Natural Hazards - Middle School and High School

Want to know more about natural hazards? Learn this list and prepare for an avalanche of knowledge about blizzards, earthquakes, typhoons, landslides, and more.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. active
    (of e.g. volcanos) erupting or liable to erupt
  2. aftershock
    a tremor following the main tremor of an earthquake
  3. atmosphere
    the mass of air surrounding the Earth
  4. avalanche
    a slide of large masses of snow, ice and mud down a mountain
  5. blizzard
    a weather event with widespread snowfall and strong winds
  6. climate change
    a shift in the world's average weather and temperature
  7. coastal
    located on or near or bordering on a shore
  8. crust
    the outer layer of the Earth
  9. cyclone
    an atmospheric system in which air circulates rapidly
  10. debris
    the remains of something that has been destroyed
  11. dormant
    inactive but capable of becoming active
  12. drought
    a shortage of rainfall
  13. dust storm
    a windstorm that lifts up clouds of dust or sand
  14. earthquake
    vibration from underground movement along a fault plane
  15. epicenter
    a point on the Earth's surface directly above an earthquake
  16. erosion
    the process of wearing or grinding something down
  17. eruption
    the sudden occurrence of a violent discharge
  18. extinct
    (of e.g. volcanos) permanently inactive
  19. eye
    an area that is approximately central within some larger region
  20. fault
    a crack in the earth's crust resulting from displacement
  21. flash flood
    a sudden and great flow of water in a short period of time
  22. flood
    the rising of a body of water and its overflowing onto land
  23. flood plain
    a low plain adjacent to a river that is formed chiefly of river sediment and is subject to flooding
  24. forecast
    a prediction about how something will develop
  25. forest fire
    an uncontrolled fire in a wooded area
  26. geologic
    of or relating to the study of Earth and its structure
  27. hailstorm
    a storm during which hail falls
  28. hazard
    a source of danger
  29. heat wave
    a period of unusually hot weather
  30. hurricane
    a severe tropical cyclone usually with heavy rains and winds
  31. ice storm
    a storm with freezing rain that leaves everything glazed with ice
  32. impact
    a forceful consequence; a strong effect
  33. lahar
    an avalanche of volcanic water and mud down the slopes of a volcano
  34. landslide
    the descent of a large mass of dirt and rock down a slope
  35. lava
    rock that in its molten form issues from volcanos
  36. lightning rod
    a metallic conductor that is attached to a high point and leads to the ground; protects the building from destruction by lightning
  37. maelstrom
    a powerful circular current of water
  38. magma
    molten rock in the earth's crust
  39. magnitude
    the property of relative size or extent
  40. mantle
    the layer of the earth between the crust and the core
  41. meteorology
    the earth science dealing with phenomena of the atmosphere
  42. migration
    the periodic passage of groups of animals
  43. mitigation
    the action of lessening in severity or intensity
  44. mudslide
    a rapid downward flow of soft, wet earth from a slope
  45. normal fault
    an inclined fault in which the hanging wall appears to have slipped downward relative to the footwall
  46. population
    a group of organisms of the same species inhabiting an area
  47. reverse fault
    a geological fault in which the upper side appears to have been pushed upward by compression
  48. Richter scale
    a system once used to measure the strength of an earthquake
  49. sandstorm
    a windstorm that lifts up clouds of dust or sand
  50. seismic
    subject to or caused by an earthquake or earth vibration
  51. seismograph
    an instrument for measuring movements of the ground
  52. seismography
    the measurement of tremors and shocks and undulatory movements of earthquakes
  53. sinkhole
    a depression in the ground communicating with a subterranean passage and formed by solution or by collapse of a cavern roof
  54. strike-slip fault
    a geological fault in which one of the adjacent surfaces appears to have moved horizontally
  55. temperature
    the degree of hotness or coldness of a body or environment
  56. thunderstorm
    a storm resulting from strong rising air currents
  57. tornado
    a violently destructive windstorm occurring over land
  58. tsunami
    a cataclysm resulting from a destructive sea wave
  59. typhoon
    a tropical cyclone in the western Pacific or Indian oceans
  60. wildfire
    a destructive burning that is raging and rapidly spreading
Created on Fri Feb 17 16:07:46 EST 2017 (updated Mon Apr 03 16:54:06 EDT 2017)

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