Earth Science Chapter 5

The 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan killed approximately 21,000 people while the 2010 earthquake in Haiti killed approximately 316,000 people because ________.

the construction methods in Haiti were not as good as those used in Japan

Which of the following types of plate boundaries is LEAST LIKELY to produce a large-scale earthquake?

 

Divergent

In the famous 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the Pacific Plate moved as much as 32 feet northward, past the adjacent North American plate.

 

True

Oceanic crust is less dense than continental crust.

False

Which one of the following statements about the crust is NOT true?

Continental rocks are compositionally different than oceanic rocks.

It is thickest where prominent mountains exist.

 It is the thinnest of the major subdivisions.

Oceanic crust is enriched in potassium, sodium, and silicon.

Oceanic crust is enriched in potassium, sodium, and silicon.

Tsunamis are another name for a tidal wave.

 

False

Tsunamis travel at speeds up to                       miles per hour.

 

500

Earthquakes can occur at                                 plate boundaries.

Any type of

The epicenter of an earthquake is on the surface of the Earth directly above the focus.

 

True

The distance between a seismological recording station and the earthquake source is determined from the ________.

arrival times of P and S waves

The deepest well that has ever been drilled on the earth is ________ deep, about 1/500^th of the radius of the earth.

 

12.3 km

When an earthquake occurs, energy radiates in all directions from its source. The source is also referred to as the ________.

 

focus

The velocity of seismic waves generally increases with depth in the earth.

 

True

Most faults are locked except for brief, abrupt movements when sudden slippage produces an earthquake.

True

Overall, this type of seismic wave is the most destructive

Surface wave

Which of the following types of plate boundaries is LEAST LIKELY to produce a large-scale earthquake?

Divergent

Generally, the most destructive seismic waves are:

Surface Waves

Megathrust faults are the sites of Earth’s largest earthquakes.

True

Soft sediments generally amplify earthquake vibrations MORE than solid bedrock.

True

Most earthquakes occur within the circum-Atlantic belt.

  False

The ________ earthquake was accompanied by extensive fire damage.

  San Francisco, 1906

S waves can travel through solid and liquid media.

  False

Tsunamis are another name for a tidal wave.

False

Thousands of earthquakes occur around the world every day.

True

An earthquake intensity scale uses observed property damage to estimate the amount of ground shaking at a particular location.

True

Major earthquakes are often followed by somewhat smaller events known as ________.

Aftershocks

On a typical seismogram, ________ will show the highest amplitudes.

surface waves

The Mercalli Scale is a scale from:

I to XII that rates the structural damage due to an earthquake

The Richter magnitude of an earthquake is determined from the ________.

amplitude of the largest seismic wave