section A: the challenges of natural hazards Flashcards
-natural hazards -tectonic hazards -weather hazard -climate changes
What is a natural hazard?
Natural hazards= a natural environmental event that could potentially impact a person
What’s a hazard risk?
Hazard risks=the chance of being affected by a natural hazard
What’s an example of hazard risk?
Those living near the sea are at risk of flooding caused by tropical storms
What factors affect risk?
Urbanisation-densely populated urban areas concentrate this at risk
Poverty- shortage of housing leads to building on risky ground
Farming-the attraction of fertile silt on floodplains puts people at risk
Climate change-global warming raises sea levels and generates more extreme weather
How did plate tectonic theory develop?
Alfred Wegener suggested in 1912 that the continents were once joined together and then gradually floated apart
What was the evidence for plate tectonic theory?
-Fossils found in parts of the continent
-fit together like a puzzle
What are the two tectonic plates and describe them?
Continental-less dense, thicker and older crust
Oceanic-denser, thinner and recently formed crust
What are the plate margins called were plates separate?
Constructive-plates pull apart
Destructive-oceanic plate subduct’s continental plate
Conservative-plates move in opposite directions and get stuck
What makes tectonic plates move?
Conventional currents
Describe how conventional currents works
Heat driven cycles that can move tectonic plates onto their side and gravitational sliding causes the tectonic plate to come back down to the ground.
What happens at ridge push?
Ridge push is the result of gravitational forces acting on the raised oceanic lithosphere around mid-ocean ridges, causing it to slide down the similarly raised but weaker asthenosphere and push on lithospheric material farther from the ridges
What happens at slab pull?
This is similar to a destructive plate boundary where the oceanic crust subduct’s the continual crust
Gravitational sliding:
1)ridge push at divergent margins is caused by rising magma pushing part of the plate on its side
2)slab pull brings the tectonic plate downwards due to gravitational sliding
At what two plate boundaries can ridge push and slab pull happen?
constructive (is ridge push) and destructive (slab pull)
Constructive margin:
-when two tectonic plates pull apart usually continental plates
-magma is heated becomes less dense causing it to rise
-as it reaches the top it breaks the crust with little force and causes a mild earthquake
-the magma that erupts out of the newly created gap causes a flat shield volcano because of its low viscosity and creates flat shield volcanoes
Destructive plate boundary:
-the oceanic plate subduct’s the less dense continental crust
-the continental crust remains but starts to crack
-the oceanic plate starts to melt due to friction and causes hit magma that rises and tries to fit through the cracks of the continental plate
-the magma erupts with force out through the cracks creating a strong earthquake and composite volcanoes
Conservative plate boundary:
-two plates move past each other in opposite directions
-they get stuck due to friction
-as they are still trying to move it causes pressure
-this pressure is then realised as the plate slips and releases huge amounts of energy called seismic waves which causes the ground to shake
Where do only earthquakes form?
Conservative
Primary effect? Example?
Immediate impact- killed, made homeless , a building collapsed
Secondary effect? Example?
Long term impact- diseases , lack of natural resources
Primary response:
Stop and search for survivors
Receive medical treatment from other countries
Secondary response:
Practise drills
Why do people live at risk from tectonic hazards?
Poor people have no choice
Not seen as a great threat
Volcanoes can bring wealth from tourists and people do it for the money
Monitoring volcanoes:
Monitoring earthquakes:
Scientists use science equipment such as a seismometer to detect and record micro quakes
same goes for volcanoes scientist use seismometers