Natural Hazards and Disasters Study Guide Questions
Course Introduction
This course examines the scientific principles, causes, and impacts of natural hazards and disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, hurricanes, floods, and landslides. Students will explore the physical processes underlying these events, their global and local occurrences, and their effects on human societies. The course also addresses risk assessment, disaster preparedness, mitigation strategies, and the role of technology in monitoring and responding to natural disasters. Through case studies and interdisciplinary perspectives, students gain a comprehensive understanding of the challenges posed by natural hazards and the tools used to reduce vulnerability and enhance resilience.
Recommended Textbook
The Changing Earth Exploring Geology and Evolution 6th Edition by James S. Monroe
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Chapter 1: Understanding Earth: A Dynamic and Evolving Planet
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Q1) Briefly explain how geologists can formulate theories about events that occurred on Earth before humans were here to make observations.
Answer: Geologists base their theories on two assumptions.First,that rocks record the processes that were involved in formation of those rocks.Second,that uniformitarianism is true,and the present is the key to the past.This means that basic physical,chemical,and biological processes have not changed,and that if we study and understand them today,we can apply what we learn to conditions in the past.
Q2) State the principle of uniformitarianism
Answer: The physical and chemical laws of nature have remained the same over time and cannot be violated.
Q3) What are the three types of plate boundaries?
A) mid-ocean ridge, trench, divergent
B) mid-ocean ridge, divergent, convergent
C) divergent, convergent, transform
D) convergent, transform, trench
Answer: C
Q4) Earth formed ______ billion years ago.
Answer: 4.6
Page 3
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Chapter 2: Plate Tectonics: A Unifying Theory
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Q1) Glacial deposits gave strong evidence of the existence of Gondwana because ____.
A) a single continent in high latitudes was more sensible than low latitude glaciation on several continents
B) glacial striations showed that all glaciers on each continent had flowed from a central location
C) fossil plants indicated tropical climate in the northern continents
D) a single continent in high latitudes was more sensible than low latitude glaciation on several continents AND glacial striations showed that all glaciers on each continent had flowed from a central location
E) a single continent in high latitudes was more sensible than low latitude glaciation on several continents AND fossil plants indicated tropical climate in the northern continents
Answer: D
Q2) The cause of magnetic reversals is a change in the structure of the Earth's inner core.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 3: Minerals The Building Blocks of Rocks
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Q1) Mica and clay minerals have a platy crystal form because they have a sheet-like structure of silica tetrahedra.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Placer deposits form because
A) gold is lighter weight than other rocks and minerals and floats to the surface.
B) hot fluids travel through bedrock and create mineral veins.
C) minerals with covalent bonds transition to ionic bonding.
D) running water separates and concentrates minerals and rock fragments by their density.
Answer: D
Q3) Ionic bonds occur when electrons ____.
A) are transferred between atoms
B) are shared by atoms
C) have a neutral charge
D) have a positive charge
E) none of these
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: Igneous Rocks and Plutons
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Q1) Igneous rocks with a texture that is so fine-grained that the crystals are too small to see is ____.
A) aphanitic
B) porphyritic
C) glassy
D) phaneritic
E) pyroclastic
Q2) An igneous rock in which large mineral grains called ____________________ are suspended in a finely crystalline groundmass is called a(n)____________________.
Q3) The largest intrusive bodies are called ____________________ and by definition,they must have at least ______ square kilometers of surface area.
Q4) Pegmatites are rocks of felsic composition that are similar to granite.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The increase in Earth's temperature with depth is called the ____________________.
Q6) What phenomena does Bowen's Reaction Series help explain?
Q7) Why do pegmatite mineral crystals grow so large?
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Chapter 5: Volcanoes and Volcanism
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Q1) The eruption that buried the city of Pompeii,Italy in 79 A.D.was that of Mount ____________________,which prior to the eruption had been quiet for at least ______ years.
Q2) Distinguish aa from pahoehoe flows.
Q3) Briefly explain how magma can originate at spreading zones if temperatures at such shallow depths cannot produce melting alone.
Q4) How do pillow lavas form?
Q5) Why is Crater Lake in Oregon considered to be misnamed?
Q6) Andesite is the type of lava most likely to erupt in a fissure eruption. A)True B)False
Q7) One common but dangerous gas emitted from volcanoes,which is responsible for many deaths in Cameroon,is ____________________.
Q8) Mount Vesuvius is part of a chain of volcanoes along Italy's south coast where the ____________________ plate is being subducted beneath the ____________________ plate.
Q9) What causes the configuration of the islands that make up Santorini? How has volcanism at Santorini affected the people who live there?
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Chapter 6: Weathering, Erosion, and Soil
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Q1) A(n)____________________ soil forms where the parent material has weathered,whereas ____________________ soil develops from eroded material that was weathered at another location.
Q2) Salt crystals can exert enough force to widen cracks and dislodge particles in some rocks.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are rising due to the burning of fossil fuels.How might this increased level of carbon dioxide affect rates of weathering?
Q4) What are the principle controls on soil formation?
Q5) What is caliche?
A) a layer of silica cement within a pedalfer
B) a layer of precipitated calcium carbonate in horizon B
C) a layer of rock between soil layers C and D
D) a deposit formed in alkali soils
E) a light colored layer of unstable minerals
Q6) Because quartzite is (more/less)____________________ chemically stable than granite,it will be covered by a (thicker/thinner)____________________ layer of soil than will an adjacent body of granite.
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Chapter 7: Sediment and Sedimentary Rocks
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Q1) Under what conditions does coal form?
Q2) What does poorly-sorted sediment have?
A) no sharp edges
B) restricted size range
C) only particles larger than sand
D) great size variation
E) only particles smaller than sand
Q3) If all of the grains in a sedimentary rock are about the same size,shape,and composition,what can the rock can be characterized as?
A) cemented
B) compacted
C) cross bedded
D) graded
E) well-sorted
Q4) Graded beds refer to sedimentary beds that show an increase in grain size from bottom to top.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What makes up a chemical sediment?
Q6) Is banded iron formation a chemical or detrital sedimentary rock? Explain.
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Chapter 8: Metamorphism and Metamorphic Rocks
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Q1) Contact metamorphism is found at the boundary between country rock and _______.
Q2) Metamorphic rocks are those that ____.
A) are claimed to have certain metaphysical properties (e.g., quartz crystals)
B) have different mineral compositions due to increased temperature and pressure
C) have textures due to water and volatile magmatic fluids
D) have different chemical compositions due to organisms and sediments
E) have different mineral compositions due to increased temperature and pressure AND have textures due to water and volatile magmatic fluids
Q3) At which type(s)of tectonic plate boundaries does heat sufficient to cause metamorphism occur?
Q4) Why is asbestos considered a health hazard?
A) The fibers can cause lung cancer.
B) Smoke from burning asbestos can cause lung cancer.
C) Particles are toxic when ingested.
D) Asbestos mining is hazardous for the miners.
Q5) The region between two _______ makes up a single metamorphic _______.
Q6) Migmatites can form at convergent plate boundaries.
A)True
B)False
Page 10
Q7) Metamorphism is most common along ____________________ plate boundaries.
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Chapter 9: Earthquakes and Earth's Interior
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Q1) Seattle's most important buildings--schools,hospitals,etc.--are built to State of California earthquake standards.
A)True
B)False
Q2) A seismic risk map can be used to A) predict when an earthquake will take place in an area. B) choose locations for hospitals and other important buildings. C) determine the most likely location of the epicenter of the next earthquake. D) show seismic gaps.
Q3) The structural layer that the P- and S-wave low-velocity zone,in the upper part of the mantle,closely corresponds to is the ____________________.
Q4) Why do structures located on thick,soft sediment,especially water-saturated or artificial fill,suffer much greater damage than structures built on bedrock?
Q5) Tsunami are significant sources of danger created by earthquakes.
A)True
B)False
Q6) What is the purpose of trenching across an active fault?
Q7) Why are there so few earthquakes within plate interiors?
Page 12
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Chapter 10: Deformation,Mountain Building,and Earth's
Crust
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Q1) Most folding of rocks occurs near the surface.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The zone of rubble found along a fracture that has had movement on both sides is called
A) conglomerate.
B) angular unconformity.
C) fracture rubble.
D) fault breccia.
Q3) What is the distinction between the hanging wall and the footwall of a fault?
Q4) A(n)____________________ divides a fold into two halves.
Q5) When an isolated mountain range occurs in the interior of a continent,one may infer that the range formed by what?
A) the collision of two continental plates
B) compressive forces acting on the opposing margins of a single plate
C) the rifting of the continent
D) the growth of a volcanic arc
E) the collision of two continental plates AND the growth of a volcanic arc
Q7) What is the difference between faults and joints? Page 13
Q6) Force applied to a given area is known as ____________________.
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Chapter 11: Mass Wasting
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Q1) Geologists call the down slope movement of material under the direct influence of gravity ____________________.
Q2) Damage to homes by mass wasting
A) strikes wealthy and poor people equally.
B) is rare because the potential dangers on different slopes are well studied.
C) is more likely to affect poor people since they cannot afford to build on the most stable slopes.
D) is most likely to strike urban areas.
Q3) A rapid down slope mass movement of snow and ice is called a(n)____________________.
Q4) What human activities contribute to or cause mass wasting?
Q5) Falls,slumps,and slides may turn into flows.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Give an example of a way in which mass wasting can affect human activity.
Q7) Water
A) decreases friction between grains.
B) causes a loss of cohesion.
C) adds weight.
D) all of these.
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Chapter 12: Running Water Streams and Rivers
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Q1) The types of marine deltas that are recognized,based on the relative importance of the processes involved in their formation are ____________________-dominated,____________________-dominated,and ____________________-dominated.
Q2) A delta that has islands reworked by waves on the seaward side,such as the Nile delta,is typically formed as a(n)____-dominated delta.
A) avian
B) stream
C) wave
D) tide
E) sediment
Q3) Flow in which there is no mixing between parallel layers in the water is known as what?
A) turbulent flow
B) outflow
C) intermittent flow
D) laminar flow
E) stream flow
Q4) The ideal graded stream has a balance among what five factors?
Q5) Briefly explain what property of water makes hydrologic cycling possible.
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Chapter 13: Groundwater
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Q1) What causes the subsidence that sometimes accompanies groundwater use?
Q2) An impermeable layer which prevents the passage of groundwater is a(n)____________________
Q3) The boundary between the zone of aeration and the zone of saturation is known as the ____________________.
Q4) A permeable layer that transports water is called a(n)____________________.
Q5) Where does groundwater discharge naturally?
A) only in the ocean
B) only in springs
C) only in streams
D) only in aquifers
E) wherever the groundwater table intersects the ground surface
Q6) What are the health effects of drinking water with high concentrations of arsenic?
Q7) What factors contribute to the high degree of local variability in the amount of groundwater arsenic?
Q8) By definition,the porosity of rocks/sediments consists of pore spaces between particles/grains.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 14: Glaciers and Glaciation
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Q1) Any sediment deposited as a result of glacial activity is known as glacial ____________________.
Q2) A steep-walled,pyramidal peak formed by headward erosion of cirques.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The three stages involved in the formation of a glacier are the precipitation of ____________________; the formation of ____________________ by partial thawing,refreezing,and crystallization; and compaction and recrystallization to produce ____________________.
Q4) The Matterhorn in Switzerland is a glacial ____________________ landform known as a(n)____________________.
Q5) Valleys carved by glaciers are distinctive because they are V-shaped in cross-section.
A)True B)False
Q6) What are dropstones,and what do they indicate?
Q7) The decade from 2000 to 2009 was the hottest on record so far. A)True
B)False
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Q8) How does the water bound in glaciers eventually re-enter the hydrologic cycle?
Chapter 15: The Work of Wind and Deserts
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Q1) Why are flash floods and sheet flows common in deserts?
Q2) What is a common mode of mass wasting in deserts?
A) mud flows
B) rock fall
C) creep
D) slumps
E) slides
Q3) What is an isolated mountain that rises from the flat plain of a desert called?
A) mesa
B) butte
C) inselberg
D) drumlin
E) yardang
Q4) Fan-shaped landforms that develop in deserts adjacent to highlands are known as ____ fans.
A) alluvial
B) bajada
C) playa
D) plain
E) pediment
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Chapter 16: Oceans, Shorelines, and Shoreline Processes
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Q1) Briefly explain what the effects of rising sea level are on the barrier islands along the United States coastlines,and why coastal communities are concerned.
Q2) What path do water particles in a wave ideally follow?
Q3) A deposit of unconsolidated sediment that extends landward from low tide to a change in topography or to where permanent vegetation begins is a(n)____.
A) spit
B) tombolo
C) barrier island
D) beach
E) baymouth bar
Q4) How does wave behavior on lakes differ from that of seas?
Q5) How are most waves generated?
Q6) Scientists today calculate the depth to the seafloor using
A) the time it takes for sound waves to travel from a ship to the seafloor and back.
B) seismic waves that reflect from the seafloor.
C) a very long line with a weight attached.
D) trips to the seafloor in modern submersibles.
Q7) If you were caught in a rip current,how would you attempt to reach shore?
Page 20
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Chapter 17: Geologic Time: Concepts and Principles
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Q1) Fragments of a rock that are contained in a layer of another rock must be ____________________ in age than the layer of rock which surrounds them.
Q2) How does relative dating differ from absolute dating?
Q3) A surface of discontinuity representing a break in the depositional record or a discontinuity representing erosion or nondeposition is a(n)____________________.
Q4) The time necessary for half of the atoms of the unstable parent element to decay to the new,more stable daughter element is the isotope's ____________________.
Q5) Stalagmites can be radiometrically dated because
A) like tree rings, the calcium carbonate layers vary in thickness by year.
B) carbon-14 decays to nitrogen 14 in the carbonate.
C) uranium-234 substitutes for calcium and decays to thorium-230.
D) fission tracks in apatite in the structures can be dated.
Q6) To determine the age of sedimentary rocks containing fossils,____________________ zones are established,plotting the overlapping geologic ranges of different species of fossils.
Q7) How does the sequence of events differ between an angular unconformity and a disconformity?
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Chapter 18: Organic Evolution The Theory and Its Supporting Evidence
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Q1) The process in which changes occur in genes passed from one generation to another is called ____________________.
Q2) Describe allopatric speciation.
Q3) What led Darwin to change his beliefs about fixity of species?
A) renewed interest in the biblical account of creation
B) observation of language variation in human populations in the British Isles
C) observations of no documentable difference in plant and animal population over wide geographic areas
D) observations that distinct but closely related groups of plants and animals inhabited isolated islands
E) none of these
Q4) ____________________ evolution is the development of ____________________ characteristics in distantly related organisms.
Q5) The Lysenko affair shows the absurdity of basing scientific theories on philosophic or political beliefs.
A)True
B)False
Q6) How can traits in organisms evolve over time?
Q7) Genes controlling the same trait are called ____________________.
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Chapter 19: Precambrian Earth and Life History
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Q1) The rate of plate motion was probably slower in the Archean.
A)True
B)False
Q2) All but which of the following are features of greenstone belts?
A) volcanic and sedimentary rocks
B) key index fossil assemblages
C) granitic intrusions
D) complex folding and faulting
E) abundant chlorite
Q3) The buildup of cyanobacteria entrapping sand grains explains the origin of stromatolites.
A)True
B)False
Q4) By ____ years ago,much of Greenland,central Canada,and the north central United States formed one large craton.
A) 1.8 million
B) 2.0 billion
C) 1.6 billion
D) 1.6 million
E) 1.8 billion
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Chapter 20: Paleozoic Earth History
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Q1) The Transcontinental Arch represents portions of the Canadian Shield not covered by seas in the Sauk transgression.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following was not a mobile belt around the North American continent during the Paleozoic?
A) Franklin
B) Cordilleran
C) Hercynian
D) Ouachita
E) Appalachian
Q3) What role did microplates and terranes play in the formation of Pangaea? Give an example.
Q4) What was the probable source for detrital sand in the basal Kaskaskia unit?
A) Ozark domes
B) the Appalachian mobile belt
C) the Canadian Shield
D) all of these
E) Ozark domes and the Appalachian mobile belt
Q5) What were three major mobile belts in North America in the Paleozoic?
Page 24
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Chapter 21: Paleozoic Life History
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Q1) Animals with rigid skeletons appeared abruptly in the fossil record at the beginning of the Paleozoic.
A)True
B)False
Q2) All but which of the following were important in the reef environment of the Ordovician?
A) bryozoa
B) stromatoporoids
C) tabulate coral
D) crinoids
E) rugose coral
Q3) Non-vascular plants differ from vascular plants in that they ____.
A) reproduce by seeds only
B) live in dry arid climates
C) are small and live in moist climates
D) do not have specialized tissue to transport water and nutrients
E) are small, live in moist climates and do not have specialized tissue for transporting water and nutrients
Q4) What were the factors that made it difficult for animals to adapt to land?
Q5) Describe the evolutionary history and importance of crossopterygians.
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Chapter 22: Mesozoic Earth and Life History
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Q1) What are the major classes of Mesozoic mollusks?
A) ammonites, brachiopods, and cephalopods
B) gastropods, ammonites, and brachiopods
C) bivalves, cephalopods, and ammonites
D) trilobites, brachiopods, and ammonites
E) gastropods, bivalves, and cephalopods
Q2) The interior of the North American continent was flooded during the Middle Jurassic by which Sea?
A) Navajo Sea
B) Moenkopi Sea
C) Morrison Sea
D) Sundance Sea
E) Sevier Sea
Q3) The main commodity associated with large batholithic intrusions in the western United States is ____________________.
Q4) Unlike the Paleozoic burrowing animals which were soft-bodied,burrowing animals of the Mesozoic were hard-shelled.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 23: Cenozoic Earth and Life History
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Q1) The age of oceanic crust in the Pacific is asymmetric because
A) much of the crust in the eastern Pacific has been subducted.
B) spreading is faster on the east side of the ridge than on the west side.
C) the eastern Pacific collided with the Americas to form mountain ranges.
D) volcanism on the west side of the ridge has made the crust larger.
E) all of these.
Q2) The present day Appalachian Mountains are the product of Cenozoic subduction and orogeny.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Mammals that lay eggs are called ____________________ mammals.
Q4) Formation of basin and range mountains is a result of ____.
A) thrust faulting
B) folding and faulting
C) normal faulting
D) volcanism
E) batholithic intrusions
Q5) ____________________ gold deposits are formed by stream deposits.
Q6) The major difference between modern humans and Neanderthals is
Page 27
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Chapter 24: Geology in Perspective
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Q1) What will the effects of an additional 3 billion people by the end of the 21st century be on environmental issues? How will these people secure the things that they need?
Q2) Ask the students: Has learning the scientific basis of many issues caused you to change your mind or formulate an opinion on a topic? For example,do you now have a better sense about issues such as evolution,global warming,ozone depletion,etc.?
Q3) What activities do humans engage in that make them geologic agents,and how effective are human activities at being geologic agents?
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