Natural hazards

• Convection currents - the circulation of magma within the mantle . Magma is heated by radioactive processes in the core and cools at the surface , and so circulates between two places
• Coriolis effect - the earths spin affects the movement of air masses and winds , depending on a location latitude
• Earthquake - sudden release of energy caused by rock fracturing beneath the Earth's crust
• Continental drift - the movement of tectonic plates due to varying weights of the crust . It was originally thought that convection currents caused the movements of the plates , but now slab pull is thought of as the primary driving force .
• Tectonic hazards - earthquakes , volcanoes and tsunamis witch involve movement of tectonic plates in the earths crust
• Atmospheric hazards - occur in the atmosphere e.g. tsunamis
• Geomorphological hazards - flooding , avalanches
• Biological hazards - such as forest fires which involve living organisms
• Hazard risk - the chance or probability of being affected by a natural event
• Plate margin - where pieces of the earths crust meet
• Earths structure - inner core , outer core , mantle , crust
• conservative plate margin - plates move past each other in the same or opposite direction due to convection currents
• Constructive plate margins - move apart due to convection currents which causes cracks in the plates which magma forces itself through to form gently sloping SHIELD volcanoes