Tectonics Flashcards
What is the key characteristic of lavas?
- Silica content
What are seismic waves?
- Waves of energy which travel through the crust caused by the release of pressure from an EQ or volcano.
How might the population size and density impact on EQ severity?
- Larger and denser the pop. in an EQ zone, the more people at risk
- Izmit, Turkey, 1999- Rapid population increases, migrants crammed into high density housing
Describe the characteristics of Plinian Eruptions?
- Magma has high silica content
- Highly explosive
- AD79 Pompeii and Herculaneum eruption.
- Started by highly viscous magma with high gas content.
- Can last several days
- Tall eruption plume with destructive lava flows.
What are the factors which might impact on earthquake severity?
1) Time of day
2) Population size and density
3) Housing quality
4) Economic development
5) Geology
What biological evidence did Wegener find?
- Fossil evidence which is essential
- Specific fern found in Africa, Antartica, Australia and S. America. This provided evidence that the continents must have been joined some 250 million years ago.
- The Mesosaurus is an extinct reptile that has been found in Africa and South America. As it was a coastal animal it couldn’t have crossed the Atlantic ocean.
What caused the Northridge, california, 1994 EQ?
- January 1994, 4:31am- 6.7 magnitude
- San Andreas Fault
- Densely populated
Describe tsunami formation?
1) As the sea floor lifts, billions of tonnes of water are displaced.
2) Seconds later, the tsunami undergoes a rapid transformation as the displaced water column collapses and splits.
3) Water rushes away from the uplifted area creating a tsunami wave that travels radially outwards from the centre.
4) In deep water, tsunamis can reach 1000km/h. The wave height is only 1m and the wavelength is about 200km. The circular motion make it very powerful.
5) As it approaches the coast, the gradient of the beaches causes the bottom of the wave to slow due to friction. Consequently, wavelength decreases and height increases. The crest of the wave carries more energy so are exaggerated destructive waves.
What do characteristics of tsunamis depend on?
- Height of waves and distance travelled.
- length of event e.g. EQ
- Coastal physical geography
What happens at the destructive continental- continental plate boundary?
- Unlike the first two destructive margins, when two continental plates are drawn together neither will be subducted.
- Volcanicity and sediments are mixed and compressed to form fold mountain chains with deep roots in the Lithosphere.
- India was propelled by sea floor spreading by the indo-Australian plate before colliding with the Eurasian plate resulting in the Himalayan mountain chain.
- Such areas remain seismically active and so the Himalayas are constantly changing.
- However, this activity also causes devastating EQs such as Pakistan, 2005.
How might low frequency electromagnetic activity warn of an EQ?
- Sometimes referred to as VAN method. Based on the assumption that minerals under mechanical stress emit characteristic electrical signals.
- Electric signals move along the fault line and the signals are detected in stations underground.
- method has been shown to monitor small EQs- 2.5m but is limited in recording higher magnitude ones.
What happens at the destructive oceanic-continental plate boundary?
1) Oceanic crust is denser than continental crust, so when they collide the oceanic is subducted into the Asthenosphere.
2) Friction between the two plates builds and causes major earthquakes in the Benioff Zone.
3) Rocks scraped from the Oceanic crust and folding of continental crust creates fold mountain chains.
4) Ocean tenches found along the seaward edge of margins- mark subduction zone
5) Friction also generates heat leading to partial crust melting and the release of gases like CO2.
6) Magmas derived from melting of old crust basalts rises through fissures because they are less dense. They are more viscous because they are more silica rich. These lavas often block off their own vents resulting in violent explosions and the formation of conical shaped volcanoes- fold mountains.
What are the advantages of planning?
- Highly effective in searching for better research techniques
- Very successful- allows better buildings in the future.
What were the causes of the Haiti EQ?
- North American plate sliding past the Caribbean at a Conservative plate margin
- Most densely populated area of the country
- Being in a poorly constructed, large urban area reduced chances of survival
- EQ of same magnitude occurred in China one month earlier but has far less impact.
Why are poisonous gases and acid rain dangerous?
- CO2, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulphide, sulphur dioxide and chlorine.
e. g. CO2 emissions from Lake Nyes in Cameroon caused 1700 suffocations.
What are the hazards associated with volcanic eruptions?
- Lava flow
- Pyroclastic flow
- Volcanic bombs
- Lahar
- Poisonous gas, causing acid rain
Describe the preparation for the Mt. Pinatubo eruption?
- Non considered hazardous
- Signs of eruption earlier in the month
- Advanced warning allowed evacuation of 1000s of people.
What is a tertiary impact?
- Long term effects as a result of a primary effect which will last years into the future.
What are the characteristics of intra plate EQs?
- Rare- account for less than 10% of EQs
- Low magnitude
- Longer recurrence intervals
- Seismic waves move more slowly.
Give an example of a caldera?
- Santorini, Greece
Describe the hawaiian hotspots?
- The Hawaiian islands provide striking evidence of the tectonic phenomenon.
- Stretching north west of the main island is a string of smaller islands and submerged volcanoes of sea mounts, 3700 miles long.
- Each one of these islands was formed where the main island now stands.
Give a timeline of events for the San Andreas fault?
1906- Great San Fransisco Quake- Fires raged for 4 days, 1/10 buildings destroyed, 3,000 dead, 7.8 magnitude, Andrew Lawson and team discover the fault.
1994- 6.7 magnitude- 72 dead, 12,000 injured
Late 20th century- Theory of plate tectonics revealed the Pacific plate had been subducted under the N.American plate for 100 million years.
2004- Later than expected EQ in Parkfield.
Recent studies- Suggest stress and another possible EQ
2008- Quake drill
100 years- 99% chance of major quake. New type of superwave discovered- predicted quake could result in 2000 deaths, 50,000 injuries and $200 billion worth of damage.
20 million years- San Fransisco and LA will be aligned.
What are the three categories of volcanic activity?
- Extinct, active, dormant
What were the secondary impacts of the California 1994 EQ?
- Decrease in tourism
- Damage to major freeways- congestion
- Los Angeles International and Burbank airports closed.
What is a volcanic cone?
- Simple volcano built up over a series of eruptions
- e.g. Mt. Etna, Italy
What is a ocean ridge?
- Ocean form the longest continuous uplifted feature on the Earth’s surface with a combined length of 60,000Km
- The Mid- Atlantic Ridge is 10,000 miles long and occupies the centre of the Atlantic Ocean. Its sea floor can spread up to 4 inches every year.
Give some examples of extrusive landforms?
- Lava Plateaux
- Basic/shield volcanoes
- Acid/dome volcanoes
- Composite cones
- Ash and cinder cones
- Calderas
Give information about the 2008 EQ in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire
- 5.2 magntiude
- Rupture at a strike slip fault
- Distant tectonic stresses- British isles squeezed by plates
- People contacted the police
- Minor building damage
- Broken pelvis
- St Magdalene’s church spire was damaged and rebuilt at a cost of £100,000
How might economic development impact upon EQ severity?
- poorer countries often don’t have the resources to put in place effective emergency procedures to deal with the immediate impact of EQs.
- Haiti, 2010- magnitude of 7, make shift camps, poor sanitation led to worst cholera outbreak in history, in 2015 6% of pop. were ill with cholera.
What do geller, jackson and Kagan say about predicting EQs?
- It is not possible.
- Prediction would have to be reliable and accurate to justify the cost.
- Inaccessibility of the fault line
- prediction is not feasible
- Reasons to doubt that such precursors exist.
How do ocean ridges, submarine volcanoes and islands form?
1) First step in constructive plate margin
2) Where the two weaker plates have pulled apart there is a weaker zone where the temperature is higher. This hotter, expanded crust forms a ridge.
3) In the central part of the ridge, there may be a central valley where a section of the crust has subsided into the magma below.
4) The split in the crust provides a low pressure zone where more magma can erupt to form submarine volcanoes
5) If such eruptions persist, volcanoes may develop to reach the surface forming volcanic islands e.g. Iceland.
6) As crust is pushed away from the heat source, it cools and sinks, becoming covered in fine sediment. Consequently, new ocean lithosphere is formed and the ocean basin gets wider- sea floor spreading.
Describe primary waves?
- Body waves
- Compressional/longitudal
- Particles vibrate parallel to the direction of movement
- Passes through solids, liquids and gases.
- Refracted by the changing densities of the mantle.
- Forms shadow zone.
What are the characteristics of acid lava?
- High silica content
- High temperature
- Very viscous
- Potentially explosive; lava shatters into pieces
- From time to time; long dormant periods
- Acid lava dome composite cone, layers of ash and lava, column of gas and finer fragments.
How doe rift valleys occur?
1) Constructive plate margin- convection currents in the Asthenosphere cause continental crust to dome upwards.
2) Upwards pressure causes the crust to crack, leaving an unsupported middle section.
3) This unsupported section collapses, forming a rift valley with steep sides.
4) If the convection currents are strong enough, a line of volcanoes will form at the bottom of the rift valley, producing basaltic rock which will eventually form an ocean floor.
Who is supportive of fracking?
- Many governments
- Big companies like Shale Gas Europe
What can inactive volcanoes be called?
- Inactive volcanoes which have not erupted for an amount of time but can’t be called extinct are dormant.
- Inactive volcanoes which have not erupted since the beginning of recorded history are extinct.
- They will only erupt again if they are actually dormant.
How do spring bases help prepare for the possibility of an EQ?
- Spring with damper base is designed to absorb the seismic shocks during the EQ and add stability to the structure.
What are the disadvantages of prediction?
- None of the predictive methods achieve the SSA’s criteria for a valid prediction.
- Reliability has been questioned
- Methods only successful in a narrow band of EQs
What are the 4 options for managing the threat of volcanic eruptions?
1) Monitoring and prediction
2) Evacuation
3) lava diversion
4) Lahars
What landforms are associated with destructive plate margins?
- Fold mountains
- Ocean trenches
- Conical shaped volcanoes
- Island arcs
- landmasses
What is EQ prediction like?
- there is no reliable way to predict the day or month when an event will occur in a specific location. An EQ prediction is a prediction of what magnitude will occur and where and when it will be.
Describe what a acid/dome volcano is?
- Steep-sided convex cone consisting of viscous lava
What were the short term responses to the Mt. Pinatubo eruption?
- Within 3 weeks some people began to return
- Some of the Aeta tribe didn’t return
Describe long waves?
- Long frequency period
- Referred to as surface waves
- Rayleigh waves and Love waves
- Rayleigh waves have a vertical circular movement
- Love waves have a horizontal circular movement.
What are the long term economic impacts of EQs?
- Cost of rebuilding is high- may impair development
- Investment may only focus on repairs
- Income lost
What are convection currents?
- Hot spots around the core of the earth which generate thermal convection currents where hot magma rises before spreading cooling and sinking.
- The process us continuous and is the driving force behind the movement of the tectonic plates.
Give the fact file for the 2011 Japanese Tsunami?
- Northeast Honshu
- 4:46pm, March 2011, triggered by a magnitude 9 EQ.
- Pacific- N. America subduction zone
What were the secondary impacts of the Northeast Honshu tsunami?
- Entire communities have been wiped out
- Nikkei Index dropped 1.7% (financial market)
- Industry halted- Honda, Toyota, Sony
- Crops and fishing damaged
- Fukushima- 30 mile exclusion zone
What are some tertiary impacts of a hazard event?
- People might have a lower quality of life and the country might struggle to develop.
What climatological evidence did Wegener find?
- Coal formed under warm , wet conditions found under the ice cap, therefore must have been nearer equator, hence has moved with time.
- Evidence of glaciation noted in Brazil and Central India (coal, sandstone and limestone could not have formed in present climate).
What is fracking?
- A way of mining for hard to reach gas reserves/oil
- Shale-sedimentary rock
- High pressure water systems
- Contains additional chemicals
What is a tsunami?
- A rapid change to the volume of the ocean
Give an example of a basic/shield volcano
- Mauna Loa, Hawaii
How do people perceive the risk of a natural hazard?
- Whether the area is profitable to live in- Mt. Vesuvius has 3x average crop yield.
- Day to day problems more important
- Have the capital and technology to cope with the event e.g. Japan
- Past experiences of a hazard
- Attitudes towards risk- ‘Act of God’, optimist vs pessimist
What geological evidence did Wegener find?
- Rocks of similar age, type and structure occur in SE Brazil and Africa
- Appalachian mountains of Eastern USA correspond geologically with mountains in NW Europe.
How has Istanbul’s airport been prepared for EQs?
- World’s largest EQ proof building
- Built to withstand magnitude 8 EQ and remain fully functional
- 300 separate devices isolate the entire building from the ground.
- Confluence of three tectonic plates with high recurrence intervals so need to maintain operations.
Give the background to the Mt. St Helens eruption?
MDC- Washington
Morning in May, 1980
Destructive plate margin
Oceanic Pacific and Continental N.American
Main vent became blocked, causing a bulge
What are the three types of destructive plate boundraries?
- oceanic-continental
- oceanic- oceanic
- Continental-continental
Can humans cause EQs?
- 25% of Britains recorded seismic events have been caused by people
Human activity which might cause an EQ:
1)Fluids pumped out of the ground e.g. oil
2) Creation of new water reservoirs e.g. Hoover dam- up to magnitude 5 in the decade following construction.
3) Disposal of toxic waste.
4) Underground mines e.g. Uzbekistan- up to 7.3
What were the secondary effects of the Mt.St Helens eruption?
- 1 million trees flattened
- People burnt up to 16 miles away
- Loss of farm land
- 300km road and 250km railway destroyed
- Melting glaciers formed lahars
- 57 dead
What are the different kinds of seismic waves?
1) Primary waves
2) Secondary waves
3) Long waves
What are the long term social impacts of EQs?
- Disease
- Re-housing and refugee camps
What is geomorphology?
The study of the landforms of the earth’s surface
Give the fact file for the BAM EQ in Iran?
- 5:26am on the 26th December 2003
- Magnitude 6.5
- 30,000 dead in 24hrs
- 20,000 injured
- $1 billion rebuilding costs
What is a hazard event?
A natural hazard is only a hazard event if it poses a threat to people or property + disruption e.g. Mt. St Helens- 57 dead
What evidence is there that fracking many lead to seismicity?
- Strange places
- 50 EQs in Oklahoma linked to fracking.
- Result from fractured rock
- Millions of gallons of water disrupts natural equilibrium
What are the causes of tsunamis?
- Shallow focus EQs
- Volcanic eruptions
- Underwater debris slides
- Large landslides into the sea
What are the short term environmental impacts of an EQ?
- Fires
- Landslides
- Tsunamis
- landscape destroyed or damaged
Describe the characteristics of Hawaiian eruptions?
- Basic and basaltic lava with low gas pressures and silica content.
- Not explosive or destructive with no tephra or pyroclastic flow.
- Produces gentle sloped shield volcanoes and lava plateaus
- Lava fountains up to 50m in the air.
What were the primary impacts of the Northeast Honshu tsunami?
- Waves up to 6m high
- Flooding up to 15km inland
- Debris
- $100 trillion
- Shortages of food, water and shelter
- 30,000 dead
- 500,000 homeless
How might the time of day impact upon EQ severity?
- An EQ that strikes at night when most people are asleep will cause more deaths and injuries
- Izmit, Turkey, 1999- EQ occurred in August at 3:02am, resulting in 17,000 dead and 27,000 injured- 1/10 of pop.
Give the background to the Mt. Pinatubo eruption?
- LDC- Angeles, Phillipines
- June 1991
- Destructive plate boundary
- Oceanic Philippines and Oceanic Eurasian
What are the options for predicting EQs?
1) Seismic activity
2) Radon
3) Groundwater
4) remote sensing
5) Low frequency electromagnetic activity
What were the primary effects of the Mt. St Helens eruption?
- landslide of 8 billion tonnes of material at 250mph.
- Ash column 15 miles into the air
- Pyroclastic flow at 650mph
What were the long term responses to the Mt. Pinatubo erutpion?
- Majority of residents never returned
Why are there different theories about hot spots?
- Of 125 active hotspots, most are located away from plate boundaries. This poses issues for the plate tectonic theory as they show that not all seismic and volcanic activity happens at plate margins.
What is an example of a rift valley?
- The Great east African Rift Valley has active volcanoes such as Mt. Kilimankaro and Kenya and has resulted in the creation of the Red Sea. It is 4000km long, 50km wide and 600m in depth.
What is a secondary impact?
- A consequence of the primary impact
What is a natural hazard?
An extreme event in the natural environment which has the potential to cause harm to either people or property
e.g. Ireland of Surstey forming submarine volcanic eruption which created a new island.
What were the primary impacts of the 1994 California EQ?
- Thousands of aftershocks
- 57 killed and 1500 injured.
- 3 days later 9000 homes and businesses without electricity, 20,000 without gas and nearly 50,000 without water
- 6% buildings severely damaged, 17% moderately damaged
- landslides and fires
Describe the timeline of events for the boxing day Tsunami?
1) Hits Banda Aceh
2) Hits Thailand 20 minutes later
3) 2 hours after it reaches Sri Lanka
4) After 7 hrs it had travelled 3000 miles to Africa.
Describe the locations of tsunamis?
- generated at destructive plate margins.
- 90% events in the pacific ocean
- 25% events off the Japan- Taiwan island
- 4% occur in Indian Ocean
Who created the theory of continental drift?
- Alfred Wegener
What factors made Northeast Honshu vulnerable to the 2011 tsunami?
- Four major tectonic plates meet in the Japan region.
- coastal areas low lying and densely populated.
- extensive preparations with 40% of coastline protected. $1.5 billion spent on new sea wall.
- Early warning systems were ineffective because the EQ occurred so close to the coast.
What are the characteristics of tsunamis?
- Become steeper in shallower water
- Drawback
- Large waves radiate from the epicentre
- can travel long distances
- Ricochet off land masses
- Waves rarely felt in deep water
- Consists of numerous waves, largest till last.
What factors make an area vulnerable to hazards?
- Population density
- Existence of an early warning system
- Constructions styles and building codes
What were the causes of the 2011 New Zealand EQ?
- February 2011, 12:51pm- 6.3 magnitude
- EQ only 5km deep
- Conservative plate margin where the Pacific and Australian plates move past each other
What are EQs?
- Vibrations in the earths crust that cause shaking at the surface. 50,000 occur every year, mainly on plate margins.
What were the long term responses to the Haiti EQ?
- The Haitian government made a statement that confidence needed to be regained in the way the country is governed and wanted to encourage the democratic process and modernise the justice system.
- preliminary damage and Needs Assessment (PDNA) recommended money should be spent on improving disaster prevention.
- Reconstruction money will be spent on providing free primary education for all, improving access to health services and reducing malnutrition.
- Mass- relocation schemes considered.