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CHAPTER 2/ SECTION 1 NOTES
PAGES 27-30 IN THE TEXTBOOK
HOW DOES EARTH’S PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
INFLUENCE THE CONDITIONS THAT DIRECTLY AFFECT
THE EARTH’S SURFACE?
Essential Questions:
What effect does the Sun have on the Earth’s climate?
Why do seasons change?
Vocabulary:
1. The _______________ provides Earth with heat and light.
-The sun is 93 million miles away from Earth most of the time.
2. The _______________ is the path Earth travels around the sun.
3. A _______________ is one complete orbit of the Earth around the Sun.
-One complete revolution takes 365 ¼ days to complete.
4. _______________is the spinning motion of the Earth.
-One complete rotation of the Earth takes 24 hours.
This is an excellent website to better understand rotation, revolution and why the Earth has seasons. Make
sure you view the entire document by clicking on the arrow, located at the bottom of each page.
http://www.onr.navy.mil/focus/spacesciences/observingsky/motion1.htm
5. The _______________is an imaginary line running through the North and South poles as earth spins.
Below is a graphic of the Earth’s axis. You can see that the Earth is tilted at a 23.5
degree angle. This tilt causes the Earth to have seasons
THE SEASONS
6. The Equator receives direct sunlight on _______________ ___ and _______________ ___.
-When the sun shines directly on the Equator, it is the first day of spring and fall equinoxes for either
the Northern or Southern Hemispheres.
7. The Tropic of Cancer receives direct sunlight on _______________ ___ or ___.
-The Tropic of Cancer is located at 23 ½ degrees North latitude.
-When the sun shines directly on the Tropic of Cancer, it is the first day of summer solstice in the
Northern Hemisphere and winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.
8. Tropic of Capricorn receives direct sunlight on _______________ ___ or ___.
-The Tropic of Capricorn is located at 23 ½ degrees South latitude.
-When the sun shines directly on the Tropic of Capricorn, it is the first day of winter solstice in the
Northern Hemisphere and summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.
Below is a graphical explanation of the Earth’s movement around the Sun and how it
causes the seasons to occur.
This is a cool website to see animation explaining why the Earth has seasons.
http://esminfo.prenhall.com/science/geoanimations/animations/01_Earth’sun_E2.html
CHAPTER 2/ SECTION 2 NOTES
PAGES 31-36 IN THE TEXTBOOK
Essential Questions:
How has plate tectonics changed the Earth in the past 200 million years?
Why do scientists theorize that the Earth was once only one large landmass?
What might the world look like 100 million years from now?
Why does Mt. Everest grow 2 centimeters a year?
Why is the atmosphere important?
Vocabulary:
1. Water covers ___% of Earth’s surface.
2. Land covers ___% of Earth’s surface.
3. _______________are areas of the Earth’s surface with definite shape.
4. _______________are landforms that usually rise more than 2,000 ft above sea level and is wide at the
bottom and narrow at the peak.
Below are the locations and names of the tallest mountain in each continent.
5. _______________ are landforms that rise above the surrounding land and have a rounded top.
-They are usually lower and less steep than mountains
6. _______________are large, mostly flat areas of land that rise above the surrounding land.
-At least one side of this landform has a steep slope.
7. _______________are large areas of flat or gently rolling land.
PLATE TECTONICS
8. _______________ means "all lands" in Greek. That's exactly what it was--a huge landmass in which all the
continents were connected. But, 180 million years ago, this super continent began to "break up" due to
continental drift. Over the ages, Pangaea has evolved into the seven continents we know of today.
However, the drifting is far from over.
Below are maps describing the continental shifting of the Earth’s plates for the past 245
million years.
9. _______________ _______________ is the theory that the Earth’s crust is made of huge, slowly moving
slabs of rock.
10. A _______________ is the geographical term for a huge slowly moving rock section of the Earth’s crust.
Below is a graphic identifying Earth’s plates and the direction in which they move.
11. _______________ is the soft hot layer of rock that plates float on.
12. A _______________ is any vent in the crust of the Earth from which molten rock, pyroclastic debris,
and/or steam is released.
Below are two examples of how volcanoes are formed.
(Here, two plates are moving apart
from each other and magma leaks
out of the open area, causing a
volcano to occur.)
(Here, two plates are colliding and one
plate is sliding underneath the other.
The friction caused between the two
plates, creates heat and causes a
volcano to form)
13. An _______________ is the shaking of the earth’s surface caused by rapid movement of the Earth’s rocky
outer layer. Earthquakes occur when energy stored within the Earth, usually in the form of strain in rocks,
suddenly releases. This energy is transmitted to the surface of the Earth by earthquake waves.
Below is a visual explanation of two plates moving beside one another, creating large
amounts of pressure that create cracks in the Earth’s crust, which will eventually cause
earthquakes to occur.
14. _______________is the process of breaking rocks down into tiny pieces.
-Rocks are broken down by the continuous exposure of wind, rain, and ice.
-The Appalachian Mountains were once as high as the Rocky Mountains, until weathering and erosion
caused them to decrease in size.
15. _______________ is the process wearing away of landforms and carrying the material to another place.
-The continuous forces of wind, rain, and ice carry the rocks away.
16. _______________is created when wind carries rocks and it mixes with dead animals and plants.
17. The _______________ is the multilayered band of gases that surround the earth.
-The Atmosphere protects Earth from too much heating entering during the day and trapping a
sufficient amount of heat in at night.
(To the right, is a diagram explaining
the altitude of each layer that makes
up the atmosphere and the varied
temperatures within each layer.)
(To the right is a pie chart identifying
the different gasses that make up the
atmosphere and the percentage amounts
of them.)
Activity:
On the map below, label in the correct locations of the following mountain ranges and peak: Appalachian,
Rocky, Andes, Alps, Himalayan, Mt. Everest. Use pages 132 and 133 in your text book.
CHAPTER 2/ SECTION 3 NOTES
PAGES 37-42 IN THE TEXTBOOK
Essential Questions:
How does weather affect geography?
How does geography affect weather?
How do ocean currents create a climate change in a region?
Vocabulary:
1. _______________ is the day-to-day changes in the air
2. _______________ is how hot or cold the air feels
3. _______________ is water that falls to the ground
-The precipitation falls in the form of rain, sleet, hail, or snow.
4. _______________ is the average weather over many years
5. _______________ is created when hot air and cold air collide
6. An _______________ _______________ is a fast-moving system of ocean water that travels far and affect
different climates around the world (look page 41)
This is an excellent website to find out more information about ocean currents.
http://earth.usc.edu/~stott/Catalina/Oceans.html
Below is a map of ocean currents around the world.
7. A ______________ is a wind and rain storm that forms over the tropic in the
Atlantic Ocean and produce huge waves that can destroy towns along the
shore.
-In order to be classified as a true hurricane wind speeds must reach 75
miles per hour or above.
8. A _______________ is a violent storm that develops west of the International Date Line in the Pacific
Ocean.
-In order to be classified as a true typhoon wind speeds must reach 75 miles per hour or
above.
How do Hurricanes form?
Hurricanes only form over really warm ocean water of 80°F or warmer. The atmosphere
(the air) must cool off very quickly the higher you go. Also, the wind must be blowing in
the same direction and at the same speed to force air upward from the ocean surface.
Winds flow outward above the storm allowing the air below to rise. Hurricanes typically
form between 5 to 15 degrees latitude north and south of the equator. The Coriolis
Force is needed to create the spin in the hurricane and it becomes too weak near the
equator, so hurricanes can never form there. (Coriolis Force- A force that deflects
moving objects to one side because of the Earth’s rotation. The object is still going
straight but the Earth moves underneath it, making it look like it is moving to one side.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the Coriolis Force deflects objects to the right).
CHAPTER 2/ SECTION 4 NOTES
PAGES 43-47 IN THE TEXTBOOK
Essential Questions:
How does knowing the climate of an area help geographers identify the vegetation of the region?
How does the climate of a region affect the species of vegetation that is able to grow there naturally?
What geographical factors force vegetation to adapt?
How can an alteration of climate cause a change in vegetation?
Why can an introduction of a foreign vegetation cause the destruction of the natural vegetation?
Vocabulary:
1. _______________are the plants that grow naturally in particular environment.
2. The 5 types of climates are _______________, _______________, _______________,
_______________, & _______________.
3. _______________ climates are hot and wet.
-The vegetation in this region includes big leafy trees, ferns, and vines.
4. A _______________ is a layer of branches and leaves at the tops of trees in
a forest.
5. _______________climates are hot and have little rain.
-The vegetation in this region includes small leafy bushes, cactus, and flowering plants.
6. _______________climates are found in the middle latitudes and have medium rainfall.
-The vegetation in this region includes deciduous trees, shrubs, low bushes, wildflowers, and grasses.
7. _______________ trees are trees that seasonally loose their leaves.
8. _______________ climates have moderate to hot summers and very cold winters.
-The vegetation in this region includes coniferous forests and grasslands.
9. _______________ trees are trees that typically do not loose their
leaves seasonally.
10. _______________ climates are cold all year.
-The vegetation in this region includes low shrubs, mosses, and lichens.
11. _______________ is a region in the Arctic Circle where temperatures are always cool or cold.
12. _______________ climate is the overall weather patterns of a region as influenced by elevation.
-The higher the elevation, the colder the climate.
-The higher the elevation, the less vegetation.