Natural Resources Review Flashcards
Natural Hazard
A natural event that has the possibility to cause damage.
Natural Disaster
A natural hazard that affects human population.
Ex: volcano, earthquake, tsunami, etc
4 Spheres of the Earth
Atmosphere-(air) gases surrounding the earth.
Lithosphere-(land) earths hard outer core.
Hydrosphere-(water) oceans, lakes, rivers, glaciers.
Biosphere-all living things and where they live.
Volcano?
Allows hot lava to escape magma chamber.
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Floods
An overflow of water submerged land that is usually dry.
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Dust Devil
Strong, well formed, and relatively short lived whirlwind ranging from small to large.
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Wildfire
Forest fire, bushfire, woodland fire or rural fire that is unplanned, uncontrollable, and unpredictable.
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Earthquake
The shaking of the Earths surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the earths lithosphere.
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Haboobs
Giant walls of dust created from high winds rushing out of a collapsing thunderstorm.
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Landslides
The movement of a mass of rocks, debris, or earth down a slope.
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Plagues/Pandemics
Plague is a disease that affects humans or other animals.
Pandemic is a plague of a whole country or world.
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Pollution
The presence or introduction into the environment of a substance or thing that has a harmful or poisonous effect.
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Blizzards
A severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility.
Avalanches
Rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain.
Asteroid Impact
Astronomical object that impacts a surface (like the earth) causing measurable effects.
Sinkholes
A hole in the ground that forms when water dissolves surface rock.
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Locusts
A group of a certain kind of grasshopper in the Acrididae family. Usually solitary, but sometimes there are lots and they swarm areas and destroy crops.
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Drought
A prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall, leading to a shortage of water.
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Hurricanes
A tropical cyclone rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low pressure center, strong winds in a spiral arrangement with thunderstorms that originates in ocean.
Tsunamis
A series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally occurring in ocean or large lakes.
Tornadoes
A violently rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground.
Lahar
A violent type of mudflow or debris flow composed of a slurry of rocks, debris and water.
Cyclones
A large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure. (Volcano in the ocean)
Red Tides
Occur when microscopic algae multiply to higher than normal concentrations, often discoloring the water.
