Volcanic 1
Compare and contrast lava and magma.
Both are molten rock, but lava is at the surface and magma is underground.
List the 3 main types of volcanoes.
Cindercone, strato/composite, shield
Compare and contrast erosion and weathering.
Erosion is movement of materials while weathering is the breaking up of materials. Both often happen together, like in a river.
What is an impermeable surface? Give an example.
A surface that water cannot pass through. Roads, parking lots, buildings, etc.
What are tides?
Natural variations in sea level that happen twice a day due to the gravitational pull of the Moon.
Compare and contrast craters and calderas.
Both form at the vent of a volcano, but a crater is smaller and forms from material being blasted outward while a caldera is larger and forms from material collapsing inward.
What does WOVO stand for?
World Organization of Volcano Observatories
Give an example of a specific type of mass wasting (including name, speed, and type of movement).
Fall - sudden, piece breaks from top.
Topple - sudden, full face breaks and falls off
Slump - slower to moderate, rounded surface
Slide - moderate to sudden, rounded surface
What is infiltration and how does it relate to the frequency of inland flooding?
It's the rate at which water moves through the ground changing from surface to groundwater. When this is slow or doesn't happen flooding is more likely to occur.
How is sea level changing and why?
Sea level is rising because of increasing temperatures from climate change melting sea ice and glaciers.
Explain how magma being felsic vs. mafic changes viscosity and thus explosivity of an eruption.
Mafic is less viscous so less explosive (more effusive). Felsic is more viscous so more explosive eruptions.
Explain why volcanic ash can be so dangerous and damaging (give 3 examples)
Damages lungs, can trigger cooler temperatures (volcanic winter), destroys machinery, can collapse buildings, can kill plants, hard to clean up.
How are humans influencing the occurrence of landslides? Give at least 2 examples.
We change where water exists because of impermeable surfaces like roads. Climate change leads to heavier rain all at once which can trigger landslides. Humans build on surfaces making them less stable. etc.
Give methods of mitigating and adapting to inland flooding. Give at least 2 examples.
Decrease impermeable surfaces, add more holding areas for water, plant things that absorb water, hazard maps, education on areas most at risk.
How does coastal erosion impact coastal flooding?
By eroding away dunes there aren't areas to break waves and storm surges, making flooding travel further inland. Homes that were further from the coast are gradually losing the land between them.
Explain how a hot spot volcano is different from a subduction zone volcano.
Hot spots form in the middle of a plate where convection warms and thins the crust, leading to magma erupting. The spot doesn't move, the crust over it does creating volcanic chains. Subduction zone volcanoes form at convergent plate boundaries.
Explain the alert level system for volcanoes and why it isn't always useful.
Normal, Advisory, Watch, Warning (increasing severity). Higher alerts don't guarantee an eruption, and we can go from normal to erupting quickly. Volcanoes are unpredictable.
Discuss methods for mitigating and adapting to landslide/mass wasting hazards. Give at least 3 examples.
Building supports, rerouting water, limiting where building can occur, proper communication of hazards as they happen, hazard mapping, etc.
What is a 100-year flood model? How useful is it?
It predicts the size of a major flood that would happen about once every 100 years. It's often used for insurance, but changes to flooding are happening so quickly that these models are no longer accurate.
How do we mitigate and adapt to coastal flooding? Give at least 2 examples (1 natural!).
Building homes on stilts, moving out of flood prone areas, building sea walls to block waves, planting natural plants to decrease erosion, trying to fight climate change, etc.
Compare and contrast pyroclastic surges and pyroclastic flows. Which are worse?
Discuss methods of mitigating or adapting to volcanic hazards and give at least 3 examples.
Education on the hazards, evacuation routes, signs about hazards for tourists, lava walls, close monitoring of conditions, etc.
Give an example of a historic landslide disaster including where it happened, when, and what happened.
Lots of options. Aberfan Disaster (1966) is one. I'll be verifying anything students use.
What areas are most at risk of inland flooding and how is this changing?
Low lying areas, areas with lots of impermeable surfaces. Areas with heavy rain that is infrequent (which we are seeing more of through time).
Describe how flooding can BENEFIT the environment.
It releases nutrient rich soil and water into the flooded areas which can help plants grow (dependent on the type of flooding and specific location).