Download Q4 US 11-14 2015 questions - GEO

The Geography of North America, 2e (Hardwick)
Chapter 11 The Great Plains
Chapter 12 The Rocky Mountains
Chapter 13 Intermontane West
Chapter 14 MexAmerica
1) The largest dune field in North America is located in the Great Plains and is called what?
A) The Nebraska Sand Hills
B) The Clovis Dunes
C) The Ogallala Sand Hills
D) The South Dakota Dunes
2) Areas of shallow wetlands called prairie potholes were formed by what physical process?
A) Sheet erosion
B) Rill erosion
C) Aeolian processes
D) Glacial processes
3) Which of the following best describes what an aquifer is?
A) An underground area of permeable rock or sediment that is filled with water.
B) An aboveground lake that is fed by underground streams.
C) An underground river that generally flows through cave networks.
D) An underground water source that is superheated by volcanic activity producing plumes of steam
aboveground.
4) Step topography and mesas are created by what physical process?
A) Aeolian processes
B) Rill erosion
C) Differential erosion
D) Glacial processes
5) Which of the following best describes the climate in the Great Plains?
A) Mild year round with dry summers and wet winters
B) Dry with extreme temperature differences between the seasons
C) Dry, frigid winters with periods of high rainfall in the summer.
D) Mild winters with dry, hot summers.
6) Chinook winds frequently bring warm temperatures to the Great Plains, even in the middle of winter. Why
are these winds so warm?
A) Volcanic activity in the Rockies warms the air before it reaches the plains.
B) Air as it descends tends to expand causing a warming effect.
C) Warm air from the Gulf of Mexico meets the cold, dry air from the Arctic.
D) Increasing pressure warms the air as it descends down the slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
7) Early settlers used the name the "Great American Desert" to refer to the Great Plains because of what
characteristic of the region?
A) The low rainfall.
B) The lack of trees.
C) The miles and miles of sand and dunes. D) The use of dromedaries for travel.
8) What law passed in 1862 encouraged settlement of the Great Plains by providing up to 160 acres of land to
settlers who were able to make productive use of it?
A) The Dawes Act
B) The Homestead Act
C) The Morrill Act
D) The Donation Land Claim Act
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9) Recent Latino and Asian immigrants have been attracted to the Great Plains because of jobs in what
industry?
A) Agriculture
B) Mining
C) Meat packing
D) Automobile manufacturing
10) Difficulty in recruiting and retaining physicians, priests and clergy, and small businesses are all related to
what problem in the Great Plains?
A) The loss of population in small towns and rural areas.
B) The increase of people moving from cities to rural areas.
C) Restrictive immigration laws have reduced the immigration to these areas.
D) There is already a glut of these professions compared to the population in the Great Plains.
11) Most of the tourism and recreation sector in the Great Plains relies on visitors from where?
A) People from overseas
B) People from nearby regions
C) People from the Great Plains
D) People from all over North America
12) What negative perceptions about the Great Plains might discourage high-technology firms from locating in
the region?
A) That the region is dull and uninteresting.
B) That it will be hard to find H1-B immigrant workers there.
C) That it is hard to find well-educated workers there.
D) None of the above.
13) Most major cities in the northern Great Plains are located where?
A) In the center of the region
B) Near the edge of the region
C) Near the border with Canada
D) In the southern portion of the region
14) Before it became a U.S. state, eastern Oklahoma was set-aside for what?
A) As "Indian Territory" for thousands of Native Americans displaced from the southeastern United States
B) The Nation of Oklahoma
C) An expansion area for Texas.
D) None of the above.
15) The forced migration of tens of thousands of people from the "Five Civilized Tribes" — Cherokee,
Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole from their homelands in the southeastern United States to "Indian
Territory" in what is now Oklahoma is called what?
A) The Five Tribes Act
B) The Homesteading Act
C) The Trail of Tears
D) The Jackson Accord.
16) Geographers Frank and Deborah Popper have proposed that in the future, much of the Great Plains should
be taken out of agricultural production and instead used for what?
A) A separate homeland for Native Americans
B) A huge grassland habitat for restored herds of buffalo
C) To open the area up for the mining of oil from deep shale reserves
D) For the development of wind farms
17) What two 19th century technologies were key to encouraging settlement in the Great Plains?
A) Automobiles and the steel plow.
B) The railroad and the automobile.
C) The automobile and the airplane.
D) The steel plow and the railroad.
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18) Which of the following physical features of the Rocky Mountain region were formed by volcanic activity?
A) Foothills and front ranges
B) V-shaped valleys
C) Calderas
D) Moraines
19) Mt. Assiniboine in British Columbia is an example of a pyramid-shaped peak also known as a what?
A) Cirque
B) Horn
C) Arête
D) Mount
20) Hell's Canyon, a narrow, steep-sided valley, on the Idaho- Oregon border is an example of a valley formed
by what?
A) Tectonic activity
B) Glaciation
C) Flowing water
D) Volcanic activity
21) The highest peak in the Rocky Mountains is located in what part of the Rocky Mountains?
A) The Southern Rockies in Colorado
B) The greater Yellowstone Mountains in Wyoming
C) The Canadian Rockies in British Columbia
D) The Bitterroot Range in Western Montana
22) Which of the following best describes the fumaroles that exist in Yellowstone National Park?
A) Hot springs so hot that they create steam and vent sulfuric acid
B) Lava deposits that are constantly heated from superheated gases in the ground below.
C) Smoke from lava pits below ground that vent to the surface through cracks.
D) Lakes that are heated by underground pyroclastic flows.
23) The most important factor influencing vegetation patterns in the Rocky Mountain Region is what?
A) The distribution of precipitation
B) Differences in elevation
C) Animal habitation
D) Planting patterns of indigenous groups
24) Before the northern part of the Rocky Mountain Region was part of Canada, the territory was controlled by
who?
A) France
B) The Hudson's Bay Company
C) The Northern Rockies Company
D) Russia
25) Why is ranching more common in the Rocky Mountain region than agriculture?
A) Cattle and sheep can graze in areas with marginal soils and little water.
B) Cattle and sheep were more profitable than agriculture.
C) The long period of snowfall would affect animals less than plants.
D) Ranching is not more common in the Rocky Mountains than agriculture.
26) What city in the Rocky Mountain region was the site of one of the first large ski resorts in North America
during the 1930s?
A) Sun Valley, Idaho
B) Sugar Hill, Colorado
C) Telemark, Colorado
D) St. Anton, Idaho
27) What is likely to be the most pressing environmental issue for the Rocky Mountains in the 21st century?
A) Urban sprawl
B) Wildlife extinctions
C) Water shortages
D) Pollution
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28) If you were hiking through the Rocky Mountains and saw a sharp ridge of peaks that looked a bit like the
teeth of a saw, you might reasonably conclude that it had been shaped by what?
A) Erosion from winter snow packs.
B) A strike-slip fault that caused uplift.
C) Two parallel glaciers in the valleys on each side.
D) Tectonic activity.
29) Why is the climate of the Rocky Mountains relatively warm?
A) Warm air travels north from the Gulf of Mexico.
B) Warm air travels east from the Pacific Ocean.
C) The coldest air from Canada flows only to either side
D) The low pressure above the mountains draws warm air from all sides.
30) Where are most forests in the Rocky Mountain region located?
A) At low elevations on valley floors
B) At low elevations in the foothills
C) Moderate elevations on mountain slopes
D) High elevations near mountain peaks
31) Driving through eastern Washington you notice many areas of exposed rock, deep river canyons, and huge
boulders scattered across the landscape. Then you remember these are all impacts left on the landscape of what?
A) Volcanic activity
B) Block faulting
C) Glacial scouring
D) The Missoula Flood
32) The Intermontane region includes some of the driest places in the United States. What is the primary cause
of these low rates of precipitation?
A) The region is located on the leeward (eastern) side of a series of mountain ranges
B) The region is located to the west of the Rocky Mountains
C) The lack of groundwater in the area keeps humidity low
D) The region is affected by cold, dry northern air from Canada
33) Looking at a mountains slope in the Intermontane on what part of the slope would you expect to find trees?
A) Higher up on the slope
B) At the foot of the slope
C) Lower on the slope
D) Trees only grow at low elevations in the Intermontane
34) How did most Basque settlers to the Intermontane West make a living?
A) Mining
B) Growing crops
C) Ranching
D) Mercantilism
35) If you were visiting a small town in the Intermontane West and noticed many houses of a Greek Revival
style, bordered by irrigation ditches and rows of Lombardy poplars you would reasonably conclude that the
town had been settled by what group?
A) The Spanish
B) The Doukhobor
C) The Basque
D) The Mormons
36) In the 19th and early 20th centuries many people came to Arizona for what?
A) It was believed that the dry air improved their health.
B) Collecting discarded Native American relics.
C) Interest in the "Cowboy Lifestyle" as depicted by dime novels.
D) The influx of European immigrants to the East drove many settlers west to escape "corrupting influences".
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37) Which of the following best defines the term "snowbirds"?
A) Birds that travel above the continental snowline in the summer.
B) Avian species still in existence, unchanged from the last glacial maximum.
C) Retirees from colder parts of North America who travel to spend winters in warm, dry areas
D) People who travel to snowy areas in the winter for recreation.
38) How did the principle of appropriation impact farming in the Intermontane West?
A) It allowed farms to appropriate land if they could use it productively for five years.
B) It allowed farmers to build ditches and canals so that they could irrigate their farms, even if the farms were
not located next to a water source.
C) It allowed vast tracks of former Native American land to be claimed by the Government.
D) It allows farmers to formally claim streams for their use only.
39) Another name for steep-sided dry canyons found in eastern Washington is what?
A) Gulches
B) Box Canyons
C) Coulees
D) Perennial Canyons
40) Because of its pattern of discontinuous settlement, most of the population of the Intermontane West lives
where?
A) In large cities such as Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, and Boise
B) In small towns and cities centered around mining, logging, and ranching
C) In rural areas because most people are still involved in mining, ranching, and logging
D) Population is evenly mixed between rural and urban areas
41) The largest city in the "Inland Empire", which includes eastern Washington and Northern Idaho, is what?
A) Boise
B) Spokane
C) Tri-Cities
D) Coeur d'Alene
42) The physical geography of parts of New Mexico and West Texas, including Big Bend National Park are an
extension of what?
A) The Great Plains
B) The Gulf Coastal Plain
C) The Rocky Mountains
D) The Intermontane
43) In general, which area gets more precipitation, western MexAmerica or eastern MexAmerica?
A) Western MexAmerica gets more precipitation.
B) Eastern MexAmerica gets more precipitation.
C) Precipitation is fairly even from east to west.
D) Actually northern MexAmerica gets more rain than southern MexAmerica.
44) Settled groups of Native Americans in MexAmerica, sometimes called Pueblo people, lived near what?
A) Near the Grand Canyon
B) Near the Sierra Madres
C) Near the Gulf of California
D) Near the Rio Grande River
45) Approximately how long was the settled area around the Rio Grande River controlled by the Spanish before
New Mexico and Texas became part of the United States?
A) 50 years
B) 100 years
C) 200 years
D) 300 years
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46) Which of the following best describes how New Mexico and Arizona became part of the United States?
A) The United States went to war with Spain in 1821 to gain control of these territories.
B) American settlement intensified after 1821, which allowed them to buy the entire region from Spain via the
Gadsden Purchase.
C) The United States annexed the Republic of Texas in 1845, which resulted in the Mexican-American War.
D) The United States cleared out the Native Americans living in the region and settled it before Spain or
Mexico could.
47) How would you describe the place of agriculture in the economy of MexAmerica?
A) Agriculture is widespread and central to the economy of the region
B) Agriculture is important to the economy of most parts of MexAmerica.
C) Agriculture is an important to the economy of select places in MexAmerica, but is not widespread
D) There is very little agriculture in MexAmerica
48) The main center(s) of agriculture in MexAmerica are located where?
A) Near the Rio Grande in the eastern portion of MexAmerica and the Arizona portion of the Colorado River, in
the western part of the region
B) In the southern part of the region where it is warm enough to grow frost intolerant crops Students may not
think "b" is a viable answers unless center(s) is referenced in the question.
C) In the northern part of the region where there is more regular precipitation
D) Agriculture is widespread throughout MexAmerica because of the region's rich soils
49) One of the major advantages of maquiladoras for American companies is what?
A) They are able to hire Mexican workers for much lower wages than they would have to pay American
workers.
B) These areas subscribe to no country's laws on pollution.
C) These areas often have lax child-labor laws which allow workers as young as 12 to work in factories.
D) Companies in these areas have to pay no corporate income tax.
50) What group, besides college and university students, makes up a large percentage of the tourists who visit
South Padre Island each year?
A) Corporate leaders visiting the resorts on the island.
B) Cruise ship passengers visiting the local markets.
C) Mexicans visiting during the week before Easter.
D) "Snow Birds" or older, wealthy people seeking warmer climes during the North American winter.
ESSAY QUESTIONS ON NEXT PAGE
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Answer 3 of the following questions.
Use 3-5 sentences for each. Points deducted if not answered.
-Describe the general distribution of ecosystems in the Rocky Mountain region and the factors influencing this
distribution.
-Breakdown the factors that lead to frequent conflicts between newcomers and longtime residents in the Rocky
Mountain region. Make an argument for one of these factors being the most influential in causing these
conflicts.
-Explain how population growth in the Rocky Mountain region is likely to interact with the expected impacts of
climate change in the future.
-Compare and contrast the cities of Calgary and Denver in terms of their economies, cultures, and identities.
-Despite the fact that the population of the Intermontane West is now highly urbanized and primary sector
activities now employ few people in the region, conflicts over natural resources are still common. Explain some
reasons for this trend.
-Compare the way that use of water is regulated in the Eastern United States in contrast to the dry Intermontane
West. Be sure to explain why these different systems developed.
-Describe the impact of NAFTA and the free trade zone on towns such as Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo,
Mexico. How have both sides of the border been impacted?
-In many places in MexAmerica, border communities share a close relationship. Describe three ways border
communities are connected and how increasing border security, such as border fences, disrupts those
connections.
-Compare and contrast the cultural landscapes of MexAmerica and Quebec. Are there any similarities in terms
of the cultural characteristics of these two regions?
-Compare and contrast the patterns of early settlement in the Canadian Great Plains to those in the U.S. portion
of the Great Plains. What factors led to differences and similarities?
-Explain the environmental problems associated with the use of water from the Ogallala aquifer and how people
in the Great Plains are dealing with these issues.
-Discuss the reasons for the movement of the meatpacking industry from cities in the Rust Belt such as Chicago
to the Southern Great Plains. Be sure to include the roles of technology and labor.
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