Theories & Methods
The five logical steps used to help solve problems or gain knowledge.
What is the Scientific Method?
A natural process or event that represents a potential threat to humans.
What is a Natural hazard?
The core, mantle and crust.
What are the three main components of the Earth's structure?
These are often caused by earthquakes, volcanoes and extraterrestrial impacts.
What are Tsunami?
An outpour of molten rock from a vent or fissure.
What is a lava flow?
A scientific law about why objects fall.
What is the Law of Gravity?
Population, location and infrastructure.
What determines how disastrous a natural hazard may become?
Oceanic and continental.
What are the two types of Earth's crust?
Tsunami's are often the result of this rapid seafloor movement.
What is subsidence?
The downward sinking of earth materials.
What is subsidence?
Theory based evidence that gives explanations based on data is an example of pseudoscience.
What is false?
Geography and human population.
What are factors that influence Natural hazards?
Alfred Wegener's proposal based on observations of rock sequences and fossils.
What is Continental drift?
These influence a rocks ability to melt.
What are temperature and pressure (water) too?
Humans cause subsidence by withdrawing fluids from reservoirs, mining and the draining of wetlands.
What is true?
The two most important concepts in this class.
What are Analytical thinking & Communication?
The product of the probability of an event times the consequence once it occurs.
What is risk?
The theoretical driving force behind plate tectonics.
What is thermal convection?
A flow of hot gas and volcanic materials that follows topographic lows.
What is a Pyroclastic flow?
Lands that are underlain with limestone, are water soluble and composed of carbonate rocks.
What is Karst terrain?
A scientific theory about movement of the Earth's surface.
What is plate tectonics?
A theory explaining the structure of the Earth's crust and the movement of plates.
What is Plate tectonics?
In geology these are described as divergent, convergent and transform.
What are Plate boundaries?
A viscous flowing slurry of rock pieces and water.
What is a Lahar?
Pyroclastic flows can reach speeds of 300m/s and attain temperatures of 1100 degrees C.
What is true?