Catastrophic Events

January 14, 2018 | Author: Anonymous | Category: Science, Biology, Ecology
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Catastrophic Events

Wildfires

• How it forms: – – – –

Lightning – 1 out of 5 wildfires start this way Campfires Cigarettes Arsonists

• Main features: – Spread slowly – burning material on the forest floor – Spread rapidly – by the wind, which causes it to jump along the tree tops – Help the fire spread • • • •

Drought conditions Wind – gives it oxygen (fuel) and helps it move faster High temps Low humidity

Wildfires

• Most Likely to Occur:

– Every continent except Antarctica – Common in areas that experiences long hot, dry periods

• Impact on the ecosystem: – Habitats • Watershed can have the vegetation burned off leaving it prone to erosion • Animals become endangered due to lose of habitat • Economic losses of inhabited areas

– Landforms • Can destroy millions of acres

– Other impacts • Beneficial for maintaining balance; plants growth comes back quickly to burned area • Affects air and water quality, soil composition, vegetation, & wildlife

Wildfires • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSB9pTurhi4

Hurricanes

• How it forms:

– Moist, Warm air above the ocean rises and cools forming clouds. The warm and cool air begins to spiral upward causing wind – Considered a Hurricane when winds reach 74 mph or more

• Main features: – High winds • Tornadoes

– Storm Surges as it approaches land – Flooding from torrential rains • Mudslides or landslides

Hurricanes

• Most Likely to Occur:

– East Coast – Hurricane Season: June 1 to November 30

• Impact on the ecosystem: – Habitats • Structural and functions damage of ecosystems – Destroying animal life and habitats – Economic losses of inhabited areas

– Landforms • Uprooting trees and defoliating vegetation

– Other impacts • Damage could take years to rebuild

Hurricanes • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP4rgvu4xDE or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDFK40UMotc

Drought • How it forms: – Interruption in the water cycle

• Main features: – Long periods of dry weather that last long enough to cause a water shortage

Drought

• Most Likely to Occur: – Anywhere – Drier months

• Impact on the ecosystem: – Habitats • Adds stress to ecosystems

– Landforms • Cracked surfaces

– Other impacts • Crop failure, livestock death, increased forest fires, energy production, and water shortages • Heat Waves

Drought – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK-YATetLPI

• How it forms:

Volcanos

– It is a vent in the Earth which allows molten rocks to escape to the surface

• Main features: – Pressure builds up from gases within the magma, then an eruption occurs – Once an eruption, the eruption happened the earth goes back to equilibrium – Eruption can be slow and fairly quiet and violently explosive

Volcanos

• Most Likely to Occur:

– Along the plates, near vents

• Impact on the ecosystem: – Habitats • Structural and functions damage of ecosystems – Destroying animal life and habitats – Economic losses of inhabited areas – Could cause more greenhouse gases

– Landforms • New land can be created • After the eruption, soil becomes very rich, so plant life returning is highly likely

– Other impacts • Hazards include hot, poison gases, lava flow, land and mudslides, earthquakes, fires, explosions, rockslides, flash flooding, and tsunamis • The Ash can affect breathing, contaminating water supplies, collapse roofs, disrupt machinery, jet engine failure while flying

Volcanos – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2i4XS0Esks&playne xt=1&list=PL49FAA74692D7AFD4&feature=results_video

Tornados • How it forms: – Violently rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm – From thunderstorms, which is where warm, moist air ahead of eastward-moving cold front. They mix creating hail, wind and tornados

• Main features: – Wind speeds of 250 mph or more – Damage paths can be in excess of one mile wide and 50 miles long – Form to the right or in front of the path a hurricane takes as it comes on land.

Tornados

• Most Likely to Occur:

– Between the hours of 3pm to 9pm; but can occur anytime – Winter and Early Spring – which has more strong, frontal systems that form in the Central States and moves east

• Impact on the ecosystem: – Habitats • Destroy buildings and vegetation. Lose of vegetation can result in soil erosion • Any thing in its path • Economic losses of inhabited areas

– Landforms • Uproots trees • Scour the soil off the ground down to the rock

– Other impacts • Kills humans and animals • Vegetation that withstood the tornado may grow in abundance in that area which, in turn could hinder animal and plant interaction.

Tornados • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2ESfdhnsQo

Earthquakes • How it forms: – Vibration of the Earth’s Surface that occurs after a release of energy in the crust – Caused by volcanic eruption or movement of segments of the crust or the collision of the tectonic plates. – The crust may bend and as the stress builds and exceeds the strength of the rock, it breaks and snaps into a new position

• Main features: – Shaking of the earth; waves travel outward from the source and the speed of the wave depends on the source and the materials it has to travel through

Earthquakes • Most Likely to Occur: – Over tectonic plates and fault lines – Near volcanos

• Impact on the ecosystem: – Habitats • Destruction of the habitats • Large cracks in the ground, causing standing bodies of water to disappear • Property damage and loss of life

– Landforms • Land of either side of the fault can raise, lower, move away or toward each other

– Other impacts • • • • •

Liquefaction of the ground Landslides Avalanches Fires tsunamis

Earthquakes • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opsiKirDfdE

• How it forms:

Tsunamis

– Large ocean waves caused by the following: • • • •

Earthquakes Volcanic eruptions Meteorite impact Underwater landslides

• Main features: – A series of waves that can travel 450-600 mph in open ocean – In open ocean, Boats do not feel the waves because the wavelength are several hundred miles apart and the amplitude is only a few feet. – As they approach land, the speed deceases and the amplitude increases (basically it gets slower and taller) – From the starting point, the waves travel outward in all directions – As the waves approach land, the time in between waves ranges from 590 minutes – The first wave is usually not the largest or most destructive – The water pulls back before the waves arrive – The waves come to shore as a rapidly rising, turbulent surge of debris filled water

Tsunamis

• Most Likely to Occur:

– During any season – Areas of risk are less than 25ft. Above sea level and within one mile of shore

• Impact on the ecosystem: – Habitats • Loss of habitat or human homes • Flooding • Extreme Damage

– Landforms • Flooding of estuaries and rivers

– Other impacts • • • •

Contamination of drinking water Fires from broken gas lines Flooding Drowning

Tsunamis • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-zfCBCq-8I

Floods • How it forms: – Overflowing of water onto normally dry land – Intense or long term precipitation from storms, hurricanes, melting snow or ice

• Main features: – Over abundance of water in a lake, river, flood plain – They can last a few minutes or months – The amount of flooding is controlled by the amount of water that builds up, how porous the soil is, and the amount of water already in the soil.

Floods

• Most Likely to Occur: – Anywhere – Coast – Floodplains

• Impact on the ecosystem: – Habitats • Paving the ground for houses • Property loss or damage • Total destruction of a habitat

– Landforms • Roads and parking lots • Asphalt and concrete is not porous

– Other impacts • Contamination of drinking water • Destruction of crop and livestock

Floods • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cvgM56nMA E

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