1. Landforms, Water, and Natural Resources

2. Forces below Earth’s Surface
Plate Tectonics: explains how forces within the planet create landforms
Continental Drift: Plates moves along the upper mantle at a rate of an inch per year
200 million years ago a supercontinent existed called Pangaea
Theory helps geographers understand the origins of mountains and the landforms of oceans

3. Forces below cont. Three types of plate movement Spread Plates Collide
Rift valleys form when the crust stretches
Abyssal Plains, the world’s flattest and smoothest regions
Continental Shelves, the continental surface extending under the shallow ocean water
Plates Collide
folds and faults
Plates move laterally

4. Forces on Earth’s Surface
Weathering : slow break up of rock into sediment
Erosion: movement of surface material from one location to another
Water, Waves, and Wind
Water is most essential to erosion
Wind and waves carry sediment
Dust from Sahara to Caribbean
Power of Ice
Thick masses called glaciers move and create valleys

5. Shapes of Land
To better understand landforms, geographers divide them into three groups
Tectonic Process: Mountains, and some valleys created by volcanoes, faults and folding.
Sediment: formed by sediment deposited by ice, water, or wind.
Erosion: made of rock and has a thin layer of sediment. The hard rock underneath will remain. A Plateau is an example of this landform.
Plateau is an elevated flatland that raises sharply above nearby land on at least one side.

6. Shapes of Land The terrain in most regions is a jigsaw puzzle of many landforms

7. The Hydrosphere 97% of Earth’s water is in the oceans
Desalinization - remove salt
Most of the remaining 3% is frozen in ice caps
Water is always changing from gas to liquid, this movement through the hydrosphere is called the hydrologic cycle
Solar energy, winds, and gravity drive this cycle

8. Hydrosphere Surface Water
Wetlands – any landscape that is covered in water part of the year
Okavango in Africa, Florida
Estuaries – forms where a river meets and inlet of the sea
Good harbors (NY, Seattle)
Lakes formed by glaciers or continental rifts
Lakes help control temps
Provide water supplies, food
Headwaters run into tributaries that run into rivers (watersheds or drainage basins)
Ohio, Missouri, Arkansas Rivers are tributaries into the Mississippi watershed

9. Some lakes are not connected to an ocean
Some lakes are not connected to an ocean. Lakes like the Great Salt Lake, may collect minerals from runoff. As more and more minerals build up the lake becomes salty.

10. Hydrosphere Groundwater
When rainwater sinks into the ground, it is first stored in the soil
It slowly moves down through the cracks and spaces of rock.
The level at which the rock is filled is known as the water table.
Can be brought to surface by pumping – too much can be bad for surface

11. Natural Resources Soils Renewable resource
Natural material that includes both rocky sediments and organic matter
Has many layers, that develop over long periods of time
Leaching = downward movement of minerals and humus in soils
More rain means leaching down and deep soils.
Low fertility soil
rainforests

12. Sustaining Soil Resources
Producing the world’s food depends on soil
Farming increases soil erosion
Contour plowing helps control erosion
Soil exhaustion – planting same crops over and over
Soil becomes useless
Crop rotation and fertilizers
Dust Bowl
Using dry lands
Irrigation – artificially supplying water to an area
Leads to soil salinization

13. Natural Resources Forests Deforestation Reforestation
Protect soils from erosion
Offer habitat for wildlife
Yield useful products
Deforestation
Major problem in many parts of the world
Clearing for farmland, fuel source, wood
Haiti 2% forest left
Reforestation
Way to replenish forest
Deforestation in Brazil

14. Natural Resources Air Water Essential to life
Pollution threatens many parts of the world
Acid rain is caused when certain pollutants mix with water vapor
Global warming a concern
Water
Maintaining clean water is a challenge for many parts of the world
Transportation systems help – canals, dams, and aqueducts (artificial channels for transporting water)
Wells are most dependable source of water
Drilled to depth of rock layers where groundwater is plentiful – aquifers
Fossil waters are being depleted at high rates and not replenished with rain

15. With the increased use of coal as
an energy source, China has had
significant increases in air pollution.
The pollution from China makes its way all around the world.

16. Natural Resources Mineral Resources Energy Resources
Many different types and uses
Ore – the mineral bearing rock
Some more rare than others
Energy Resources
Fossil fuels – coal, natural gas and petroleum
Non-renewable
Uranium – nuclear power
Environmental impact is significant

17. Renewable Energy Hydroelectric Power Geothermal Power Wind
Electricity produced by moving water
Geothermal Power
Heat of Earth’s interior can also generate electricity
Wind
Solar Energy