Biologic

Question 11

Define a technological hazard

Answer 11

Major accidents

Question 12

Give four sub-types of technological hazards

Answer 12

• Transport
• Industrial Hazards
• Unsafe public buildings
• Hazardous Materials

Question 13

Define a context hazard

Answer 13

Global environmental change

Question 14

Give four sub-types of context hazard

Answer 14

• International air pollution
• Environmental degradation
• Land pressure
• Super hazards

Question 15

What is catastrophism?

Answer 15

Important change in physical landscape ascribed to catastrophic events
- Favoured historically for religious reasons

Question 16

What is Diluviam and who thought there was a global layer of it from Noah’s flood?

Answer 16

• A layer of sediment left over from flooding

- D. Buckland

Question 17

Who thought the Earth was 6000 years old

Answer 17

Archbishop Ussher, 1654

Question 18

What is uniformitarianism?

Answer 18

Processes of erosion, lithification and uplift observed today have also occured in the past
- Supports Old Earth

Question 19

What are Charles Lyells for principles of Geology?

Answer 19

• Superposition
• Original Horizontality
• Cross-cutting relationships
• Unconformities

Question 20

Who pioneered uniformitarianism and uncomformities

Answer 20

James Hutton

Question 21

What do unconformities suggest?

Answer 21

Cycles of erosion, transport, deposition and uplift

Question 22

What are Charles Lyells two methodological laws of uniformitarianism?

Answer 22

• Uniformity of Law - Natural laws constant

- Uniformity of Process - If current processes can explain features, don’t invent new ones

Question 23

What are Charles Lyells two substantive laws of uniformitarianism?

Answer 23

• Uniformity of rate - The pace of change is slow, steady and gradual
• Uniformity of state - Change is continuous but leads nowhere

Question 24

What determines human sensitivity to hazards?

Answer 24

• Physical exposure

- Human vulnerability

Question 25

Define Physical Exposure

Answer 25

Potentially damaging events at a specific location

Question 26

Define Human Vulnerbility

Answer 26

Involves peoples capacities to avoid, resist or recover from harm

Question 27

Give an example of an attempt to measure vulnerability.

What methodological problems are there?

Answer 27

• World Risk Index

- Difficult to collect data