It is, of course, possible that sudden catastrophic phenomena such as an asteroid or comet impact contributed to an environmental deterioration already brought about by terrestrial causes.
These stands are increasingly prone to large-scale catastrophic phenomena such as wind destruction, fires and parasitic attacks.
Furthermore, loss of functional roles can lead to decreased ecological stability [76] and ecosystems can become both less resilient to catastrophic phenomena such as cyclones [39] and less resistant to invasions by exotic species [77].
Catastrophic phenomena that afflict millions of lives, ranging from the failure of the Earth's crust in earthquakes, to the collapse of buildings, to the failure of bones due to injuries, all have one common underlying theme: the breakdown of the basic constituents of any material ultimately leads to the failure of its overall structure and intended function.
But as the devastation from Hurricane Sandy makes clear, the economic approach is a bit too anti-septic and simplistic a way of understanding and responding to an incredibly complex and potentially catastrophic climate phenomenon.
Volcanic eruptions have been an important motif for artists and these works preserve an important history of how different cultures throughout the world have viewed this catastrophic natural phenomenon.
In hydraulic engineering, the objectives include the predictions of dam break waves' propagation, fluvial floods and other catastrophic flooding phenomenon, the modeling of estuarine and coastal circulations, and the design and optimization of hydraulic structures.
Of note, the complex "saw-tooth," alternating gain-loss pattern observed with sample CH14 may reflect a similar pattern found in a recently reported chordoma case showing a catastrophic rearrangement phenomenon called "chromothripsis," which also involved chromosome 9p [27].
Vocabulary: churning, frantic, catastrophic, geological, phenomena, mayhem, uniformitarianism, catastrophism, vociferous, rasp, scablands, sediments Extension Activities: 1. Write an essay that explores how J. Harlen Bretz's theory was ridiculed as a theory of catastrophism.
