What We Know….

• Geology is about the Earth• Geology deals with the

lithosphere, which together with the biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere make up the Earth's systems.

• Geology deals with the sacrificial and internal workings of the Earth.

Problem Statement

• What impact do hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods have on erosion rates in the Albemarle region and how can we mitigate their impact?

Hypothesis

• Hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods cause erosion thus causing a negative effect in the Albemarle region. To minimize these effects, we that there are things we can do before, during and after these events to reduce the damage they cause.

What do we need to know?

• What causes erosion?

• How do natural causes such as floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes cause erosion?

• How can this erosion be mitigated?

What is Erosion?

• Erosion is the process by which the surface of the earth is worn away by the action of water, glaciers, winds, waves, and etc.

Flooding

What is a flood?

• A flood is a natural event for rivers, streams and coastal areas.

• Excess water comes from snowmelt, rainfall, or storm surges.

• The excess water overflows the river's banks and adjacent floodplains.

North Carolina'sDisappearing Coast.By: Jack Betts TheCharlotte Observer

The shoreline in northeastern NorthCarolina is receding at an average erosionrate of about 2.7 feet per year.

North Carolina might be losing more than1,250 acres of its land each year to risingsea level and bad stormssuch as hurricanes,tornadoes, and floods.

Hurricanes

Hurricanes• A hurricane is a huge storm• Can have wind speeds from 75-200 mph• Gathers heat and energy from warm water• Center of the storm is the "eye"• Hurricanes rotate counter-clockwise

around the• "eye" in the Northern Hemisphere, and• the Southern Hemisphere clockwise• Heavy rain, strong winds, and large waves

are• characteristics

Mitigating Hurricane Erosion

• There is no way to stop a hurricane. The best we can do is hope to do is to mitigate the damage.

• A way to do that is to have an adequate drainage system.

• One other way includes making a physical barrier to absorb some of the wind and water that is associated with hurricanes.

Hurricane Isabel

Hurricane Isabel • This storm was a category 5

hurricane while it was over seas, but only hit us as a category 2 hurricane.

• A total of 51 people where killed by this storm.

• The storm surge from Hurricane Isabel washed out part of Hatteras Island to form what is now called Isabel Inlet.

Costs and Damages• The damage was the greatest along the Outer

Banks, where thousands of homes were either damaged or destroyed.

• From the people’s houses that were left intact, nearly 6 million of them were left without power for an extended period of time.

• The total overall cost for Hurricane Isabel totaled about 4 billion dollars

Hurricane Storm Surges

• Red= Category 1-2• Green= Category 3• Blue= Category 4-5

This is the storm surge from ahurricane moving slower than 15MPH

This is a storm surge from ahurricane moving faster than 15MPH

Red= Category 1-2Green= Category 3Blue= Category 4-5

Tornadoes

What causes Tornadoes:

• Hurricanes and thunderstorms spawn tornadoes when cold air overrides a layer of warm air, and that causes the warm air to rise rapidly.

• But also winds produced from hurricanes, earthquakes fires, and wildfires has also been known to produce tornadoes.

• Tornadoes strike at random, as you know some areas of the county experiences tornadoes more than others and as you know the Albemarle region doesn't get hit with tornadoes often.

Latest Tornado

• The latest tornado hit Perquimans, Bertie, Herford & Camden County. This all took place on Friday May 09, 2008 around 10:00am. This tornado damaged several houses, barns, buildings, vehicles and knocking over many of trees.

• Quote:• "The owner heard the wind and got into a

bathtub with her 12-year-old daughter and infant, said Randy Keaton, Pasquotank County manager. While in the tub, she told emergency officials, she could feel the house lift and then shift."

• In this picture the tree has been lifted up from its roots. Without the root system, the soil will begin to wash away resulting in erosion. (This is a picture of a house in Elizabeth City)

Tornadoes in North Carolina

• 71% has been classified as weak• 28% as strong• about 1% as violent• Weak tornadoes has caused 3& of North

Carolian• tornado deaths• Strong were responsible for 49% of deaths• North Carolina was rank 22nd in total

number of• tornadoes & 18th in tornadoes deaths for

the perod of• 1953-1995.

Erosion andPrevention

How can we control erosion?

• The creation of some sort of physical barrier, such as vegetation or rock, to absorb some of the energy of the wind or water that is causing the erosion.

• Effective erosion controls are important techniques in preventing water pollution and soil loss.

Ways to Minimize Erosion.....

• Cover Crops• Mulching• Strip Farming• Vegetated Waterways• Hydro seeding

• If people keep building more & more stores it will cause more erosion from floods. Instead of the water infiltrating into the ground it runs down buildings and into the ocean, and the soil becomes eroded.

Examples of Erosion

Erosion From a Tornado

Soil Erosion

Runoff Erosion

Beach Erosion

Recommendation•Congress should instruct the Federal EmergencyManagement Agency to develop erosion hazardmaps that display the location and extent of coastal areas subject to erosion.•The maps should be made widely available in bothprint and electronic formats.•The cost of expected erosion losses when settingflood insurance rates along the coast.

ReflectionsBy working together, we learned to cooperate withone another to complete a task. We also learnedhow serious erosion really is, and that we need totake the proper steps to ensure that our land willbe here for future generations. We think that thisexperience better helped us earth science as awhole, and allowed us a great experience to furtherour knowledge.

Works Cited

• http://www.news.ecu.edu/releases/coast.html

• http://www.flickr.com/search/?• q=tornado&m=text• http://www.weatherwizkids.com/

hurricane1.htm• http://www.townofduck.• com/hazardplan.htm#• _Toc67990136• http://www.wikipedia.com

• http://www.fas.usda.gov/pecad2/highlights/99-

• 10/nc_flood3.htm• http://hamptonroads.com/

2008/05/high-windsshift-• house-foundation-near-elizabeth-

city• http://207.4.214.118/gis/surge.cfm