GEOLOGICAL AND HYDRO

METROLOGICAL DISASTERS
Coordinated by :- Asst. prof. Nirali Padhiyar
Made by :- Raj Dhandhusariya (56)
Sahil Malvaniya (67)
Shashank Singh (70)
Sagar Jain (74)
Nisarg Shah (78)
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 NATURAL DISASTERS

 A natural disaster is an event with a natural, as opposed to

human, cause that results in large-scale loss of life or
damage to property.
It could be related to weather, geology, biology or even
factors outside the Earth.
Examples are earthquakes, hurricanes, droughts and
flooding. Disease epidemics are sometimes considered
natural disasters, but may be put into a different category.
In some cases, natural and human factors may combine to
produce a disaster.

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 GEOLOGICAL DISASTERS

Geological disaster is a generic term for a natural disaster

due to geological disturbances, often caused by shifts in
tectonic plates and seismic activity.
Some of the highly occurring Geological disasters are :-
Earthquake
Landslides
Tsunami
Mining

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 EARTHQUAKE

• An earthquake is what happens when two blocks of the

earth suddenly slip past one another. The surface where
they slip is called the fault or fault plane. The location below
the earth’s surface where the earthquake starts is called
the hypocenter, and the location directly above it on the
surface of the earth is called the epicenter.
• Sometimes an earthquake has foreshocks. These are smaller
earthquakes that happen in the same place as the larger
earthquake that follows. Scientists can’t tell that an
earthquake is a foreshock until the larger earthquake
happens. The largest, main earthquake is called mainshock.
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Mainshocks always have aftershocks that follow. These are
smaller earthquakes that occur afterwards in the same place
as the mainshock. Depending on the size of the mainshock,
aftershocks can continue for weeks, months, and even years
after the mainshock!

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 WHAT CAUSES EARTHQUAKES AND
WHERE DO THEY HAPPEN?

• The earth has four major layers: the inner core, outer core,
mantle and crust.
• The crust and the top of the mantle make up a thin skin on
the surface of our planet. But this skin is not all in one
piece. It is made up of many pieces and these pieces keep
bumping into each other. These pieces are called tectonic
plates, and the edges of the plates are called the plate
boundaries. The plate boundaries are made up of many
faults, and most of the earthquakes around the world
occur on these faults. Since the edges of the plates are
rough, they get stuck while the rest of the plate keeps
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moving. Finally, when the plate has moved far enough, the
edges unstick on one of the faults and there is an
earthquake.
• While the edges of faults are stuck together, and the rest
of the block is moving, the energy that would normally
cause the blocks to slide past one another is being stored
up. When the force of the moving blocks finally overcomes
the friction of the jagged edges of the fault and it unsticks,
all that stored up energy is released. The energy radiates
outward from the fault in all directions in the form
of seismic waves. The seismic waves shake the earth as they
move through it, and when the waves reach the earth’s
surface, they shake the ground and anything on it.

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 HOW ARE EARTHQUAKES RECORDED
AND HOW DO SCIENTIST MEASURE THE
SIZE OF THE EARTHQUAKE ?

• Earthquakes are recorded by instruments

called seismographs. The recording they make is called
a seismogram. The seismograph has a base that sets firmly in
the ground, and a heavy weight that hangs free. When an
earthquake causes the ground to shake, the base of the
seismograph shakes too, but the hanging weight does not.
Instead the spring or string that it is hanging from absorbs
all the movement. The difference in position between the
shaking part of the seismograph and the motionless part is
what is recorded.

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• The size of an earthquake depends on the size of the fault
and the amount of slip on the fault. The size of the
earthquake is called its magnitude. There is one magnitude
for each earthquake. Scientists also talk about
the intensity of shaking from an earthquake, and this varies
depending on where you are during the earthquake.

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 LANDSLIDES

• A landslide is defined as the movement of a mass of rock,

debris, or earth down a slope.
• The term "landslide" encompasses five modes of slope
movement: falls, topples, slides, spreads, and flows. These
are further subdivided by the type of geologic material
(bedrock, debris, or earth).
• Debris flows (commonly referred to as mudflows or
mudslides) and rock falls are examples of common
landslide types.

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• Slope movement occurs when forces acting down-slope
(mainly due to gravity) exceed the strength of the earth
materials that compose the slope.
• Landslides can be initiated in slopes already on the verge of
movement by rainfall, snowmelt, changes in water level,
stream erosion, changes in ground water, earthquakes,
volcanic activity, disturbance by human activities, or any
combination of these factors
• Earthquake shaking and other factors can also induce
landslides underwater. These landslides are called
submarine landslides. Submarine landslides sometimes
cause tsunamis that damage coastal areas.

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 TSUNAMI

• A tsunami is a series of ocean waves that sends surges of

water, sometimes reaching heights of over 100 feet (30.5
meters), onto land. These walls of water can cause
widespread destruction when they crash ashore.
• These awe-inspiring waves are typically caused by large,
undersea earthquakes at tectonic plate boundaries. When
the ocean floor at a plate boundary rises or falls suddenly,
it displaces the water above it and launches the rolling
waves that will become a tsunami.
• Most tsunamis–about 80 percent–happen within the Pacific
Ocean’s “Ring of Fire,” a geologically active area where
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tectonic shifts make volcanoes and earthquakes common.
• Tsunamis may also be caused by underwater landslides or
volcanic eruptions. They may even be launched, as they
frequently were in Earth’s ancient past, by the impact of a
large meteorite plunging into an ocean.
• Tsunamis race across the sea at up to 500 miles (805
kilometers) an hour—about as fast as a jet airplane. At that
pace, they can cross the entire expanse of the Pacific
Ocean in less than a day. And their long wavelengths mean
they lose very little energy along the way.

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 WHAT HAPPENS WHEN TSUNAMI HITS
THE LAND ?

• A tsunami’s trough, the low point beneath the wave’s crest,

often reaches shore first. When it does, it produces a
vacuum effect that sucks coastal water seaward and
exposes harbor and sea floors. This retreating of sea water
is an important warning sign of a tsunami, because the
wave’s crest and its enormous volume of water typically hit
shore five minutes or so later. Recognizing this
phenomenon can save lives.
• A tsunami is usually composed of a series of waves, called a
wave train, so its destructive force may be compounded as
successive waves reach shore. People experiencing a
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tsunami should remember that the danger may not have
passed with the first wave and should await official word that
it is safe to return to vulnerable locations.
• The best defense against any tsunami is early warning that
allows people to seek higher ground. The Pacific Tsunami
Warning System, a coalition of 26 nations headquartered in
Hawaii, maintains a web of seismic equipment and water
level gauges to identify tsunamis at sea. Similar systems are
proposed to protect coastal areas worldwide.

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 HYDRO METROLOGICAL DISASTERS

• Hydrometeorological hazards are caused by extreme

meteorological and climate events, such as floods, droughts,
hurricanes, tornadoes, landslides, or mudslides.
• They account for a dominant fraction of natural hazards
and occur in all portions of the world, although the
frequency, intensity, and vulnerability of certain hazards in
some regions differ from those in others.
• Severe storms, strong winds, floods, and droughts develop
at different spatial-temporal scales, but all can become
disasters to cause fatalities and infrastructure damage and
claim thousands of lives annually worldwide.
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• In addition to causing injuries, deaths, and material damage,
a tropical storm can also result in flooding and mudslides,
which disrupt water purification and sewage disposal
systems, cause overflow of toxic wastes, and increase
propagation of mosquito-borne diseases.
• Some of the Hydro metrological disasters are :-
• Flood
• Cyclone
• Storm
• Heat and Cold waves

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 FLOOD

• Floods are natural occurrences where an area or land that

is normally dry abruptly becomes submerged in water. In
simple terms, flood can be defined as an overflow of large
quantities of water onto a normally dry land. Flooding
happens in many ways due to overflow of streams, rivers,
lakes or oceans or as a result of excessive rain.
• Whenever flooding takes place, there is the possibility of
loss of life, hardship to people, and extensive damage to
property.This is because flooding can carry bridges, cars,
houses, and even people.
• Flooding also destroys crops and can wipe away trees and
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other important structures on land. Some floods occur
abruptly and recede quickly whereas others take several days
or even months to form and to recede because of variation
in size, duration, and the area affected.

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 CAUSES OF FLOOD

1. Rain
Rain is the leading contributor to most of the flooding cases
witnessed across the world.Too much rain causes water to
flow overland contributing to flooding. In particular, it is due
to high rainfall intensity over a prolonged period.
2. River Overflows
Rivers or streams can overflow their banks.This happens
when the river or stream holds more water upstream than
usual, and it flows downstream to the neighboring low-lying
areas, typically referred to as the floodplains. As a
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consequence, this creates a sudden discharge of water into
the adjacent lands leading to flooding.
3. Lakes and Coastal Flooding
Lake and Coastal flooding occurs when large storms or
tsunamis causes the water body to surge inland.These
overflows have destructive power since they can destroy ill-
equipped structures to withstand water’s strength such as
bridges, houses, and cars.
4. Dam Breakage
Dams are man-made structures used to hold water from
flowing down from a raised ground.The potential energy
stored in the dam water is used to generate electricity.At
times, the walls can become weak and break because of
overwhelming carriage capacity. Due to this reason, breakage
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of the dam can cause extensive flooding in the adjacent
areas.
5. Melting of the Glaciers and Mountain Tops
In the cold regions, ice and snows build up during the
winters.When the temperature rises in summer, the
accumulated snows and ice are subjected to melting resulting
in vast movements of water into lands that are normally
dry. Regions with mountains that have ice on top of them
also experience the same outcome when the atmospheric
temperature rises.This type of flooding is usually termed as
snowmelt flood.
6. Clogged Drainages
Flooding also takes place when snowmelt or rainfall runoff
cannot be channeled appropriately into the drainage systems
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forcing the water to flow overland. Clogged or lack of
proper drainage system is usually the cause of this type of
flooding.

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 CYCLONE

• Cyclones are violent Storms with an intense spiral and

accompanied by strong winds and heavy rains. They are
caused due to strong winds blowing around the central
area having low atmospheric pressure.
• Cyclonic winds move across nearly all regions of
the Earth except the equatorial belt and are generally
associated with rain or snow.
• Cyclones occur chiefly in the middle and high latitude belts
of both hemispheres.

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 CAUSES OF CYCLONES

• Water vapor rises in the atmosphere where it cools down.

When water vapor changes back into liquid the heat is
released into the atmosphere. This warms the air around it.
• The warm air tends to rise and causes a drop in the
pressure. The air moves from surrounding high-pressure
areas to the central low-pressure area. This cycle is
repeated. The chain of events leads to the formation of
very low-pressure system surrounded by with very high-
speed winds. This weather condition is a cyclone.

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 THUNDERSTORM

• A thunderstorm is a storm accompanied by lightning and

Thunder. Formation of thunderstorm needs:
• Moisture: Moisture required to form clouds and
eventually rain.
• Front: Front like sea breeze or mountains that help in
lifting the warm air upwards.
• Rapidly rising warm air: Due to Sun’s heat, the
temperature of place rises. The rise in temperature warms
the air and create strong winds which arise in the upward
direction.
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 CAUSES AND PRECAUTIONS DURING
THUNDERSTORM

• Thunderstorms develop in hot and humid areas like India.

The rising temperature produces strong upward rising
winds. These winds carry water droplets upwards where
they freeze and fall again. The swift movement of the falling
water droplets along with the rising air create lightning
and sound. This is a thunderstorm. Thunderstorms are
dangerous. Lightning kills many people and causes damage
to forest and tall structures.
• Precautions to be Taken During a Thunderstorm
If you’re outside:
• Avoid taking shelter under tall trees or tall Towers.
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• Try to get into a car or a bus or take shelter inside a
building.
• Stay away from water bodies.
• If you are inside:
• Close the windows and doors tightly.
• Do not touch electrical equipment or telephone.
• Listen to battery-operated radio for latest information
If you are inside:
• Close the windows and doors tightly.
• Do not touch electrical equipment or telephone.
• Listen to battery-operated radio for latest information

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 COLD AND HEAT WAVES

• A cold wave (known in some regions as a cold

snap or cold spell) is a weather phenomenon that is
distinguished by a cooling of the air.
• The precise criterion for a cold wave is determined by the
rate at which the temperature falls, and the minimum to
which it falls. This minimum temperature is dependent on
the geographical region and time of year.
• A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot
weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity,
especially in oceanic climate countries.

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• A heat wave is considered extreme weather that can be a
natural disaster, and a danger because heat and sunlight
may overheat the human body.
• Heat waves can usually be detected
using forecasting instruments so that a warning call can be
issued.

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