TECTONICS

Question 1

What is the continental crust made of?

Answer 1

Solid granite, 30–60 km thick.

Question 2

What is the oceanic crust made of?

Answer 2

Denser basaltic rock.

Question 3

What is the lithosphere?

Answer 3

The crust and uppermost mantle.

Question 4

What is the asthenosphere?

Answer 4

Top 100 km of mantle; viscous.

Question 5

What is the mantle composed of?

Answer 5

Peridotite, 2900–3000 km thick.

Question 6

What makes up the outer core?

Answer 6

Liquid iron and nickel, 2300 km thick.

Question 7

What makes up the inner core?

Answer 7

Solid iron and nickel, 1200 km thick.

Question 8

What causes convection currents?

Answer 8

Heat from the core causes mantle rock to rise, move, and sink.

Question 9

What is ridge push?

Answer 9

Newly formed lithosphere slides away from ridges due to gravity.

Question 10

What is slab pull?

Answer 10

A dense subducting plate pulls the rest of the plate along.

Question 11

What are the three types of plate boundaries?

Answer 11

Destructive, constructive, and transform.

Question 12

What is a hotspot?

Answer 12

A plume of magma rising through the mantle, e.g. Hawaii.

Question 13

What are the slopes of shield volcanoes like?

Answer 13

Gentle upper slopes, steeper lower slopes.

Question 14

Why are shield eruptions less explosive?

Answer 14

Low-viscosity basaltic lava flows easily.

Question 15

What defines stratovolcanoes?

Answer 15

Steep summit, layered eruptions, explosive felsic lava.

Question 16

What is an acid dome volcano?

Answer 16

Steep-sided due to viscous rhyolitic lava.

Question 17

How does a caldera form?

Answer 17

Collapse of a magma chamber after a massive eruption.

Question 18

What is a pyroclastic flow?

Answer 18

Hot gas and ash moving at high speed, deadly and fast.

Question 19

What type of lava is most dangerous?

Answer 19

Basaltic lava from fissure eruptions.

Question 20

What is tephra?

Answer 20

Rock fragments ejected during an eruption.

Question 21

What gases are released during eruptions?

Answer 21

CO₂, SO₂, and H₂S.

Question 22

What is a lahar?

Answer 22

Volcanic mudflow of ash and water.

Question 23

What is a Jokulhlaup?

Answer 23

Glacier flood caused by volcanic melting.

Question 24

What type of volcano is Eyjafjallajökull?

Answer 24

Stratovolcano with effusive lava.

Question 25

Where is Eyjafjallajökull located?

Answer 25

On a divergent boundary—Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Question 26

What caused Jokulhlaups in Eyjafjallajökull?

Answer 26

Melting glacier water from volcanic heat.

Question 27

What were local economic impacts of Eyjafjallajökull?

Answer 27

Farm destruction, water contamination, road closures.

Question 28

International economic impact of Eyjafjallajökull?

Answer 28

£130 million/day airline losses due to ash cloud.

Question 29

What was a key local social impact of Eyjafjallajökull?

Answer 29

800 evacuated, loss of power and water.

Question 30

How did authorities respond during the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull?

Answer 30

Flight cancellations, evacuations, and satellite tracking.

Question 31

What are P waves?

Answer 31

Fastest seismic waves; compressional.

Question 32

What are S waves?

Answer 32

Slower; shear waves moving perpendicular to wave direction.

Question 33

What are surface waves?

Answer 33

Travel along the Earth's surface, causing most damage.

Question 34

What does the Richter scale measure?

Answer 34

Amplitude of seismic waves.

Question 35

What is a weakness of the Richter scale?

Answer 35

Logarithmic and hard to interpret.

Question 36

What is the Moment Magnitude Scale (MM)?

Answer 36

Measures total energy released, considers geology.

Question 37

What is the Mercalli scale?

Answer 37

Measures intensity based on observed effects.

Question 38

What is ground shaking?

Answer 38

Seismic waves cause structural collapse.

Question 39

What is liquefaction?

Answer 39

Saturated soil loses strength and acts like a liquid.

Question 40

What are aftershocks?

Answer 40

Smaller quakes after a major one.

Question 41

How do tsunamis form?

Answer 41

Subduction zone earthquakes displace ocean water.

Question 42

What magnitude was the Haiti earthquake?

Answer 42

7.0 on Richter scale.

Question 43

What plate boundary caused the Haiti earthquake?

Answer 43

Transform margin.

Question 44

What were short-term local impacts fo the Haiti earthquake?

Answer 44

60% infrastructure lost, 230,000 dead, 1.5M homeless.

Question 45

What were international responses of the Haiti earthquake?

Answer 45

UN and USA aid, $100 million raised, debt suspension.

Question 46

What does a hazard profile show?

Answer 46

Characteristics like magnitude, frequency, duration.

Question 47

Limitations of hazard profiles?

Answer 47

Too generic and often subjective.

Question 48

What is the PAR Model?

Answer 48

Explains disasters by linking vulnerability to pressures.

Question 49

How does vulnerability affect risk?

Answer 49

Higher vulnerability increases disaster severity.

Question 50

What are economic factors of tectonics?

Answer 50

Wealth, prediction technology, emergency services.

Question 51

What are social factors of tectonics?

Answer 51

Education, density, perception.

Question 52

What are political factors of tectonics?

Answer 52

Stability, preparedness, governance.

Question 53

What are geographic factors of tectonics?

Answer 53

Isolation, urbanization, location near margins.

Question 54

How can earthquakes be predicted?

Answer 54

Laser tiltmeters, gas sensors, seismographs.

Question 55

How can volcanoes be monitored?

Answer 55

Gas emissions, ground deformation, seismic activity.

Question 56

What tech predicts tsunamis?

Answer 56

Buoys, tide gauges, seabed pressure recorders.

Question 57

How can people prepare for quakes?

Answer 57

Drills, education, emergency kits, EQ-proof buildings.

Question 58

How can volcano impacts be reduced?

Answer 58

Mapping, evacuations, seawater lava cooling.

Question 59

How are tsunami losses mitigated?

Answer 59

Coastal defences, early warning, elevated buildings.

Question 60

What does modifying the loss involve?

Answer 60

Relief aid, insurance, reconstruction, resilience.