Transcript Geography

Geography: the study of Earth’s surface and the way
people use it.
5 Themes of Geography
 Location: the place where it can be found
 Place: shaped by physical and human features
 Human-environment interactions: the ways in
which people and their surroundings interact
 Movement: where, how, and why people, goods,
and ideas travel from one place to another
 Regions: areas with at least one feature that makes
it different from other areas.
A map is a drawing that shows all or part of Earth
on a flat surface.
Map Features
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Map title: tells subject of the map
Map key: explains the symbols used on a map
Inset map: smaller map within a larger one
Locator: small map or globe that shows where the
place on the main map is located within a larger area
Map scale: compares distance on the map to a distance
in the real world.
Compass rose: shows direction
A compass rose shows direction
Cardinal directions: North, South, East, West
Intermediate directions: directions between the
cardinal directions. Northeast, Southeast, Northwest,
Northeast
Lines that cross each other on a map. These lines
form a pattern of squares called a grid system.
Around the grid there are numbers and letters. Each
square on the map can be identified by its letter and
number.
Chapter 1
Exploring the United States
Lesson 1
Where is the United States?
Global Address
Hemisphere: halves of Earth
Two imaginary lines divide the earth into hemispheres
Equator: circles Earth halfway between the North Pole
and the South Pole. The equator separates the earth
into the Northern hemisphere and the Southern
hemisphere.
Prime meridian: divides the Earth into Western and
Eastern hemisphere
Hemispheres
Equator and Prime Meridian
Continents
Continents: largest land areas on Earth
North America
South America
Africa
Europe
Asia
Australia
Antarctica
Major Oceans: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern,
Arctic
Continents and Oceans
Relative Location
Relative location: where a place is in relation to other
places on Earth.
Ways to tell relative location
•Between two countries
Border: line that shows the end of a place
•Between
•Your
land
two oceans
stat’s relative location
Gulf: part of an ocean or sea that reaches into the
Where is the United States?
The United States is located on the continent of North
America in the Northern and Western hemispheres.
It’s borders are the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean,
the Gulf of Mexico, Canada, and Mexico .
Latitude and Longitude
By stating latitude and longitude you can describe the absolute
location, or exact location of a place.
Lines of latitude: run east and west. The equator is a line of
latitude.
Lines of longitude: run north and south. The prime meridian is
a line of longitude
Lesson 2
The American Landscape
What are the major landforms in the United
States?
Landforms
Landforms are features such as mountains, hills,
valleys, and plains.
In the East
Land at sea level is level with the surface of the ocean
The Coastal Plain:. Area of low land that lies along the
coast of an ocean. The flat area along the Atlantic
Ocean is coastal plain.
The Appalachian Mountains: the highest lands in the
eastern United States.
•stretches
1500 miles from Alabama into Canada
•the oldest mountains in North America
In the Middle
The Interior Plains:. huge area of low, grassy lands. Reach
north from Mexico through the middle of the United States into
Canada.
•The Central Plains: eastern part of Interior plains. Wide
rivers, grassy hills, and forests.
•Great Lakes: 5 connected lakes; Superior, Michigan,
Huron, Erie, and Ontario
•The Great Plains: a vast high plateau of semiarid grassland.
•Plateau: high flat area of land
A Mighty River
Mississippi River: one of the longest rivers in North
America. It runs through the middle of the Interior
Plains. Source is small lake in Minnesota. Flows south
for 2,340 miles. Tributaries are Ohio, Missouri, and
Arkansas Rivers.
Source: the place where a river begins
Tributary: river or stream that flows into a larger
river
A river and its tributaries make up a river system
Mouth of a river is the place where it empties into a
larger body of water.
In the West
Tall mountains, deep valleys, green forests, vast deserts, and
rocky coastline
The Rocky Mountains (Rockies): first mountain you see in the
west. Longest mountain range. Stretch more than 3000 miles
from Mexico to Alaska
West of the Rockies
Intermountain Region: land between mountain ranges. The
Great Basin covers the middle part of the this region.
basin: low bowl shaped land with higher
ground around it
canyon: a deep narrow valley with steep sides
Pacific Mountains and Valley
The Sierra Nevada, Cascade Range, and Coast Ranges
Run through California, Oregon, and Washington
Summary
The United States has many different landforms. Some
parts of the country have tall mountains. Other parts
have flat plains and plateaus or deep valleys and
canyons. The United States also has long coastlines
and many large rivers and lakes.
Lesson 3
Climate in the United States
How to describe weather
Temperature: how hot or cold the air is
Precipitation: the amount of water that falls to Earth’s
surface as rain, sleet, or snow.
Wind: air blowing
The temperature, the wind, and precipitation in a
place on any given day make up the weather.
What is climate
Climate: the kind of weather a place has over a long
time
Effects of weather and climate
•What clothes people wear
•Where people choose to live
•How people earn a living
•What people do for fun
Variety of Climate
How Far from the equator? the closer a place is to the
equator, the warmer it usually is
What is the elevation? Temperatures become cooler as
they go higher above sea level
How far from the ocean? Oceans warm the land near
the coast in winter and cool it in summer
humidity: moisture in the air
What landforms are nearby?
Line Graph
Line graph: shows changes over time
Parts of a line graph
•Title:
tells us what the graph is about.
•Labels: horizontal label across the bottom and the vertical
label along the side tells us what kinds of facts are listed.
•Scales: horizontal scale across the bottom and the vertical
scale along the side tell us how much or how many.
•Points: show us the facts.
•Lines: connects the points and give estimates of the values
between the points.
Line Graph
Lesson 4
Natural Resources
What is a natural resource?
Something found in nature that people can use such
as water, soil and trees.
Land resources
•Soil
•Trees
Renewable resources: a resource which is replaced
naturally and can be used again. Examples are:
oxygen, fresh water, solar energy, timber, and
biomass.
Water Resources
Water is our most important resource
Getting fresh water
Lakes, rivers, streams, and groundwater supply
almost all the fresh water people use.
Groundwater: the water that sinks beneath Earth’s
surface when it rains or snows
Using water
•Drinking,
washing, cooking, boating
Industry: all the business that make one kind of
product or provide one kind of service
Minerals and Fuels
Minerals: natural substances found in rocks.
•Copper, gold, silver
Fuels: a natural resource that is used to make heat or
energy
Nonrenewable resources
Resources that cannot be replaced. Once they are used
they cannot be replaced
People and Resources
When people use natural resources they change their
environment, (where people, plants, and animals live).
Using resource wisely
Conservation: protecting of natural resources and
using them wisely