Applied Physical Geography
Final Test Solutions
Course Introduction
Applied Physical Geography explores the dynamic processes shaping the Earth's surface, including weather, climate, landforms, soils, and vegetation, with a particular emphasis on their practical applications in environmental management, resource planning, and hazard mitigation. Through the integration of fieldwork, spatial analysis, and geospatial technologies such as GIS, students will learn how physical geography informs real-world decisions in urban development, natural resource conservation, and disaster preparedness, fostering a comprehensive understanding of the interactions between human societies and the physical environment.
Recommended Textbook
Natural Hazards and Disasters 4th Edition by Donald Hyndman
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18 Chapters
634 Verified Questions
634 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Natural Hazards and Disasters
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35 Verified Questions
35 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A fractal system is one that involves which of the following?
A) numerous intersecting fractures
B) similarity in form at a wide range of scales
C) completely unrelated processes that interact to produce an event
D) closely related processes that interact to produce a larger event
E) processes that are unrelated and static
Answer: B
Q2) What kind of natural hazards are not normally insurable?
Answer: Landslides,most mudflows,ground settling,or swelling soils.
Q3) What is the most common human reaction to a current or potential catastrophe?
A) Try to stop ongoing damage.
B) Prepare the public through drills.
C) Move to a less risky region.
D) Wait until the window of opportunity has passed.
E) Lobby for additional funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Answer: A
Q4) What is the normal relationship between the number of occurrences of a particular type of event and the size of such events?
Answer: Numerous small events,many fewer large events,and only a rare giant event.
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Chapter 2: Plate Tectonics and Physical Hazards
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35 Verified Questions
35 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Along which type of lithospheric plate boundaries are earthquakes common?
A) only convergent (subduction zones)
B) only divergent (spreading zones)
C) only transform
D) only divergent and transform
E) convergent, divergent, and transform
Answer: E
Q2) What direction is the Pacific Plate currently moving,based on the chain of Hawaiian Islands with only the easternmost island active?
A) to the northeast
B) to the northwest
C) to the southeast
D) to the southwest
E) It is not moving; the chain of islands is not related to the active one.
Answer: B
Q3) Distinguish between Earth's lithosphere and asthenosphere in terms of both location and properties.
Answer: The lithosphere overlies the asthenosphere.It is rigid,and the asthenosphere deforms plastically.
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Earthquakes and Their Causes
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35 Verified Questions
35 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Discuss the types of earthquake waves and the potential damage each individual one can cause.
Answer: P waves hit first; they are the least damaging and manifest themselves as compressional waves.S waves,or shear waves,hit next; they are moderately damaging and are waves where a back-and-forth motion is detected perpendicular to the land surface. Surface waves are the most damaging,and they hit last.They are the boundary between two media with different physical properties,and they are responsible for most damage in earthquakes.
Q2) What hazard does liquefaction pose,and for who or what?
Answer: Differential settling of the ground can collapse or topple buildings on people.
Q3) Where a tall building is right next to a short building,why is the tall building often damaged? Why does the damage occur and where in the building?
Answer: Tall buildings sway more slowly than short buildings,so the buildings bang into one another.The tall building breaks at the top of the short building.
Q4) Name the three main types of earthquake waves.
Answer: Primary (P),secondary (S),and surface waves.
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Earthquake Prediction and Mitigation
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37 Verified Questions
37 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A) Shattering glass is one of the most common causes of injuries in earthquakes.
B) During the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, broken glass rained down on the street in downtown San Francisco.
C) Safety glass is required in all windows of newly constructed commercial buildings.
D) Glass systems in modern high-rise buildings are designed to accommodate routine sway.
E) Safety glass in some commercial building is similar to that used in cars.
Q2) Which is a major fault that often shows a progressive migration along its length with time?
A) the North Anatolian Fault in Turkey
B) the San Andreas Fault in California
C) the Alpine Fault in New Zealand
D) the Haicheng Fault in China
E) the New Madrid Fault in Missouri
Q3) You are on the 20th floor of your office building when the ground starts shaking-an earthquake is occurring! One of your coworkers bolts for the stairwell to try to flee the building.Do you let them continue down the stairs or stop them? Why?
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6
Chapter 5: Tsunami
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42 Verified Questions
42 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is LEAST effective in mitigating the impact of tsunami?
A) Limit building in places potentially flooded by tsunami.
B) Design structures to resist erosion and scour.
C) Orient streets and buildings parallel to waves.
D) Plant trees with deep roots.
E) Build concrete walls in front of houses.
Q2) Discuss options to mitigate the effects of a tsunami on an area.
Q3) Why are tsunami waves in the open ocean limited in height?
Q4) Which wave of a major tsunami is most likely to be the highest?
A) first
B) third or fourth
C) second
D) tenth
E) twentieth
Q5) Explain how volcanoes can lead to tsunamis.
Q6) Decide which natural occurrence would create the most catastrophic tsunami and why.Describe the location that would be the most devastating.
Q7) Explain the two levels of the Pacific Tsunami Warning System and how they work.
Page 7
Q8) h.How long was the break along that fault?
Q9) About how high are the largest earthquake-caused tsunami waves in bays?
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Page 8
Chapter 6: Volcanoes: Tectonic Environments and Eruptions
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35 Verified Questions
35 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following locations five kilometers from the crater of a volcano would likely be safe from a large pyroclastic flow,if any?
A) far side of a steep-sided, 100-meter-high hill
B) far side of a five-kilometer-wide lake
C) behind a large tree with an 80-centimeter-diameter (2½ feet) trunk
D) None of the locations are safe: ash flows can flow over large hills, can cross large expanses of water, and can fell very large trees.
E) All of the locations are safe: ash flows cannot flow over large hills, cannot cross large expanses of water, and cannot topple very large trees.
Q2) Which common volcanic gases are poisonous? Name two.
Q3) What are the two most abundant gases in magmas?
A) water vapor and oxygen
B) water vapor and carbon dioxide
C) hydrogen and methane
D) methane and helium
E) carbon dioxide and oxygen
Q4) A large,steep-sided volcano is likely made of what composition of rock? In what form was the rock erupted? What type of volcano is it?
Page 9
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Chapter 7: Volcanoes: Hazards and Mitigation
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35 Verified Questions
35 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is tuff?
A) ash after deposition forms a rock
B) ash hardened from ash flow
C) broken and hardened magma
D) frothy rock light enough to float
E) pillow shaped lava fragments
Q2) Harmonic tremors recorded on seismographs near volcanoes are generally interpreted as __________.
Q3) Describe the process that created Crater Lake and how this differs from what geologists originally thought occurred.What evidence supports this conclusion?
Q4) What evidence do scientists use to decide whether a volcano may be getting ready to erupt?
Q5) You work at an international airport in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.Your airport has just canceled all flights for the next 3 days and shut down all flight operations.Explain to angry customers why their flights have been canceled.
Q6) What characteristics of an old ash-fall tuff will permit you to distinguish it from an old ash-flow tuff?
Q7) Why is Mount Shasta considered a major hazard as it currently stands?
Page 10
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Chapter 8: Landslides and Other Downslope Movements
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Sample Questions
Q1) List three ways in which human activity can increase the danger of landsliding.
Q2) What three methods can be used to minimize damage from rockfalls?
Q3) What is the difference between a slump and a translational slide?
Q4) What CANNOT be used to recognize the action of soil creep?
A) tree trunks that bend out from a slope before curving up
B) fences that lean downslope
C) walls that lean downslope
D) fragments of rocks that clearly came from farther upslope
E) bedrock layers that curve downslope as they approach the surface
Q5) What conditions make smectite clay extremely weak?
Q6) The angle of repose for dry sand is __________ degrees.
A) 5 to 15
B) 25 to 35
C) 45 to 55
D) 35 to 45
E) 15 to 25
Q7) The disastrous Vaiont landslide in Italy involved what combination of circumstances?
Q8) What types of internal surfaces are most prone to sliding?
Q9) What would make a pile of rounded sand grains collapse to be almost flat? Page 11
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Chapter 9: Sinkholes, Land Subsidence, and Swelling Soils
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35 Verified Questions
35 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which is NOT a method for recognizing the presence of swelling soils?
A) They are extremely slippery when wet.
B) They form a popcorn-like surface when dried out.
C) They stick like gum to the bottom of your shoes when wet.
D) Since they deform elastically, the ground feels spongy or bouncy underfoot.
E) They deform concrete foundations and walls.
Q2) Which of the following statements about sinkhole formation is incorrect?
A) Cover collapse is a way that a sinkhole can form.
B) Permafrost thaw is a way that a sinkhole can form.
C) Large caverns generally form in limestone just below the water table.
D) Cover subsidence is a way that a sinkhole can form.
E) Sinkhole formation depends on the presence of soluble sedimentary rocks like limestone.
Q3) What are two main mechanisms of ground subsidence?
Q4) Under what weather conditions are sinkholes most likely to form?
A) low pressure under the eye of a hurricane
B) especially dry season
C) especially wet season
D) El Niño
E) freezing weather
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Chapter 10: Weather, Thunderstorms, And Tornadoes
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35 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the major weather difference in the southeastern United States during an El Niño weather pattern?
Q2) What creates the electrical charges in clouds that characterize lightning storms? What causes the loud boom that we hear as thunder?
Q3) Describe the mechanism that triggers thunderstorm systems.What are some hazards that thunderstorms produce?
Q4) What is distinctive about the shape of a cloud that might develop a severe thunderstorm? (Two very distinctive aspects)
Q5) The main reason Santa Ana winds are warm is because:
A) latent heat is released in rising air.
B) sinking air warms by compression.
C) condensation occurs.
D) solar heating warms the air.
E) they are heated by forest fires in canyons.
Q6) How does the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)differ from the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO)?
Q7) If you do not have a basement,where is the safest place to be in a house during a tornado?
Page 14
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Chapter 11: Climate Change
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the expected outcome on regional precipitation as a result of global warming?
A) Tropical wet regions will get wetter and mid-latitude dry regions will get drier.
B) Both tropical and mid-latitude regions will get drier.
C) Tropical wet regions will get drier and mid-latitude dry regions will get wetter.
D) Both tropical and mid-latitude regions will get wetter.
E) Both tropical and mid-latitude regions should stay the same.
Q2) Which of the following would NOT be likely if global warming continues?
A) more intense rainfall and more serious droughts in semi-arid regions
B) a rise in temperatures in most polar regions
C) expansion of the ranges of tropical diseases into higher latitudes
D) a general lowering of mean sea level
E) changes in ocean currents resulting from changes in salinity
Q3) How many ice ages has Earth experienced over the past two million years?
Q4) What is radiative forcing?
Q5) How are efforts to mitigate global warming unfair to the developing world?
Q6) How is it possible that atmospheric water vapor both cools and warms the atmosphere?
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Chapter 12: Streams And Flood Processes
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35 Verified Questions
35 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which way does groundwater flow in a dry climate with respect to a stream?
Q2) What changes upstream from a site would NOT likely lead to a higher and shorter hydrograph?
A) increased urbanization
B) wildfire
C) clear-cut logging
D) overgrazing
E) reforestation for a Christmas tree farm
Q3) With urbanization of the upstream drainage area,what changes can be expected in the height of the 100-year flood?
A) a lower height, since the water runs through faster
B) a greater height
C) the time at highest level will be longer
D) the downstream extent of the highest level will be less
E) no change; the flood level only depends on the total rainfall upstream
Q4) Which is likely to flow farther down to the flatter,wider part of a valley: a debris flow or a mudflow? Why?
Q5) What is the main difference between a water flood and a hyperconcentrated flood?
Q6) How would you calculate the discharge (or flow rate)of a stream?
Q7) What is the best long-term solution to avoiding a debris flow?
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Chapter 13: Floods And Human Interactions
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Sample Questions
Q1) What physical effect do most bridges have on the streams they cross?
A) They restrict flood flow on the floodplain, so water under the bridge is deeper and faster.
B) They minimize flooding upstream because the water upstream moves more slowly.
C) They decrease erosion under the bridge because they slow the water.
D) They decrease water level just downstream because the water there moves more slowly.
E) They cause vehicles crossing the bridge to get swept up in the flood.
Q2) Which of the following does NOT cause increased erosion in a stream channel?
A) building a dam across the stream
B) mining gravel from the stream channel
C) planting native trees in the flood fringe
D) building a bridge across the stream, with roadway fill across the floodplain
E) channelizing the stream upstream
Q3) What is avulsion?
Q4) Where do people most commonly get the material to build an artificial river levee?
Q5) Why does the channel bed of a river confined between levees gradually build higher with time?
Q6) If you find a sand boil on a floodplain,what does that indicate?
Page 17
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Chapter 14: Waves,Beaches,And Coastal Erosion
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why do barrier islands gradually migrate landward with time?
Q2) What is a better solution to erosion than the variety of prevention efforts used on most coasts?
Q3) What factors do NOT influence the size of most waves?
A) atmospheric pressure
B) wind velocity
C) fetch
D) time of wind across water
E) constant direction of wind across water
Q4) Where does beach sand NOT originate?
A) streams and rivers
B) erosion of sea cliffs
C) continental shelf as much as 50 km offshore
D) longshore drift
E) blown by the wind
Q5) What do people who live at the top of coastal terraces in the west do to accelerate cliff erosion?
Q6) What is a rip current? Describe the shoreline's shape as a result of rip currents,and the cause of the distinct shape.
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Q7) What factors promote a steeper slope on the active underwater part of the beach?
Chapter 14: Hurricanes and Noreasters
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why is there more coastal damage if the sand dunes are lower? Which of the following is least important?
A) There is more erosion because wave energy is not used in moving the dune sand.
B) Waves can go over the dunes to strike the homes.
C) Waves can carry sand inland as overwash.
D) The surge can move much farther inland.
E) The wind is stronger near the ground in low-dune areas.
Q2) What are nor'easters? Describe the ways in which nor'easters differ from hurricanes.
Q3) Explain why death tolls from hurricanes are much higher in poor countries.
Q4) What effects does the wind NOT have on buildings during a hurricane?
A) blows out windows and doors
B) lifts off roofs
C) flying debris causes severe damage
D) blows down (collapses) roofs
E) shears off siding
Q5) What local circumstances also raise the height of a storm surge?
Q6) What information is given in hurricane predictions?
Q7) Why are skies clear in the eye of a hurricane?
Page 19
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Chapter 16: Wildfires
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why isn't the Forest Service's Smokey Bear mascot now used as much as it was in the past?
Q2) Which of the following techniques are NOT used to fight fires?
A) digging firebreaks by hand or bulldozer
B) igniting a burnout ahead of the main fire to remove fuel in front of the fire
C) planes or helicopters dumping loads of water
D) planes dumping loads of borate retardant just ahead of the fire
E) igniting a fire close to the wildfire to burn the area between it and the wildfire
Q3) What are the main differences in a stream hydrograph after a large fire?
A) The hydrograph would be higher and narrower.
B) The hydrograph would be both higher and last longer.
C) The hydrograph would be lower but last longer.
D) The hydrograph would be unaffected.
E) The hydrograph would become skewed, rising more slowly but dropping very quickly.
Q4) How can new fires start a kilometer from a forest fire,without lightning,arson,carelessness,or prescribed burns? Where would that be?
Q5) What is fuel loading? What are examples of fuel loading,and what makes them combustible?
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Chapter 17: Impact of Asteroids and Comets
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Sample Questions
Q1) Near-Earth objects are catalogued by NASA as being larger than __________ in diameter.
A) 10 km
B) 5 km
C) 1 km
D) 2 km
E) 1 m
Q2) What is the average size of an asteroid?
Q3) Describe the difference between meteors and meteorites.
Q4) How is the tail of a comet oriented? (Which way does it point?)
A) points away from the sun
B) points toward the sun-from its gravitational attraction
C) back from the direction of travel
D) in the direction of its afterburner
E) randomly in space
Q5) What is the most reliable evidence remaining at the site of impact after a large impact?
Q6) What does the tail of a comet tell you about the direction of travel of that comet?
Q7) In what plane do asteroids orbit around the sun?
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35 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) What effect will global warming have on natural disasters?
Q2) Which of the following is the best answer for a "hard" solution?
A) installing catchment basins below debris-flow channels
B) willful ignorance
C) Installing concrete barriers and riprap along coasts
D) levees on rivers
E) all except willful ignorance
Q3) By doing more to live with and accommodate nature's variable behavior,we could:
A) increase the number of hurricanes.
B) decrease the economic disparity between affluent and poorer nations.
C) enhance property rights.
D) reduce the number of disasters or hazards that affect us.
E) control major events like natural disasters.
Q4) What are natural hazards? Give examples.
Q5) In your own words,what is the underlying problem associated with hazard assessment and mitigation? How have we failed to prevent these disasters and to eliminate their destructive effects? What can be done in the future?
Q6) What are some secondary problems (not the storm itself)caused by Hurricane Katrina that are typical of most natural disasters?
Page 22
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