Geological Disaster Paper

Introduction to Earth Science
Geological Disaster Paper
Directions: Find three Internet or written or television accounts of ONE recent or historical
geological disaster (e.g., deadly tsunami, killer earthquake, destructive volcanic eruption,
devastating landslide, etc.) and write about it.
Paper should be typed, double-spaced with one-inch margins and 12-point font.
Things that should be included in the paper:
Introduction that includes a description of geographic location of the disaster (including
map/images). Note: maps and other figures should be labeled as Figure 1, Figure 2, etc. and should be referenced in the text.
In the next paragraphs, include:
Details of destruction (i.e. lives lost, property destruction, etc.)
Geologic setting for disaster (e.g. tectonic setting, if it applies)
The specific causes of the disaster
Expectations of something similar happening in the area in the future
Speculation about how, using the science of geology, destruction could have been avoided or
could be avoided in the future (e.g. relocation of town, installation of monitoring equipment, etc.)
References page using APA citation guidelines – see website for examples
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/
Papers will be submitted electronically on Blackboard, and will go through a plagiarism checker.
Be sure that you are not copying and pasting from websites, except for a few lines. It is
unacceptable to copy large chunks of information, even if you do cite the reference.
Late submissions will be penalized 10 points/day.
Grading Criteria and Points
Introduction= 4
Geographic location & maps= 7
Destruction details= 7
Geologic/tectonic setting= 7
Causes of the disaster= 7
Future expectations= 7

How to avoid disaster= 7
References= 4
Total points possible= 50