100 MCQs About Natural Disasters
1. Which disaster are most likely to extinguish the human race? – Volcanoes and extraterrestrial impacts
2. What’s the smallest asteroid or comet that could cause devastating effects for humanity? – 1 kilometer wide – the equivalent of about a 10-minute walk
3. What is the biggest coronal mass ejections (CME) on record to hit Earth? – The arrington Event
4. What is the chance that a Carrington-like storm will hit in the next ten years? – 12 %
5. Which of these events may have been responsible for nearly wiping out the human race? – A supervolcano
6. How far does a supervolcano’s incineration zone extend? – 100 Kilometers
7. Where is the world’s biggest earthquake machine located? – Miki, Japan
8. What, according to some scientists, is the ideal post apocalyptic food? – Mushrooms
9. At No. 1 on the list, _____ are the most common natural disaster. – Floods
10. Landslides, tsunamis and avalanches can all be caused by what other natural disaster? –Earthquakes
11. Which volcanic feature is the deadliest? – The flow of ash, rock and gasses moving down a volcano’s side
12. The deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history was a _____ that hit Galveston, TX in 1900, killing about 7,000 people. – Hurricane
13. What makes a tornado dark colored? – The dirt and debris it sucks up
14. One of America’s worst natural disasters occurred in 1980, when a _____ damaged much
of the southern U.S. – Heat Wave
15. Below average rainfall for a prolonged period of time is called – Drought
16. What is a Tsunami? – A large wave usually formed by undersea earthquakes and landslides.
17. A sudden movement in the earth’s crust caused by movements of tectonic plates is called? – An earthquake
18. What is a natural disaster? – When a natural hazard impacts on the community causing destruction of property and loss of life.
19. The phenomenon of unusually cool ocean currents off the coast of Australia is called – El Nino
20. The social impacts of natural hazards include: – Loss of income to people or damage to an industry, illnesses cause by hazard, no form of communication
21. Natural Hazards can be separated into _________ and ________ categories. – Economic Impacts and Environmental Impacts
22. Indicates the severity of an earthquake in terms of the damage that it inflicts on structures and people – Intensity Scale
23. Boundary where plates are moving towards each other – Convergent
24. A fan shaped deposit of sand and gravel at the mouth of a mountain canyon where the stream gradient flattens at main valley floor – Alluvial Fan
25. A ground depression caused by collapse into an underground cavern – Sinkhole
26. Volcanic dome composed of rhyolite and rhyodacite – Rhyolite Dome
27. Form as sediment is deposited in the slower waters on the inside of the meander bends – Point bar
28. The number peaks per second – Frequency
29. Record local and very strong earthquakes – Strong-motion Seismograph
30. A measure of the total energy expended during an earthquake; depends on its seismic moment determined by: rock shear strength, area of rock, average slip distance offset across the – Moment Magnitude
31. A landslide in which the mass rotates as it slides on a basal slip surface – Rotational Slide
32. Blocky basalt lava with a ragged clinkery surface – Aa Flow
33. Karst-like landscape in permafrost terrain caused by melting of thermofrost under increasing temperatures – Thermokarst
34. Flat-topped volcano formed by an eruption under a glacier – Tuya
35. Molten rock – Magma
36. Record both local and distant earthquakes; but cannot accurately measure strong earthquakes in the direct vicinity – Broadband Seismograph
37. A slurry of rock, sand, water flowing downslope; water usually makes up less than half of the flow volume –Debris Flow
38. Ice that crystallizes in pores between grains of sediment – Interstitial Ice
39. Developed 1953l based on maximum amplitude of earthquake waves recorded on a Wood Anderson Seismograph – Richter Magnitude Scale
40. The total area inundated by the tsunami – Run-out distance
41. The height to which a tsunami wave rushes up onshore – Run-up height
42. Rigid outer rind of Earth approximately 60-100km thick – Lithosphere
43. Maximum angle of which sediment particles can stand without falling (dependent on grain size, grain angularity, moisture content) – Critical Angle of Repose
44. Heavier sediment in a stream that is moved along the stream bed rather than in suspension – Bedload
45. Energy level between Richter Scale Units differs by ______ times – 31.5
46. A flow of mud, rock, and water dominated by clay-sized particles – Mud Flow
47. Rapid movement of land, ranging from cm/hr to m/s of material disappearing almost instantaneously – Collapse
48. Relatively flat lowland that borders a river usually dry but subject to flooding – Floodplain
49. Water saturated sediment jostled by an earthquake rearrange themselves into a closer packing arragement – Liquefaction
50. Where the earthquake actually happens in the earth’s crust, where energy is radiating out from all directions – Focus
51. A circular or oval feature resulting from the dissolution of rock – Doline
52. Natural & Human Created Hazard like floods, droughts, wildland fires, weather phenomena, landslides are called – Hydrometeorological Hazards
53. Type of collision forms continent volcanic arc of stratovolcanoes – Ocean-Continent
54. Basalt lava with a ropy or smooth top – Pahoehoe Flow
55. Magma that flows out onto the ground surface – Lava
56. Fragmental material blown out of a volcano (ex. tephra, cinders, and bombs) – Pyroclastic
57. A particle of volcanic ash between 2mm and 6mm across – Lapilli
58. Type of collision that forms oceanic island arc of basaltic volcanoes – Ocean-Ocean
59. Point where boundaries of 3 plates meet – Triple Junction
60. Natural Hazards like Earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic Eruptions, Asteroid/Comet Impacts, Landslides are called – Geophysical Hazard
61. Rapid discharge of water from an ice-dammed lake, typically resulting from a volcanic eruption – Jokulhlaup
62. Tsunami that strikes area adjacent to its point of origin – Near Field Tsunami
63. A broad expanse of basalt lava that cooled to fill in low-lying areas of the landscape – Flood Basalt
64. An extremely large basalt-lava volcano, gently sloping sides – Shield Volcano
65. Where the earthquake actually appears on the earth’s surface, sometimes there is a rupture at that point – Epicentre
66. Downslope creep driven by sequential freezing and thawing – Gelifluction
67. A huge collapse depression at the Earth’s surface that sank into a near-surface magma chamber during eruption of the magma – Resurgent Caldera
68. The length of a fault broken during an earthquake – Surface Rupture Length
69. Developed in 1902 by Giuseppe Mercalli – Mercalli Intensity Scale
70. Measure earthquakes quantitatively, independent of location and assigns a magnitude value based on energy released – Magnitude Scale
71. Involves the movement of a slab of rock, debris, or cohesive mud as a single unit – Slide
72. The time between seismic waves – Period
73. Extremely rapid downslope movement of large volumes of rock and debris – Sturzstrom
74. Secondary/Shear waves that shake back and forth perpendicular to the direction of wave travel, cannot travel through a liquid (4.5km/s upper mantle, 3.5km/s crust) – S Wave
75. Used to measure earthquakes – Seismograph
76. The potential degree to which an individual or community could be affected by a natural hazard – Sensitivity
77. Records distant earthquakes – Long-period Seismograph
78. A river characterized by multiple, frequency shifting channels – Braided River
79. An ice jam initiated by rpaid change in temperature – Thermal Ice Jam
80. Extremely slow downslope flow of sediment on the surface – Creep
81. Slope of the river channel; typically decreases downstream – Gradient
82. A mudflow associated with volcanic action or involving volcanic materials – Lahar
83. Component of stress perpendicular to the earth’s planar surface (force keeping the boulder/grain from moving) – Normal Stress
84. A flow involving movement of broken rock, with little sand or mud, and particle-particle contact; usually developed in gravel or sand – Grain Flow
85. A mass of cold, solid rock ejected from a volcano – Block
86. Fine materials (dust, ash, and cinders) produced by volcanic action – Tephra
87. An elevation that a stream cannot erode past, controlled by level of the body of water which the stream discharges into – Base Level
88. A landslide that moves along a regular sloping planar surface – Translational Slide
89. Mineral composed of potassium chloride, a salt used in manufacturing fertilizer – Sylvite
90. Mineral or rock composed of sodium chloride; susceptible to dissolution – Halite
91. An event involving a significant number of people and/or significant economic damage – Disaster
92. The deepest parts of the channel along the length of the stream bed – Thalweg
93. Lenses of pure ice developed in permafrost sediment – Segregated Ice
94. An abnormally long wavelength wave produced by sudden displacement of water – Tsunami
95. Topographic line or boundary separating watersheds – Drainage Divide
96. Formed on the ceiling of a cavern when water percolates through fractures in limestone – Stalactite
97. A large steep-sided volcano consisting of layers of ash, fragmental debris and lava – Stratovolcanoes
98. The amount the fault or ridge moves away from its point of origin (aka displacement) – Offset
99. A mass of liquid of partially solidified rock that is ejected from a volcano – Bomb
100. Relatively slow movement of land, typically at rates of cm/yr – Subsidence
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General Knowledge, MCQs / Q&A
