Transcript PowerPoint Fill-in-the-Notes for Unit 2

Earth's Physical
Geography
Unit 2
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Our Planet, the Earth
• How does the Earth move
in space?
• Why do seasons change?
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The Earth and the Sun
Days and Nights
• The Earth travels
around the sun in
an oval-shaped
orbit.
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• It takes _________________ year, for
the Earth to complete one revolution
around the sun.
• As the Earth revolves, it is also spinning
on its __________________.
• Each rotation (or complete spin on the
axis) takes about _____________.
• It is daytime on the side facing the sun
and night on the side away from the sun.
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The Earth and the Sun
Understanding Seasons
Why are the days longer in some parts of the year?
• The Earth’s axis is at an ___________________.
• In about half of the Earth’s orbit, the tilt causes a
region to face toward the sun for more hours than
it faces away from the sun.
• _______________________.
• In other regions that face away from the sun for
more hours, days are shorter.
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Why does the temperature change during
the seasons?
• The warmth you feel at any given time of
year depends on how directly the sunlight
falls on you.
• Some regions receive a great deal of
direct sunlight, while others receive very
little.
• _________________________________
________________________________.
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Looking at Latitudes
Line of Latitude
Equator
Gets Direct
Where is it? Sunshine on
0º
March 21
September 23
Tropic of Cancer
23 1/2º N
June 21
Tropic of Capricorn
23 1/2º S
December 21
Arctic Circle
66 1/2º N
Never
Antarctic Circle
66 1/2º S
Never
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Seasons
Spring and fall equinoxes: Days and
nights are almost equal everywhere
First day of winter, or winter
solstice, in Northern Hemisphere
Zones of Latitudes
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Looking at Latitudes:
Zones
Low Latitudes: The Tropics
• Area between the Tropic of Cancer and
the Tropic of Capricorn
• In this region, it is almost ____________.
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Middle Latitudes: The Temperate Zones
• Area between the Tropic of Cancer and
the Arctic Circle
• AND the area between the Tropic of
Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle
• In this region, there are ______________,
each with a distinct pattern of _________,
_______________, and _____________.
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High Latitudes: The Polar Zones
• Area between the Arctic Circle and the
North Pole
• AND the area between the Antarctic Circle
and the South Pole
• In this region it is very cool to ________
_______________.
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Land, Air, and Water
• What forces shape the land?
• What are the Earth’s major
landforms?
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Forces Inside the Earth
What is the Earth made of?
____________________________________
____________________________________.
Continents are unique, in part because of
their landforms, which include mountains,
hills, plateaus, and plains.
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Pangaea: The
Supercontinent
• Geographers
theorize that millions
of years ago the
Earth had only
____________
________________,
which they call
Pangaea.
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• They believe that 200 million years ago, some
force made Pangaea split into _____________
___________ and begin to move apart, forming
separate continents.
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• The theory of plate tectonics explains
why the continents separated.
• Continents are part of plates that shift
over time.
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The Movement of the Continents
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
_______________________________________.
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Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Shifting Plates
The world’s plates move in different directions,
causing a variety of effects:
Ridges: In some places, plates move apart,
and magma leaks through the cracks in the
crust. In the oceans, over time, the cooling
rock builds up to form lines of
_______________________ called ridges.
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Volcanoes: In other places, the plates push against
one another, forcing one plate under the other.
Tremendous _____________________ builds up
causing molten rock to explode on the surface.
Earthquakes:
– Along plate boundaries, there are many __________
places in the Earth’s crust.
– When plates push against each other, the crust
cracks and splinters from pressure.
– These cracks are called ______________________.
– When the crust moves along faults, it releases great
amounts of ______________________ in the form of
_____________________.
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Forces on the Earth's Surface
Forces like volcanoes slowly build up the
Earth. Other forces slowly break it down.
These forces may not be as dramatic, but
they have important and long-lasting
effects.
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The Two Effects of Weathering:
1. Weathering breaks down rocks
into tiny pieces, wearing away the
Earth’s landforms. Many oncesteep mountains are now low and
rounded. Three things cause
weathering: _________________.
2. Weathering helps create _______.
Tiny pieces of _____ combine with
___________________________
material to form soil.
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Erosion
• Once this breaking down has taken
place, small pieces of rock may be
______________________ by erosion.
Erosion, together with weathering, help
slowly create new landforms.
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Air and Water: Two Ingredients for Life
Air
• The thick layer of gases that surrounds the
Earth is called the __________________.
• It provides life-giving oxygen for people
and animals and life-giving carbon dioxide
for plants.
• It also acts as a _____________________
______ from the sun to make life possible.
• Winds distribute this heat around the
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globe.
Water
• Roughly ____________ of Earth’s water is
found in the oceans.
• The rest is _________________________
______.
• Most of that is frozen at the poles.
• Fresh water comes from lakes, rivers, and
rain.
• Much fresh water, called groundwater, is
stored in the _________________.
• People need fresh water—the Earth has
enough, but ____________________, and
_________________________________.
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Climate and What Influences It
• What is climate?
• How do landforms and bodies of
water affect climate?
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Weather or Climate?
Weather
• What you check before you go
outside in the morning
• _______________ changes in the air
• Measured primarily by temperature
and precipitation
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Climate
• What you know from experience
happens from year to year
• The __________ weather over _____
______________
• The Earth has many _____________.
• Climates are different in low, middle,
and high altitudes because latitude
affects temperature.
• Landforms, wind, and water also
affect climates.
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The Blowing Winds
• Wind and water help spread the
sun’s heat and keep the Earth from
_____________________.
• Winds blow east–west and west–
east in part because of ________
_______________.
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Winds blow north–south and south–
north because:
• Hot air rises and circulates toward
regions where the air is not as hot.
• Hot, moist air from the Equator rises
and moves toward the North Pole or
South Pole.
• Cold air sinks and moves toward
regions where the air is warmer.
• Cold, dry air from the poles moves
toward the Equator.
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Ocean Currents: Hot and Cold
The Earth’s rotation creates ocean currents. Warm water from the
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Equator
flows north or south to colder parts and cold water from the
poles flows toward the warm areas near the Equator.
The Ocean's Cooling and Warming Effects
Bodies of water affect climate in another way
too:
Why is a beach on a hot summer day cooler by
the ocean?
• Water takes __________________than land.
• In the summer, a place near the ocean or a
lake will be cooler than an area farther away.
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Raging Storms
Wind and water can make climates milder,
but they also can create _____. Some storms
create great destruction.
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Hurricanes
•
•
•
Wind and rain storms that form in the
tropics in the Atlantic Ocean
The winds at the center travel over 73
miles per hour.
They produce huge waves called storm
surges, ____________________ and can
destroy _________________.
Typhoons
• Similar to hurricanes, they take
place in the Pacific Ocean.
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Tornadoes
•
•
•
•
_____________________________________
_____________________________________.
The powerful winds can wreck almost anything
in a tornado’s path.
However, they only average about one half
mile in diameter.
Therefore they affect a more limited area than
hurricanes.
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How Climate Affects Vegetation
• Where are the Earth’s major climate
regions?
• What kinds of vegetation grow in
each climate region?
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Climate and Vegetation
• Plants have features, called adaptations, that
enable them to live in a particular climate.
• Over a very long time, small, accidental
changes in a few individual plants made them
better able to survive in a particular place.
• Therefore, geographers can predict the kinds of
plants they will find in a climate.
• ______________________________________
______________________________________.
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Geographers discuss five broad types
of climates:
1. ________________________
2. Dry
3. Moderate
4. ________________________
5. Polar
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Tropical and Dry Climates
Tropical Climates
Dry Climates
Tropical Wet
Tropical Wet and Dry
Arid
Semiarid
Temperature
Hot
Hot
Moisture
Wet
Dry
Tropical rain forest: Because
there is so much light, heat,
and rain, thousands of kinds
of plants grow here. The
uppermost branches of tall
trees create a canopy, and
plants more adapted to
shade grow beneath.
Sparse: Because there is so
little rain, plants grow far
apart and have shallow
roots adapted to absorb
scarce water before it
evaporates. Some plants
flower only when it rains.
Types
Vegetation
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Moderate Climates
Moderate Climates
Types
Temperature
Moisture
Vegetation
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Mediterranean, Marine West Coast, Humid Subtropical
Seasonal, but almost never below freezing
Moderate rain
In General: A wide variety—forests of deciduous trees,
tall shrubs, low bushes, a variety of grasses
Humid Subtropical: Has the most heat and
precipitation and many types of vegetation
Marine West Coast: Mountainous and cooled by ocean
currents—supports more forests than grasses
Mediterranean: Rainy winters and hot, dry summers
lead to plants with leathery leaves, which hold in
moisture during the dry summers.
A Vertical Climate
• A mountain is an example of a vertical climate,
where the climate changes according to the
mountain’s height.
• A hike up a tall mountain in a moderate climate
would go something like this:
– __________________ surround the base, and
temperatures are _______________________.
• You soon enter a region with less precipitation
than below—there are short grasses, as in a
continental climate.
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• Next, you move through deciduous forests
where it is cooler and drier.
• Slowly the forests change to coniferous
forests.
• Then, you find only scattered, short trees
and finally only low shrubs and short
grasses.
• Soon it is too cold and dry even for them
and you begin to see mosses and lichens
of a tundra.
• At the mountaintop is an icecap climate,
with
_____________________.
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