Transcript plateau

 Plains are large, flat
areas of land that have
only small changes in
elevation.
 Often have thick, fertile
soils
 Coastal plains are found
near the ocean.
 Kansas is on an interior
plain called the Great
Plains.
OZARK
PLATEAU
 A plateau is a large, flat area of land
that is higher than the surrounding land.
 Edges rise steeply from land around
them.
 A mountain is a high, natural place on Earth.
 Elevation can vary greatly between
mountains.
 There are 4 main types:
 Folded
 Upwarped
 Fault-block
 Volcanic
 Formed from forces inside Earth that have
pushed layers of land together, like a throw
rug pushed against a wall.
 The Appalachian Mountains are an
example.
 Blocks of Earth’s crust are pushed up by forces
inside Earth.
 Examples: Adirondacks in New York, Southern
Rockies, and the Black Hills of S. Dakota.
 Made of huge,
tilted blocks of
rock separated
from surrounding
rock by faults.
 Examples: Grand
Tetons of
Wyoming and
Sierra Nevada of
California
 Form when molten material reaches the
surface of Earth through a weak area in the
crust.
 Molten material can gradually build up into a
mountain shape.
 Examples: Mount Rainier in Washington,
Mount Shasta in California, Mauna Loa in
Hawaii
 A canyon is a deep
valley with very steep
sides—often carved
from Earth by a river.
 Grand Canyon,
Arizona is an
example of a very
large canyon.
 A mesa is a land formation with a
flat area on top and steep walls usually occurring in dry areas.
 Smaller than a plateau.
 This one is in Arizona.
 Sea Level is the average height, or
elevation of where the sea surface meets
the land.
 A valley is a low place between
mountains.
 A glacier is a slow-moving river of ice.
 There are valley glaciers and continental
glaciers. Some glaciers even float in the
ocean.
 To pinpoint a location on Earth,
mapmakers use a series of gridlines—or
coordinates.
 These coordinates are made up of:
 Lines of latitude—lines that run around the
Earth, parallel to the equator.
 Lines of longitude—lines that run from
pole to pole.

The lines are divided by degrees.
 There are 360 degrees in a circle (Earth).
 Each degree is divided into 60 minutes.
 Each minute is divided into 60 seconds.
 Used to measure distances north and south in
degrees
 The equator divides the earth into a northern and
southern half or hemisphere.
 Lines of latitude start at the equator and go north to
the north pole (¼ of the way around the earth) to
90 degrees.
 Lines also go south of the equator to the south
pole (also ¼ of the way around the earth) to 90
degrees.
90°N
0°
90°S
 Begins at the prime meridian (0 degrees), which
cuts pole-to-pole through Greenwich, England
 Points west of Greenwich are measured from 0 to
180 degrees to the other side of Earth going west.
 Points east of Greenwich are measured from 0 to
180 degrees to the other side of Earth going east.
 There are 360 degrees in a circle, so both halves
add up to 360.
0°
 The prime meridian does not circle Earth. It goes
from pole-to-pole through Greenwich England, but
does not go from pole-to-pole on the other side.
 The other side of the earth is 180 degrees.
 The equator DOES circle Earth—all the way around
its “belly.”
 The lines of latitude measure north and south and
are like rungs of a ladder (lat-itude, lad-der).
 The earth is like a big clock. But it’s a 24-hour clock,
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not a 12-hour clock!
That’s because each day takes 24 HOURS.
There are 24 time zones around the world, which
divide the earth into a clock.
The International Date Line is where the Earth-clock
starts each new day, and the rest of the world follows.
The IDL is really close to the 180 degree line of
longitude.
Time zones are not perfectly arranged. People have
adjusted them somewhat to suit themselves. Go
figure!
Direction of Earth’s Rotation
2
1
24
23
22
3
4
5
6
7
The 24 hour
21 spot is one
hour ahead
20 of the next
spot west,
19 since
Earth
18 rotates
to the
17
east.
8
16
9
15
10
14
11
12
13
 Maps help you tell where you are and
where you are going.
 Map projections are made when points
and lines on a globe’s surface are
transferred onto paper. All flat maps have
some type of distortion.
 There are 3 types of map projections
 Mercator Projection
 Robinson Projection
 Conic Projection
 Used mainly on ships
 Advantages of using this kind of map:
 Shows correct shapes of continents.
 Disadvantages:
 Areas of continents are distorted.
 Lines of longitude appear parallel (when they
really aren’t). This makes the poles appear
larger.
 Greenland looks larger than S. America (which
it is not).
 Shows accurate continent shapes and
more land areas
 Lines of latitude are parallel (as they
should be).
 Lines of longitude are curved (as they
should be).
 Less distortion near poles.
 Road maps and weather maps are conic
projections.
 Used to produce maps of small areas
 Made by projecting points and lines from
a globe onto a cone.
 Show the changes in elevation of Earth’s surface.
 Used by land developers, hikers, and farmers to see
how they need to work with the rise and fall of the
land
 Use connected lines to show changes in elevation.
 The closer the lines, the steeper the slopes.
 Lines cannot cross one another because one
continuous line is always at the same elevation.
 Map Scale—the relationship between the distances
on the map and real distances on Earth’s surface
 Map Legend—explains what the symbols used on
the map mean.
 Compass or compass rose—shows the directions
on the map. North is usually toward the top.
Legend
Compass
Rose
Scale
 Show cross sections of Earth so we can visualize
what is under the surface
 Geologists determine what
is below the
surface by
drilling into
rock and soil
to get core
samples
 Google Earth is a good example of a 3-D map.
 Satellites circle Earth
collecting imagery
and other data
 for weather
 for climate change
 for spying
 for geologic changes
 for mapmaking
 Stands for Global Positioning System
 Uses at least 3 satellites (out of 24) to
triangulate your location.
 Triangulation involves pinpointing the exact
location of where the 3 satellites’ data (or
more) intersect one another.
 http://videos.howstuffworks.com/howstuffw
orks/38-how-gps-works-video.htm
This formation is
called a “tor.”
 Weathering is a process that breaks
down rock into smaller pieces.
 Two different types of weathering:
 Mechanical
 Chemical
 Mechanical weathering occurs when
rocks are broken apart by physical
processes.
 Something has to hit, grind, or crack
rock.
 Those things can be
 Plants and animals
 Ice Wedging
 Chuck Norris
 Plant roots are very
strong and can push
rocks apart.
 Animals dig and burrow,
loosening sediments
and bringing them to the
surface to weather
more.
 Tiny living organisms
also help break down
rock.
 Ice wedging occurs in climates where water enters
cracks and freezes.
 Water expands when it freezes, pushing rock
apart.
 This process repeats itself, the crack widens, and
the rock eventually breaks apart.
 As rocks break apart into smaller pieces,
more surfaces are exposed to weathering.
 The inside of the rock is now also exposed
to weathering, so weathering will occur
faster.
 Chemical weathering occurs when
chemicals break down rock or change the
rock into different minerals.
 These chemicals can come from
 Natural acids
 Plant acids
 Oxygen
 Water can chemically react with carbon
dioxide and create a weak acid called
“carbonic acid”—the same acid found in
many soft drinks.
 This acid reacts with rock that contains
calcite, like limestone, and dissolves it.
 Other rocks are also affected.
 Caves form when
acidic groundwater
dissolves underground
limestone.
 Stalactites can form
on cave ceilings from
dripping dissolved
rock.
 Stalagmites can form
on the floor when the
drips hit
 Plant roots and
decaying plants give
off acids that can
dissolve rock.
 Plants thrive on the
broken down rock
(new soil) and take
the nutrients into their
roots.
 Oxidation is the process of oxygen chemically
combining with other matter to change it.
 Rust is caused by oxidation—oxygen combining
with iron.
 Many rocks contain
iron and will turn
reddish through
oxidation. The
reddish material
is softer and
eventually crumbles
—like rust.
 Climate is the pattern of weather in an
area over many years.
 Warm, wet climates cause weathering to
happen more quickly.
 Chemical reactions happen faster with
water and heat.
 Cold, dry climates slow weathering down.
 Soft rocks break down easier in wet climates.
 Limestone
 Marble
 Hard rocks don’t allow water to soak in as
much, so they are harder to weather in wet
climates.
 Granite
 Basalt
 Five things affect soil formation:
 Climate
 Types of parent rock
 Slope of land
 Types of vegetation in the area
 Amount of time rock has been
weathering
 Soil is a mixture of weathered rock,
decayed organic matter, mineral bits,
water, and air.
 Can take thousands of years to form
 Decayed organic matter turns into
nutrient rich material called humus.
 http://www.ucopenaccess.org/courses/A
PEnvSci/course%20files/multimedia/less
on17/animations/2c_soil_formation.html
 Make-up of different layers
of soil
 Horizon O – top organic
layer—humus.
 Horizon A—top layer of
soil.
 Fertile layer with more
humus and less rock
and mineral particles
than other soil horizons
 Horizon B – middle
soil layer
 Contains less
humus and is
lighter in color than
A horizon
 Minerals travel from
A horizon to B
horizon in a
process called
leaching.
 Bottom layer
 Has very little
organic matter and
is not strongly
affected by
leaching
 Contains rock – the
parent material of
the soil
 Soil Formation Animation