Download Climate Zones - Lourdes Academy

Objectives
After studying this chapter, you will be able to:
describe how the five themes
geographers use to help explain what a
place is like and why. 
• explain how landforms, waterways,
climate, and natural resources have
shaped history. 
• discuss why legends are important to the
study of history. 
• summarize how archaeology helps
scientists learn about ancient civilizations.
1
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Objective 2 - Land, Water, and Climate
Three of the things geographers study: land, water, and
climate. 
Landforms
• Land covers about 30 percent of the surface of the
earth. 
• landforms - natural features of the earth’s land
surface. 
• Geographers describe each landform by:
• elevation - height above sea level 
• relief - change in height 
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Landforms (cont.)
• elevation - height above sea level
• relief - change in height 
3
Landforms (cont.)
Four main kinds of landforms: 
• Mountains are the highest of the world’s
landforms and generally have high relief. 
• Hills are lower than mountains and generally have
moderate relief. 
• Plateaus are raised areas of flat or almost flat land
that can vary in elevation. Most of them have low
relief. 
• Plains are large areas of low lying, flat or gently
rolling, land with low relief.
4
Surface Changes From Inside the Earth
• The land surface of the earth is constantly
changing, usually from heat and pressure. 
• The inside of the earth is made up of
three separate layers. 
– At the center of the earth is the core. 
– Around the core is the mantle, which is made
up mostly of hot, solid rock. 
– Floating on the melted upper part of the mantle
is a thin layer of rock, sand, and soil called the
crust.
5
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Surface Changes From Inside the Earth
• Heat from the core causes the rock in
the mantle to rise, putting pressure on
the crust and causing it to move. 
(cont.)
• In recent years, scientists have come to
believe that the crust does not move in
one piece but in separate sections called
tectonic plates. 
• The movement of the plates explains what
geographers call continental drift. 
• Plate movement also creates volcanoes.
6
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Surface Changes From Inside the Earth
• When tectonic plates slide past one
another they can cause earthquakes, or
sudden shifts in the earth’s crust. 
• The tectonic plates are still moving.
7
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(cont.)
Surface Changes From Outside
the Earth
• Three main forces from outside the earth
that cause changes on its surface are wind,
water, and ice. 
• All three reshape the land by a process
called erosion, in which rock and soil are
moved from one place on the earth’s
surface to another. 
• Four times in the last 500,000 years,
during what are called the Ice Ages, great
ice sheets called glaciers spread out from
the North and South poles.
8
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Landforms in History
• All through history, landforms have played
an important part in helping people decide
where to live. 
• People settled mostly in plains and hilly
areas where the soil was rich enough for
crops to grow. 
• Landforms also have made a big difference
in the political relationships of people.
9
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Waterways
• About 70 percent of the earth's surface is
covered with water. 
• Oceans - the largest waterways in the
world are the four oceans—the Atlantic,
the Pacific, the Indian, and the Arctic. 
• Seas - smaller bodies of salt water,
usually partly surrounded by land
• Lakes - bodies of water that are
completely surrounded by land
10
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Waterways (cont.)
• Rivers - waterways that empty into another
body of water. 
• River system – a river and all the streams that
flow into it make up a river system.
• Nile River System – largest in the world
11
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Waterways in History
• Bodies of water - provided travel and
trade, drinking water, and irrigation for
crops.
• River valleys - sites for villages and
cities.
12
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Wind in History
• Wind - both useful and destructive
• Can transport great amounts of sediment
• Loess (les) - in China, winds transported
rich soil, from deserts to plains where
wheat is grown
• Dust Bowl - in the U.S in the 1930s wind
transported soil away from the plains
13
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Climate and the Sun
• Climate - the pattern of weather of a place
over many years. 
• Sun - provides the earth with heat and
light.
• Earth’s Rotation - spins like a top. 
• Axis - an imaginary line that runs through
the earth’s center from the North Pole to
the South Pole.
14
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Climate and the Sun (cont.)
• Orbit - earth moves around the sun in an
almost circular path. 
• Revolution - 365 1/4 days to complete. 
• Seasons – caused by the combination of
earth’s revolution and the tilt of its axis.
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Climate Zones
• Latitude - distance north or south of the
equator
• Determines the amount of heat from
the sun a place receives
• Climate zones – Three zones based on
latitude
• Tropical zone - the area between the
Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of
Capricorn.
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Climate Zones (cont.)
• Temperate zone
• Northern Hemisphere – between the
Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle
• Southern Hemisphere – between the
Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic
Circle
• Polar zone - north of the Arctic Circle and
south of the Antarctic Circle.
17
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Climate, Water, and Wind
• Climate - shaped by large bodies of water.
• Keeps the temperature of a place from
getting too hot or too cold.
• Ocean current - ocean water that flows in a
steady stream.
• Climate - shaped by the movement of air.
• Prevailing winds because they blow
from a certain direction almost all of
the time. 
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Books – Page 17
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Climate and Altitude
• Higher the altitude - cooler the climate. 
• Precipitation–the falling of moisture
such as rain or snow. 
• Adiabatic cooling - As the air rises
over mountains, it cools and drops its
moisture.
20
Climate in History
• Climate helps determine nearly every aspect
of a civilization including where people live
and what kinds of crops are grown.
• Give examples of how climate affected
history…..
21
Homework – p. 19, problems 1, 3, 5
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Natural Resources
• Natural resources - materials found in
nature.
• Natural resources help people live better
lives.
• Essential for life - air, water, soil, and
sunlight
• Others - minerals, fossil fuels, forests,
and animal life
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Kinds of Natural Resources (cont.)
• Natural resources become valuable only
when people learn how to use them.
• Nonrenewable resources - cannot be
replaced as they are used.
• Renewable resources - replaced as they
are used.
• Minerals - nonliving substances found
beneath the earth’s surface. 
•
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Natural Resources in History
• Natural resources affected the location and
growth of settlements all through history. 
• Asians and Europeans came into contact
with one another partly because
Europeans wanted the silks and spices of
Asia that had been cultivated. 
• Modern industry started in countries that
had large amounts of coal and iron ore for
making steel.
25
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