levo

Tectonic Hazards

Global distribution of tectonic hazards

  • 3 things to know
  • Component 3 Section A

Overview

Global distribution of earthquakes, pacific Ring of Fire and alpine-Himalayan earthquake belt.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

Describe the global distribution of earthquakes.

Key term

What is the Pacific Ring of Fire?

Key term

Why do most volcanoes lie at plate margins?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Describe the global distribution of earthquakes.

    Model answer

    Earthquakes form narrow belts that follow plate margins around the Pacific, through the Mediterranean and Himalaya, and along the ocean ridges. Very few occur in plate interiors.

  2. 2

    What is the Pacific Ring of Fire?

    Model answer

    The Ring of Fire is the horseshoe of subduction zones around the Pacific Ocean. Around 75% of the world's active volcanoes and about 90% of earthquakes occur along it.

  3. 3

    Why do most volcanoes lie at plate margins?

    Model answer

    Melting requires either decompression at a spreading ridge or the addition of water above a subducting slab. Hot spots are the only significant exception to that rule.

  4. 4

    Describe the Alpine-Himalayan earthquake belt.

    Model answer

    The Alpine-Himalayan belt runs from the Mediterranean through Turkey and Iran to the Himalaya. Collision as Africa and India push north into Eurasia produces its earthquakes.

  5. 5

    Why are ocean ridge earthquakes rarely hazardous?

    Model answer

    Ridge earthquakes are shallow but small, and they occur far from inhabited land. Exposure of population and property is therefore almost nil.

  6. 6

    What is an intraplate earthquake, and give an example.

    Model answer

    An intraplate earthquake occurs within a plate rather than at its margin, usually on an ancient reactivated fault. The New Madrid sequence of 1811 to 1812 in the central United States is one example.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Coastal Landscapes
Glaciated Landscapes
Changing Places
Water and Carbon Cycles

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

One therefore represents 250 metres.
centimetremetremillimetre

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

ACustomary rights are often unwritten.
BA government can lease the same land to an investor.
COccupants then have no legal defence against eviction.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Due west is a bearing of 270°.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Tectonic Hazards, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.