Volcano/Earthquake Vocabulary Flashcards
Fault
A fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock, across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock mass movement.
Ring of Fire
The Ring of Fire is an area in the Pacific Ocean where a large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.
Transform
A type of fault whose relative motion is predominantly horizontal in either direction.
Divergent
When it stays the same.
Convergent
Coming closer together.
P-Waves
A type of body wave, called seismic waves in seismology.
S-Waves
A type of elastic wave.
Epicenter
The point on the earth’s surface vertically above the focus of an earthquake.
Focus
The location where the earthquake begins.
Richter Scale
A base-10 logarithmic scale, which defines magnitude as the logarithm of the ratio of the amplitude of the seismic waves to an arbitrary, minor amplitude.
Explosive Volcano
A volcanic term to describe a violent, explosive type of eruption.
Non-Explosive Volcano
They are relatively calm and do not explode out of the volcano.
Krakatoa
It is an Island in Indonesia that has an explosive volcano on it.
Yellowstone SuperVolcano
The Yellowstone Caldera is the volcanic caldera and supervolcano located in Yellowstone National Park in the United States, sometimes referred to as the Yellowstone Supervolcano.
San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly 1300 km through California.
