The challenge of natural hazards
What's covered
Key facts
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) traps CO₂ emitted by power stations and stores it underground in geological formations rather than releasing it to the atmosphere.
Atmospheric hazards include weather-driven events such as tropical storms, tornadoes and droughts.
Earthquake-resistant buildings can use reinforced frames and base isolators that absorb seismic energy and let the building move independently of the shaking ground.
Climate change increases ocean heat content; warmer seas give tropical storms more energy and raise their average intensity.
Carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas most strongly associated with burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas).
A hazard becomes a disaster when it causes significant harm to people or property — an earthquake in an uninhabited area is a hazard but not a disaster.
Where two continental plates collide, neither subducts; the crust buckles upwards to form fold mountains such as the Himalayas. [USGS, Understanding plate motions [This Dynamic Earth]]
Tropical storms do not form at the equator itself because the Coriolis effect needed to create rotation is effectively zero there.
Deforestation drives climate change because removing trees reduces atmospheric CO₂ uptake and the burning of cleared timber releases stored carbon back into the atmosphere.
A natural disaster is what happens when a natural hazard significantly harms people; the hazard is the event, the disaster is its realised impact.
Sample questions
A taste of the 92 questions in this topic — answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
What greenhouse gas is most associated with burning fossil fuels?
- ✓carbon dioxide
- •methane
- •nitrous oxide
- •water vapour
What is a natural hazard?
- ✓a natural event that poses a threat to people or property
- •an extreme weather event linked to human-made climate change
- •any natural event that occurs in a remote, uninhabited area
- •pollution or environmental damage caused by human activity
What type of plate boundary forms when two plates move apart?
- •collision
- •conservative
- ✓constructive
- •destructive
What was the most deadly primary effect of Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban?
- ✓A 7.5m storm surge inundated coastal areas, destroying 90% of the city
- •Category 5 winds caused widespread structural collapse of buildings across the Philippines
- •Intense rainfall triggered landslides that buried several inland villages
- •Salt water contamination destroyed all freshwater supplies for weeks after landfall
Which of the following is evidence for climate change?
- •Greater volcanic activity releasing carbon dioxide
- •Increased frequency of cold winters in the UK
- ✓Melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica raising sea levels
- •Rising ocean salinity due to increased evaporation
What is the difference between a natural hazard and a natural disaster?
- •A disaster is caused by humans; a hazard is natural
- ✓A disaster occurs when a hazard significantly harms people
- •A hazard is more severe than a disaster
- •There is no difference — the terms are interchangeable
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