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Natural Disasters
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Geology
Undergraduate 4
10/14/2012

Additional Geology Flashcards

 


 

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Term
Driving force behind mass movements:
Definition
Gravity
Term
Factors that determine landslide potential:
Definition
Slope angle,
local relief,
thickness of "cover" over bedrock,
Orientation of planes of weaknesses of bedrock,
Climatic factors: Ice, Water, Rain, Vegetaion
Term
Materials involved in landslides
Definition
Rock: undergoes physical and chemical weathering.
Soil: Composed of rock particles, clay, water and organic matter
Term
Silt, Clay, Water leads to...
Definition
liquefaction
Term
shear force
Definition
force parallel to slope
Term
shear strength
Definition
opposite of shear force
Term
Creep
Definition
Applied to soils and surficial material, slow downward plastic movement.
Term
Surface creep is a result of the...
Definition
freeze-thaw cycle
Term
Slide
Definition
Mass movement of a single, intact mass of rock, soil, or unconsolidated material along a weak plane, such as a fault, fracture, or bedding plane. A slide may involve as little as a minor displacement of soil or as much as an entire mountainside.
Term
In Pt. Fermin, there is an example of a...
Definition
translational slide right on the coast.
Term
In 1963 in Vaiont, Italy, there was a...
Definition
Rock slide!!!
Term
In 1925, in Gros Ventre, Wyoming, there was a...
Definition
Slide!!!.
Term
Slump
Definition
Downward and outward movement of rock on unconsolidated material as unit or as series of units. Also called slope failure.
Term
Anatomy of a slump
Definition
Crown, head scarp, head, minor scarp, transverse cracks, foot, transverse ridges, radial cracks
Term
Flow
Definition
A relatively rapid mass-movement that involves a mixture of rock, soil, vegetation, and water moving downslope as a viscous fluid. Within a flow (such as a mudflow), each particle, regardless of its size, moves independently.
Term
In La Conchita, CA, there is...
Definition
Earth Flow
Term
In 1958, in Portuguese Bend, CA, there was...
Definition
Flow
Term
Places where Debris flow has happened:
Definition
Frank, Alberta
Peru, South America
Nevada
Term
How to prevent a landslide:
Definition
1. Unload the head
2. Strengthen the body
3. support the toe
Term
Landslide mitigation:
Definition
Rock Bolts, Rock Wall, Retaining wall at toe of slope
Term
Subsidence:
Definition
The lowering of earth's surface.
Term
How does subsidence occur?
Definition
1. Regional land compaction.
2. Oil and Groundwater withdrawal.
3. Catastrophic subsidence/collapse sinkholes
Term
There is a sinkhole in...
Definition
Florida
Term
Heat is the...
Definition
capacity to raise the temperature of a mass, expressed in calories.
Term
Calorie
Definition
amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 g of water 1 degree Celsius at a pressure of 1 atm
Term
Specific Heat
Definition
amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 g of a substance y 1 degree celsius
Term
Condensation...
Evaporation...
Definition
warms the air (releases heat)
cools the water (removes heat)
Term
Stratus clouds
Definition
Thick, gray clouds blanketing sky
Term
Cumulus clouds
Definition
Fair weather clouds which develop vertically
Term
Cumulonimbus clouds
Definition
Thunderheads extending from low to high altitudes (7,000 to 75,000 feet)
Term
Frontal Cyclone
Definition
A Jet Stream induced cyclone involving the interaction of cold and warm fronts.
Term
Towering Cumulus Stage of storm development
Definition
1. Warm, humid air, called updrafts, rise up from the ground.
2. As the air cools to its dew point, condensation begins forming a cloud.
Term
Mature Stage of storm development
Definition
3. ice crystals/water drops grow big enough to overcome the updraft.
4. in summer, ice melts on the way down.
5. The falling precipitation and air form downdrafts.
6. Updrafts continue feeding warm, humid air into the storm.
Term
Difference between thunderstorm and strong or severe thunderstorm
Definition
the strong ones have cold upper air disturbance, while the meh ones only have cool air aloft.
Term
Dissipating stage of storm development
Definition
7. downdrafts choke off updrafts
8. Storm begins to die off.
Term
Elements of a single cell
Definition
Rain and hail, warm air rises vertically
Term
Elements of a supercell
Definition
Tornado, large hail, heavy rain, light rain, wall cloud, small hail
Term
Lightning is...
Definition
the movement of positively charged ions to negatively charged areas or vice versa.
Term
In regard to tornadoes, the dry line...
Definition
separates dry air from moist air.
Term
How tornadoes form:
Definition
1. A spinning tube of air formed by low-level wind shear...
2. is pushed down by the storm's downdraft and tilted into columns...
3. one spinning clockwise, the other spinning counterclockwise...
4. the updraft stretches the counterclockwise spinning column into a tornado...
5. the clockwise column isn't stretched and spins slower - it might form a small funnel cloud that circles the larger tornado.
Term
Utica IL, April 20, 2004:
Definition
Tornado!!!
Term
Fujita Scale
Definition
Tornado damage and wind scale. Enhanced Fujita goes with wind speed only.
Term
March 18, 1925 was when the....
Definition
tri-state tornado hit missouri, southern illinois, and indiana.
Term
In 1999, in Oklahoma, there was a...
Definition
breakout of tornadoes.
Term
On April 26, 1991, there was...
Definition
an outbreak of 55 tornadoes in Andover, Kansas that left 24 dead.
Term
The ingredients a hurricane needs:
Definition
1. 200 feet of 80 degree water or higher.
2. Converging winds near water's surface.
3. Unstable air so rising continues.
4. Humid air up to 18,000 feet.
5. Pre-existing winds need to be going the same direction.
6. An upper atmosphere high-pressure area.
Term
Hurricane structure
Definition
...Rainband Rainband Eyewall Eye Eyewall Rainband Rainband...
eye develops with 74 mph winds
Term
The Bermuda high
Definition
Clockwise winds that establish the steering currents for many hurricanes. When the Bermuda high is larger, it guides hurricanes into the United States.
Term
1992, Hurricane Andrew hit...
Definition
southern Florida
Term
Cape Verde Hurricanes originate near...
Definition
the Cape Verde Islands near Africa
Term
Hurricanes need to be...
Definition
 at least 300 miles away from the equator, so the Coriolis effect will be strong enough. There is no Coriolis effect at the equator.
Term
The hurricane season runs from...
Definition
June 1st to November 30th
Term
Storm surge
Definition
A hurricane induced pile of water, covering land in up to 20 feet of water.
Term
Hurricane Isabel
Definition
North Carolina Coast, September 2003
Term
The Force of Moving water...
Definition
2 ft deep, 1000 lb lateral force, 1500 lb buoyancy force.
Term
1 ft deep water...
Definition
packs a punch of 500 lb of lateral force.
Term
Tributaries turn into...
Definition
meandering streams which flow into deltas.
Term
The Mississippi River Basin is...
Definition
huge!
Term
Main characteristics of a stream:
Definition
1. Discharge
2. Load
3. Slope
4. Channel pattern
Term
Recurrence interval
Definition
= (n+1)/m
where n = no. years of data
and m = rank in data set
Term
Building on flood plains...
Definition
increase the risk of flood hazards.
Term
Flash Floods
Definition
Upstream location, limited to individual tributaries in drainage basin.
Short duration.
Difficult to predict.
Often result in property loss and casualties.
Term
Big Thompson Canyon, Coloardo, 1976
Definition
Flood! 139 fatalities, 12.5 inches of rain in 4 hours.
Term
Rapid city Flood
Definition
Claimed 237 lives in 1972
Term
Regional Floods
Definition
Downstream locatinos
Crest advances
Predictable
Can result in great property loss along floodplain
Term
Confluence
Definition
Meeting of two bodies of water
Term
crest advance
Definition
maximum height of a flood moving along
Term
Craters covering the lunar surface...
Definition
reflect the violent history of impacts.
Term
Where do you find Meteoroids, Meteors, and Meteorites?
Definition
Space, Earth's Atmosphere, Earth
Term
Comets
Definition
Sometimes called dirty snowballs or icy mudballs
they are a mixture of ices (both water and frozen gases) and dust that for some reason didn't get incorporated into the planets when the solar system was formed.
Term
What happened in 1997 related to astronomy?
Definition
The Hale Bopp Comet
Term
Meteor Crater
Definition
Created by a meteorite with 40 meter diameter, 300,000 tons, 15 km/sec. The crater itself is 1 km wide and 185 m deep
Term
The K/T Event
Definition
A mass extinction marks the Cretaceous-Tertiary Period boundary (65 million years ago). Victims include dinosaurs and many marine families. Explanations have included global climate change, disease, and changes in food sources.
Term
Evidence for an impact induced K/T event:
Definition
Iridium-rich clay layer.
Shocked quartz grains.
Spherules indicative of melting and resolidification.
Isotope ratios similar to meteorites vs. Earth crust.
Abundant microscopic diamonds.
Carbon rich grains indicative of global fires.
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