Restless Earth Flashcards

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1
Q

Name the 4 layers of the Earth

A

Inner core, outer core, mantle, crust

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2
Q

Name 3 of the earth plates

A

Any from: North American, South American, Eurasian, Pacific, Indo Australian, Antarctic, African, Nazca

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3
Q

Name the 4 types of plate margin and the direction they move

A

Destructive subduction- oceanic subducts beneath continental, Destructive collision- 2 continental plates collide, Constructive- 2 plates move away from eachother, Conservative- 2 plates slide past each other

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4
Q

What do the 4 types of plate margin create?

A

Destructive subduction: Volcanoes&earthquakes, Destructive collision: Volcanoes&earthquakes, Constructive: Volcanoes, Conservative: Earthquakes

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5
Q

What are the differences between oceanic crust and continental crust?

A
  • Continental crust is older
  • Oceanic crust is denser
  • Continental crust cannot be renewed or destroyed
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6
Q

What determines the direction of plate movement?

A

Convection currents within the mantle

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7
Q

How are volcanoes formed at destructive subduction margins?

A
  • Oceanic plate is subducted beneath continental plate
  • The friction between the plates builds pressure which causes and earthquake
  • The friction also causes the plate to melt and become magma
  • The magma is then forced upwards by the earthquake-causing a volcanic eruption
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8
Q

How are volcanoes formed at constructive margins?

A
  • Convection currents cause 2 oceanic plates away from eachother
  • As they move apart, hot magma rises and solidifies forming an underwater volcano
  • These often become islands
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9
Q

How do earthquakes occur at conservative margins?

A
  • Convection currents force an oceanic plate and a continental plate past eachother
  • As they slide past they catch, causing pressure to build
  • The pressure is then released, causing an earthquake
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10
Q

What are the highest places on Earth?

A

Fold mountains

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11
Q

What arre the deepest places on Earth?

A

Ocean trenches

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12
Q

How are fold mountains formed?

A
  1. Geosynclines (depressions on ocean floor) are filled with layers of sediment,deposited by the ocean
  2. The layers of sediment are compressed and become sedimentary rock
  3. The plates are forced together at a destructive margin
  4. The sedimentary layers are forced upwards into fold mountains
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13
Q

How are ocean trenches formed?

A
  • They’re formed at destructive subduction margins when two plates subduct (either oceanic continental or oceanic oceanic)
  • As the plates subduct the ocean trench is formed
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14
Q

What are the 4 things people use the Alps for?`

A
  1. Mining- minerals and metals
  2. Farming- dairy
  3. Hydro Electric Power (HEP)- river water
  4. Tourism- skiing, lakeside resorts, hotels, restaurants
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15
Q

Name the features of a composite volcano?

A
  • Viscous (thick) lava
  • Steep sided/tall
  • Highly explosive
  • Lots of pyroclastic surges
  • Irregular eruptions
  • Destructive margins
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16
Q

Give an example of a composite volcano

A

Mt St Helens

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17
Q

Name the features of a shield volcano?

A
  • Basalt (runny) lava
  • Gentle sided/flat
  • Non explosive
  • No pyroclastic flow
  • Regular eruptions
  • Constructive margins
18
Q

Give an example of a shield volcano

A

Mauna Loa, Hawaii

19
Q

The date of the Mt St Helens eruption?

A

18th of May 1980

20
Q

Location of the Mt St Helens eruption?

A

Mt St Helens, Cascade Mountains, Washington State, USA

21
Q

What was the cause of the Mt St Helens eruption?

A

An earthquake causing a landslide on the north east side of the mountain, caused a cryptodome to explode leading to a lateral blast

22
Q

What were the effects of the Mt St Helens eruption (primary and secondary)?

A

Primary: Pyroclastic flow, Truman’s cabin destroyed, 27km wipeout zone, forests uprooted, ash and debris fall into Toutle River and Spirit Lake, 57 killed
Secondary: 3 million tourists now visit, lahars, ash and debris in river and lake destroys habitats, ash clogged air conditioning and blocked roads

23
Q

What were the immediate term and long term repsonses to the Mt St Helens eruption?

A

Immediate: Film crews flock to mountain, America declares a state of emergency, army search for survivors, helicopters rescue people, all planes are grounded, 2 million gas masks given out
Long term: USGS now monitor the volcano, 8km exclusion zone set up, 3 million tourists now visit every year, river had to be cleared to prevent flooding

24
Q

How to USGS now monitor Mt St Helens?

A

GPS Systems (satellites detecting earth movements), Tiltmeters (identify small changes in the landscape- like a spirit level), Seismographs (detect tremors/earthquakes), Spectrometers (measure sulphur dioxide), Digital Cameras (can create time lapses of the growths)

25
Q

What are the positive impacts of volcanic eruptions?

A

Fertile soil, tourism, geothermal energy, precious and semi precious gems

26
Q

What is the size and shape of a supervolcano and give a named example of one in the world

A

10 times bigger than an average composite volcano and a calderra (huge depression in the Earth)- Yellowstone Park, USA

27
Q

What are the expected global effects of a supervolcano?

A

Billions of tonnes of ash released, sun blocked out, planes grounded so trading stops, crops die leading to starvation, a fall in global temperatures leading to a new ice age

28
Q

What are the two scales used to measure earthquakes?

A

Richter and Mercalli

29
Q

What was the date, location and magnitude of the Kobe earthquake?

A

17th of January 1995, Southern coast of Japan, 7.2 on the Richter Scale

30
Q

What was the cause of the Kobe earthquake?

A

The subterranean fault line ruptured under the city

31
Q

What were the primary and secondary effects of the Kobe earthquake?

A

Primary: Hanshin Freeway destroyed, water mains burst, homes collapsed, 6430 killed, 43,972 injured, 150 billion dollars of infrastructure destroyed
Secondary: Ruptured gas mains, fires, temporary shelters required, fires still burning a week after the quake, hundreds of aftershocks, congestion on roads, food and clean water shortage, water leaks through cracks in the earth

32
Q

What were the short term and long term responses of the Kobe earthquake?

A

Immediate: Japanese government evacuated people to temporary shelters, bulldozers were used to clear fallen buildings, emergency aid provided (food water shelter clothing), clean up operation started
Long term: Electricity restored a week later, city re-zoned with more open space and wider roads. new homes built to strict regulatiions making them safe, seismographs installed to monitor earthquakes, people educated on quakes, 1.2 million volunteers involved in relief efforts, debris removal completed by 1998

33
Q

What was the date, location and magnitude of the Haiti earthquake?

A

January 13th 2010, Port au Prince, 7.0 magnitude

34
Q

What was the cause of the Haiti earthquake?

A

The Carribean plate sliding past the North American plate reactivated a fault line running directly under Port au Prince

35
Q

What were the primary and secondary effects of the Haiti earthquake?

A

Primary: Nearly 250,000 dead, more injured, 1 in 3 buildings collapsed, infrastructure destroyed, liquefaction in Port au Prince, children orphaned
Secondary: Violence and social unrest- looting and rape reported, 1 million living in temporary camps facing hypothermia, cholera spread killing thousands, prisons broke open- 4000 escaped, 1.5 million homeless, water polluted

36
Q

What were the immediate and long term repsonses of the Haiti earthquake?

A

Immediate: Aid slow to arrive as port and flights closed for days, responses from the UN were slowed and hampered by social unrest, only one ambulance for the entire city, only 132 people pulled from rubble, survivors had to search on their own, the dead laid unburied, charity work responded straight away
Long term: City still not rebuilt in 2012, the millions of pounds given to the NGOs didn’t actually go to the survivors, up to a million still lived in camps 1 year after quake, many still dying from cholera 10 months after quake

37
Q

What was the date of the Sendai earthquake/tsunami?

A

11th March 2011

38
Q

What caused the Japanese tsunami?

A

A magnitude 9 earthquake caused by the Pacific plate subducting beneath the Eurasian plate jolted the seabed, displacing hundreds of cubic km of water

39
Q

What were the effects of the Japanese tsunami?

A

18,000 people were killed, sea walls breached, infrastructure destroyed, Fukushima reactors shut down, liquefaction, ships dragged inland

40
Q

What were the responses to the Japanese tsunami?

A

Warnings were sent out through text messages and announcements, experts analysed what had happed to find ways of preventing so much damage in the future, rescue workers were sent to Japan