Natural Disasters - Practice Questions:

An explanation of a set of measurements or observations that has been tested, reviewed, and repeated over and over again in multiple ways and in multiple places becomes a:

theory

new crustal material is produced at what type of plate boundary?

divergent

The most common elemental gas in Earth's atmosphere is:

nitrogen

The ___ is the atmospheric layer closest to Earth's surface:

troposphere

___ is a form of energy that is transmitted by electromagnetic waves:

radiant energy

Molten rock that lies below the surface is called ___ and once it erupts and flows onto the surface it is called ___.

magma, lava

The Hawaiian Islands and Emperor Seamount chain reflect the movement of the overlying Pacific lithospheric plate over the ____.

a hot spot or mantle plume

Plate tectonics is the theory that relates:

the movement of continental and oceanic masses on the surface of the Earth

The energy of motion is also termed:

kinetic energy

The interrelationship of different rock types if best described by the:

rock cycle

Subduction zones are found:

(1) where two oceanic plates collide with one another
(2) where an oceanic plate collides with a continental plate

The type of rock created when new molten material flows onto Earth's surface is:

igneous

What is the primary source of energy for most of Earth's Systems?

radiation and nuclear energy from the sun

True or False: The Earth System is divided into 5 spheres that work separately from each other to drive different aspects fo the planet's processes.

False

The process of circulating materials via temperature and density differences is:

convection

Wegener pieced together his idea of Continental Drift from the following evidence EXCEPT:

Maps of the mid-oceanic ridge match areas of earthquakes and eruptions

True of False: The Asthenosphere is a layer of liquid molten rock that the solid lithosphere rides around on.

False

Convergent boundaries are characterized by which fo the following features?

(1) Shallow and deep earthquakes
(2) Volcanoes
(3) Mountain Building
(4) Deep trenches

___ is the short-term condition of the atmosphere and how it behaves, whereas __ describes the average atmospheric conditions over long periods of time ranging from years to decades.

weather, climate

the two most abundant gases that make up the atmosphere are:

nitrogen and oxygen

Put the layers of the atmosphere in order by altitude from closets to Earth's surface to highest above Earth's surface

(1) Troposphere
(2) Stratosphere
(3) Mesosphere

Weather occurs in which layer or layers of the atmosphere?

Troposphere only

The temperature of the Earth's atmosphere ___ with altitude within the troposphere.

decreases

True or False: Ozone shields the lower Earth's surface from 97-99% of the Sun's UV radiation.

True

This effect, which is related to the west-to-east spin of the Earth, causes objects to appear deflected counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.

Coriolis Effect

The developing stage of a thunderstorm is where:

a rapid updraft fo rising war air forms cumulus clouds at elevations of five to seven kilometers

The mature stage of a thunderstorm is where:

warm air rises to its maximum height and spreads out, forming an anvil shaped cloud, with strong updrafts and downdrafts

The dissipating stage of a thunderstorm is where:

the amount of cold downdraft exceeds the rising updraft and prevents warm air from rising to fuel the storm.

Lightening discharge can heat the surrounding air to temperatures that are:

5x hotter than the surface fo the sun

Tornadoes most commonly occur associated with which type of thunderstorm?

supercell thunderstorm

Descending cold air produces

high pressure conditions

In the Northern Hemisphere, a rotating high pressure area (where air is flowing away from the center) spins in which direction?

clockwise

The movement of cold air into a warm air mass will produce:

a verticle set of clouds that can produce thunderstorms

Which scale is sued to measure the intensity of tornadoes?

(EF) Enhanced Fujita

air pressure is:

denser at the bottom of a vertical column

Descending cold air produces:

high pressure conditions

If a cyclonic storm has winds of 50 miles per hour, it would be designated as a:

tropical storm

The most costly storm in the history fo the US was

Hurricane Katrina

If a tropical storm runs into a set of mountains, what would the result most likely be like?

the amount of rainfall will probably increase

The eye of a hurricane:

is located near the center of the storm and can change size

Which of the following best describes a rock fall?

a nearly vertical movement of debris from a slope or steep cliff

___ is the primary force that controls mass wasting.

Gravity

Which of the following would help prevent the likelihood fo a slope failing?

planting grass on the hillside

A mass movement in which a solid block of material comes down a hillside is termed:

translational slide

Clay soils can expand by :

absorbing water

Curved tree trunks are a visible sign of what type of mass movement?

Creep

The energy that comes from an earthflow or a debris avalanche comes from:

gravity?

As the amount of water present in a mass movement increases, the velocity of the movement:

increases

Creep is typically caused by:

expansion and contraction of clay-rich soils

the portion of a slump that holds it up is termed the:

toe

Which of the following mass movements is most rapid?

rockfall

Along a meandering stream, erosion is most likely to occur where?

on the outside of the bend

The 100-year flood is:

a major flood that has the probability of occurring once in a 100-year period (1% chance of happening per year)

The portion of a stream having the steepest gradient or slope is located:

in the headwaters or source region of the stream

True or False: Flash Floods can only occur in desert regions

false

The majority of flooding takes place in what part of a stream's longitudinal profile?

near the mouth, where the steepness is essentially horizontal

The amount of water that flows through a stream channel is:

discharge

flashfloods occur most often in:

mountains and deserts

What is the order of runoff accumulation and concentration?

runoff, sheetflow, rills, gullies, channels

Regional floods are usually the result of:

prolonged rain over a large area

The sinuosity of a stream is:

the curvedness of stream

The largest particles carried along by a moving stream are found where?

moving along the stream bed

The three components of the fire triangle are:

oxygen, heat, and fuel

TRUE OR FALSE: the removal of one of the components in the fire triangle will cause the fire to go out

True

Cellulose is:

a complex carbohydrate containing hundreds of glucose molecules

How does the use of slurry work to fight wildfires?

it blocks oxygen from getting to the fuel

Why do we not hear much about the large fire in Peshtigo, Wisconsin in Oct. 1871?

it occurred on the same day as the Great Chicago Fire

TRUE OR FALSE: one small benefit of wildfires is that the resulting residue may add nutrients to the soil

True

A ___ occurs when flaming combustion is carried through the tops of trees.

crown fire

The Cascade Mountains and Volcanoes formed primarily due to the __ of the Juan De Fuca Plate along the North American Plate

subduction and consumption

What is a lahar?

a fast moving mixture of water and volcanic ash that can occur with or without volcanic activity

How is magma generated at hotspots or mantle plumes?

lowering pressure (decompression melting)

Which of the following combined characteristics of magma would lead to the most explosive eruption?

high viscosity and high gas content

Which of the following is a not a primary influence of volcanic explosivity?

season of the year during eruption

Which of the following is NOT a method for monitoring volcanoes and volcanic activity?

Ozone emissions

TRUE OR FALSE: A tsunami can be recognized in deep water by the presence of a very large wave

False

a tsunami is a:

seismic sea wave

As a tsunami approaches more shallow water:

it slows down because of friction along the seafloor

If you were on a ship in the middle of the ocean when a tsunami passed under you...

you would hardly notice the tsunami, if at all

What type of earthquake motion does not tend to produce a tsunami?

lateral strike - slip fault motion

The largest number of tsunami occur in the:

Pacific Ocean

Detection Systems that warn a possible tsunami are deployed...

primarily in the Pacific Ocean

TRUE OR FALSE: In a series of tsunami waves, the first arriving wave is always the largest

False

The region in the continental United States most likely to experience a major tsunami is:

the West Coast

The number of people who died in the 2004 Christmas Day Indian Ocean Tsunami was similar to the number of people who live in:

Des Monies, IA

The earth, unlike the moon, has relatively few impact craters because:

the earth has active erosion and plate tectonics and the surface is constantly undergoing change

asteroids are considered hazardous when they are __ and because their orbits are __

large, at least 140 meters, close to earth

these are space objects composed of small chunks of rock and debris in our solar system that enter Earth’s atmosphere and begin to burn up, producing what is sometimes called a shooting star

meteor

this meteorite type, based on composition is made of rocky material that has not been modified by any planetary differentiation processes since they formed

stony - chondrite

TRUE OR FALSE: between 100 million and 10 billion kilograms of space debris hit the Earth’s atmosphere every year

TRUE

a stony astroid about the size of a car, 4 m long, hits Earth’s atmosphere on average once every ___

year

put the following crater formation process stages in the correct order

contact and compression, excavation, modification, and collapse

TRUE OR FALSE: The boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene at about 65.5. million years ago is one of the three largest mass extinction events in the last 500 million years, and coincides with the Chicxulub meteorite impact in Mexico

True

a tiny single cell organism that reproduces by cell division, having a shape similar to rod, spiral or sphere, and has no chlorophyll is called a ___

bacteria

an acellular, non-living infectious particle of either DNA or RNA associated with various protein coats that only multiply in living cells is called a ___

virus

A __ is any agent that is capable of causing a disease

pathogen

TRUE OR FALSE: A pandemic is an occurrence of a disease in a restricted area that may be highly contagious

False

Bubonic plague is caused by a bacterium that is hosted in __________ and is transmitted when that parasitic organism feeds on a host.

oriental rat fleas

True or False: Bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death, killed more than 20 million people – almost 1/3 of Europe’s population – between the years 1347 and 1353. 

True

True or False: A flu virus can only infect one species of animal.

False