mixed practice

Question 1

What is stream order?

Answer 1

A positive whole number used in geomorphology and hydrology to indicate the level of branching in a river system
- #1 goes to the “main stem” with the mouth at the sea
- #2 goes to immediate tributaries (first branches) and each subsequent # is one greater than the river/tributary it branched off of

Question 2

What are the impacts of damming on sediment transport and why are they important?

Answer 2

• Damming can trap sediment and prevent it from traveling which can cause an accumulation that may in turn cause flooding
• Furthermore damming can prevent further parts of streams from getting necessary sediments which can cause damage to local ecosystems and may go so far as to impact riparian zones

Question 3

What are the units for magnitude of earthquakes and how do the units increase with scale?

Answer 3

Magnitude is measured on a Richter scale, a logarithmic scale from 1 to 10
- Level 7 is 10x greater than level 6
- Level 8 is 100x greater than level 6

Question 4

What type of earthquake waves cause the most damage to the land’s surface?

Answer 4

R waves are the most damaging because they occur on the surface with a complex rolling motion, they also move slowly and have more time to damage infrastructure

Question 5

What are precautions that can be taken to reduce damage from earthquakes?

Answer 5

• Recognize active faults & earth materials sensitive to shaking
• Develop improved ways to predict, control, and adjust to earthquakes
• Develop better structures
• Develop effective warning system & establish emergency plans to react to unexpected catastrophes
• Seismic zoning & other hazard reduction research

Question 5

What are potential warning signs of earthquakes?

Answer 5

• Foreshocks = essentially microearthquakes before a big one (imperfect predictor)
• Preseismic deformation of surface
• Emission of radon gas
• Seismic gaps along faults
• Strange behavior from animals (mostly anecdotal evidence)