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Social Studies
US & Canada: Chapter 1 Sections 2+3
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| tundra | a cold, dry region covered with snow for more than half the year |
| permafrost | a permanently frozen layer of ground below the top layer of soil |
| prairie | a region of flat or rolling land covered with grasses |
| province | a political division of land in Canada |
| climate | weather patterns that an area experiences over a long period of time |
| What type of climates do areas near the ocean tend to have? | milder |
| How does the ocean affect Canada's climates? | water heats up and cools down more slowly than land so winds blowing across water on to land tend to warm the land in winter and cool it in summer. Plus winds pick up moisture blowing across the ocean & drop it over the land. |
| What type of climates do inland areas get? | extremes; very hot or very cold |
| How do mountains affect climate of Canada? | As winds blowing from the ocean (Atlantic) meet the mountains, they rise, cool & drop moisture. Air is dry when it reaches the other side & warms as it goes lower. This is called the CHINOOK EFFECT. |
| rain shadow | The area on the side of the mountains away from the wind where it is dry and sheltered and receives little rainfall |
| How does location affect climate? | Closer to the equator is hotter. In the US those states close to the equator are almost always warm. |
| How do the Pacific Ocean and mountains affect climate in the western US? | Wet winds from the ocean drop moisture before they cross the mountains, so the eastern parts of CA & AZ are semiarid/desert. |
| What area has the lowest average rainfall in the country? How much? | Death Valley in CA, 2in or 5cm per year |
| What type of climate is East of the Great Plains in the US? | Continental climates. North has warm summers & cold, snowy winters. South has long hot summers and mild winters. Coastal regins have violent weather sometimes. Summer and fall may have hurricans and tropical storms that develop in the Atlantic Ocean. |
| What are the four vegetation zones in the US and Canada? | northern tundras, grasslands, desert scrub & forests |
| northern tundras | has tundras and permafrost. Life is hard there. some native people live there and mosses, grasses and bright wildflowers grow there. |
| Inuits | a native peopld of Canada and Alaska, once called Eskimos live there and make a living by fishing and hunting. |
| grasslands | regions of flat or rolling land covered with grasses. Located where there is enough rain to support grasses but not forests. In N. America they are called prairies. |
| Where is the world's largest prairie? | Central and Great Plains of North America |
| Prairie Provinces | SAM Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba provinces of Canada. Largest prairie goes from American central states to these provinces. |
| How did pioneers describe the prairies in the west? | as a sea of grass |
| What do farmers grow in the prairies today? | corn and soybeans and further west is wheat and cattle |
| Why are the Great Plains an ideal area to raise cattle? | because that area receives less rainfall and so the grasses grow short there. |
| What popular crop is grown in the far west Great Plains region? | wheat |
| desert scrub | little rainfall, so limited vegetation; plants have to adapt to drought conditions or survive through their deep root system. |
| Great Basin | desert region between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada in the US.Covers 190,000 square miles of the west and includes Death Valley. It is in a rain shadow. Can support very few people. Many sheep graze on the shrubs there. |
| What blocks the Great Basin from moisture-bearing winds that come off the Pacific Ocean? | Sierras |
| What was considered an obstacle that delayed the development of the West? | the Great Basin because the conditions there made it difficult for explorers to cross it. People looked for alternate routes when heading to CA for the gold rush in 1849. |
| forests | cover nearly one third of the US and almost half of Canada. N. Pacific has great forests of coniferous trees; Rockies also have coniferous forests. Great Lakes across SE Canada & New England down to SE of US has mixed forests (coniferous and Deciduous). |
| What type of tree is a best know symbol of Canada? | deciduous sugar maple; leaf is on the flag. Tree produces sweet sap that can be made into syrup and maple sugar. |
| rocky mountains | the largest mountain range in NA |
| fossil fuel | fuel made from animal and plant remains |
| tributary | a small river or stream that flows into a larger river or stream |
| great lakes | the largest freshwater lakes in the world |
| agribusiness | a large company that runs huge farms |
| alluvial soil | fertile soil left by rivers after a flood |
| glaciers | huge slow moving sheets of ice |
| How do oceans influence climate? | oceans influence both the temperature and amount of moisture an area receives |
| What geographic features might lead someone to settle in Vancouver rather than Winnepeg? | close to water, so temperature more mild, less extrmes, more moisture |
| why fo more people live in the prairies than the tundra? | tundras are cold and dry and covered in snow more than 1/2 a year and prairies are warmer and more fertile for growing. |
| hydroelectricity | electric power produced by moving water. |
| fossil fuel | fuel formed over millions of years from animal and plant remains. |
| What country produces and consumes more fossil fuel than any other country? | USA |
| Petroleum, natural gas, and coal are types of what? | fossil fuels |
| What is the Trans-Alaska pipeline? | 800 mile pipeline used to move oil to the Port of Valdez for shipping. |
| farmland | land used for farming; less than 10% of Canada is suitable for farming. Most is located in Prairie Provinces. US South and and midwest have soils suitable for farmning. |
| forests | large groups of trees; large forests extend across the Paicific Northwest, the south, appalachians and around the Great Lakes |
| WHat products come from forests? | lumber, wood, pulp for paper, and fine wood. |
| Natural Gas | mix of gases found beneath the earth's surface, can be processed into fuel |
| Where are large natural gas fields found? | Texas, Louisianna, and Alaska |
| Coal | used by many power plants to make electricity, used to produce steel, and to heat indusrial facilites |
| What are the main coal poducing states? | Wyoming, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania |
| mining | process of extracting valuable minerals like gold, copper, iron ore and lead from the ground |
| Why is water an important natural resource? | water needed to drink and grow crops; used to produce power and for other industial purposes |
| What country has more lakes than any other in the world? | Canada has about 9% of the world's fresh water. |
| Name 2 important shipping routes in Canada? | St. Lawrence and Mackenzie |
| What resources are found in the Canadian shield? | iron ore, gold, silver, zinc, copper and uranium come from this area near Quebec and New Foundland border |
| The Prairie Provinces have large deposits of what? | oil and natural gas |
| Name some of the forest products produced in Canada? | lumber, paper, plywood, and wood pulp. |
| Describe the major natural resources of the US | large farmlands, lots of water, large forests, oil, naturalm gas, coal, minerals - copper, gold iron ore lead |
Created by:
gingersam
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