Tectonics - Key Terms Flashcards
Adaptation
Strategies designed to prepare for and reduce the impacts of events.
Asthenosphere
The part of the mantle, below the lithosphere, where the rock is semi-molten.
Benioff Zone
The area where friction is created between colliding tectonic plates, resulting in intermediate and deep earthquakes.
Convection Currents
Hot, liquid magma currents moving in the asthenosphere.
Crustal Fracturing
When energy released during an earthquake causes the earth’s crust to crack.
Epicentre
The point of the earth’s surface directly above the focus on an earthquake.
Focus
the point inside the earth’s crust from which the pressure is released when an earthquake occurs.
Hazard Event
A natural hazard (such as an earthquake, volcanic eruption or tsunami).
Hazard Management Cycle
A theoretical model of hazard management as a continuous 4 stage cycle involving mitigation, preparation, response and recovery.
Hot Spot
Points within the middle of a tectonic plate where plumes of hot magma rise and erupt.
Hydrometeorological Hazards
Natural hazards caused by climate processes (including droughts, floods, hurricanes and storms).
Intra-Plate Earthquakes
Earthquakes which occur far from the plate margins.
L Waves
The slowest seismic waves, which focus all their energy on the earth’s surface.
Land Use Zoning
A process by which the local government regulates how land in a community may be used.
Liquefaction
When the violent shaking during an earthquake causes surface rocks to lose strength and become more liquid than solid.
Mitigation
Action to reduce the impacts of an event.
Multiple Hazard Zone
An area that is at risk from multiple natural hazards such as hurricanes and earthquakes.
Natural Disaster
A major natural hazard that causes significant social, environmental and economic damage.
Natural Hazard
A naturally occurring process or event that has the potential to affect humans.
P Waves
The fastest seismic waves which travel through both solids and liquids.
Paleomagnetism
The study of past changes in the earth’s magnetic field (determined from rocks, sediment or archeological records).
Park Model
Shows how a country or region might respond after a hazard event.
Pressure and Release Model
A tool used to work out how vulnerable a country is to hazards.
Resilience
The ability to protect lives, livelihoods and infrastructure from destruction and to restore areas after a natural hazard has occurred.
S Waves
Seismic waves that only travel through solids and move in a sideways motion.
Slab Pull
When newly formed oceanic crust sinks into the mantle, pulling the rest of the plate further down with it.
Solar Output
The amount of radiation the sun emits, which can affect the earth’s temperature.
Sub-Aerial Processes
The processes of weathering and mass movement.
Subduction Zone
The area in the mantle where the tectonic plate melts.
Transform Faults
A fault created on a larger scale when 2 plates slide past each other.
Vulnerability
The ability to anticipate, cope with, resist and recover from a natural hazard.
Water Column
The area of seawater from the surface to the sea floor.
