Test 1 Flashcards
What is the most abundant chemical element in the universe?
Hydrogen
The most abundant chemical element in the solid Earth is?
Iron
What are the crust and mantle of the Earth composed primarily of?
Rocky Silicates
What is the core of the Earth composed primary of?
Iron
Are iron and silicates distributed evenly?
No, but they are three of the most common chemical elements in the earth
What part of the earth comprises most of both its volume and mass?
the mantle
What is the lowest density layer of the Earth
The continental crust
What is the continental crust richer in and lower in?
Richer is middle weight(silicon/oxygen)
lower in heavier elements(magnesium, iron)
Continental crust vs oceanic crust?
Continental- higher topographically and is mainly dry land
Oceanic crust- lower in topographically and is mainly ocean floor
Where is new oceanic crust produced at?
Divergent plate boundaries?
Where would you expect earthquakes but not volcanism?
Convergent plate boundaries w/ two continental plates?
Transform plate boundaries
Where can you have volcanism at random locations on the earths surface?
mantle plumes
What type of deformation happens along a tectonic fault during an earthquake?
brittle deformation(Along a fault, brittle deformation happens
close to the surface under low pressure. At
depth and greater pressure, the deformation
changes to ductile deformation causing the
fault dip to flatten and movement along the
fault dies out.)
Where is the seismic energy release in a tectonic earthquake along a fault contained in?
S-waves
What are the two types of waves?
P-Waves
S-Waves
Which waves are the second to arrive and why?
S-waves are the second-arriving type of
seismic wave because some of their energy are wasted in up-and-
down shearing motion.
Which seismic waves are the fastest and first-arriving and can arrive and pass through any medium(solid, liquid, gas)
P-waves(hat most of the energy of explosions such as nuclear tests is contained in P-waves from that event)
Which seismic waves are last arriving from an earthquake event because they have to go the long way instead of traveling through?
Love waves, Rayleigh waves
What is the modified Mercalli Scale?(roman numerals)
An earthquake intensity scale based on the record damage and casualties caused by an earthquake. used to estimate earthquake size. Used before seismometers
What is the scale currently used in estimating the size of earthquakes all over the world?
Moment Magnitude
How many earthquakes of magnitude 9 happen each year?
none <1
Foreshocks tend to be ___ than aftershocks?
smaller (also know that
foreshocks are more
closely-spaced around the
focus (origin) of the main
earthquake event than are
aftershocks)
Maps where earthquakes are likely to happen show____, maps of where earthquakes are most like to cause damages and casualties show_____
seismic hazard
seismic risk
Sand volcanoes and sand boils are caused by what earthquake related hazard?
Liquefaction( know that positive floatation and
negative floatation is associated with liquefaction)
What is positive floatation?
meant to keep a compromised boat from sinking down to the depths.
What is negative floatation?
What earthquake hazard would be a major hazard in Manhattan if the earthquake repeated?
shedding(exterior building ornementation that might not be allowed in an area with more experience with earthquakes)
What is an avalanche?
Avalanches are a type of landslide that moves by the mechanism of flow
What is an earthquake generated wave or flood, basically a seismic pulse travelling up a river channel?
bore
What is a series of seismic pulses travelling through an open body of water like the ocean?
a tsunami
What is a prerequisite for a damburst flood?
an impoundment flood
What holds great promise for real time earthquake warnings?
Social Media
What earthquake is believed to have the highest number of casualties of any earthquake recorded?
Huaxian, China
Eyewitnesses reported a fault rupture forming and throwing up debris during this notable earthquake?
The Gobi Desert
What earthquakes were caused by strike-slip offsets of a seafloor spreading center?
Lisbon Portugal, The Atlas Mountains
MID ATLANTIC RIDGE
Where we fires a significant earthquake hazard?
Lisbon Portugal, San Francisco
Where was seismic shaking more of a hazard north and south of the San Andreas Fault?
San Francisco
What earthquake caused bores and displacement along one of the worlds major river?
New Madrid, Missouri(Mississippi River)
Where is seismic hazard highest in China?
Western China
Where is seismic risk highest in China?
Eastern China
If they happened today the seismic RISK resulting from the New Madrid earthquakes would be
Much higher, bigger population today
What earthquake happened along a thrust fault(low angle reverse fault)?
Northridge California(was an existing fault that had never caused an earthquake before)
What earthquake happened along a right lateral strike slip fault system where most of the other earthquakes took place happened with epicenters along the west of the fault system?
Izmit and Dunze Turkey
International politics were associated with this earthquake.
Chi-Chi Taiwan
How does Hawaii have volcanoes?
On a tectonic plate but has mantle plume
What is seismology used to enforce compliance with?
The partial Nuclear Test Ban Theory
Which type of seismic wave is characteristic of underground nuclear explosions rather than tectonic earthquakes along faults?
Pressure Body Seismic Waves
What would shake more during an earthquake?
Loose soil
What caused only buildings of intermediate height to fall during the Mexico City earthquake of 1985?
Resonance Frequency
What is a seismometer?
The machine recording the seismic waves
What is most of the energy in P-Waves?
Nuclear detonations
What is the focus?
site of the first motion along fault(located below the surface)
What is the epicenter?
Point on the surface directly above the surface
What are the two body waves
P, S
What are the two surface waves
Love, Rayleigh
What can S-waves pass through?
solids
How to measure earthquake strength?
Intensity, Magnitude, Strong motion
What is liquefaction?
when loosely packed, water-logged sediments at or near the ground surface lose their strength in response to strong ground shaking
what is a tsunami?
seismic sea waves, sudden ocean floor movement
what is impoundment flood?
river blocking by uplift/landslides
what is a damburst flood?
dam/leeve failures
what are displacement waves?
wave by landslide into body of water
what are trangression floods?
permanent shift of shoreline
what are seiches?
sloshing of water back and forth
what are bores?
single wave crests that move upstream
