Answer the following questions:
- Describe the relationship between the types of volcanoes and different plate boundaries. What are the mechanisms that cause this distribution?
- Distinguish between magma and lava. Explain how the location of an eruption can determine the specific composition of magma and rocks produced as the lava cools.
- Describe the two major methods used by geologists to measure the strength of earthquakes. How is the epicenter of an earthquake identified? By what method was the strength of the New Madrid earthquake determined? What are the factors that influence the human toll of earthquakes?
- Popular literature has long depended on stories of how animals and insects can predict earthquakes. What are the actual precursors of earthquakes, and what methods have human beings developed to predict their occurrences?
- What is the primary cause of tsunamis? Describe the physical characteristics of a tsunami from its inception to its dissolution. What precautions have been developed since the recent tsunamis in Indonesia and Japan to try to minimize the destruction of future occurrences?
Your response to each of the questions should be at least 250 words (approximately 1 page) with a 12-point font. A grading rubric for each of the written assignments can be found in the Evaluation Rubrics folder.
