Geography Revision By Sarah

Countries in North America
1. United States of America
  1. It has 50 states, and Washington DC is its capital.
    1. There is blistering heat in Hawaii, while there is freezing cold in Alaska!
2. Mexico
  1. Mexico's official name is the Mexican United States, and its capital is Mexico City.
    1. Mexico introduced chocolate, chillies and corn to the world!
3. Canada
  1. Many French people live there and the capital is Ottowa.
    1. Parts of Canada are uninhabited as they are too cold!
Glossary Terms
1. Tectonic plates are massive, irregularly shaped rocks, which can be made by of continental and ocean materials, such as graphite.
  1. A shield volcano is a broad domed volcano with gently sloping sides, and they are usually found at constructive or tensional boundaries.
    1. A hurricane is a violent wind which has a gale force of twelve on the Beaufort Scale.
      1. A tornado is a mobile, destructing vortex of violently rotating winds having the appearance of a funnel shaped looking cloud.
  2. An avalanche is a mass of snow, ice and rocks rapidly falling down a sloped surface, such as a mountainside.
2. Earthquakes are the vibrations caused by rocks breaking under stress. The surface along which the rocks break and move is called a fault.
  1. Short Term Need is what you need urgently after a disaster, such as food and shelter, and Long Term Need is when you may need something after a couple of months.
    1. The eye of the storm is a region of mostly calm weather found at the centre of strong hurricanes, typhoons and tropical cyclones.
    2. A jet stream consists of strong winds which move weather systems around the globe which can reach up to 200 miles per hour!
3. A composite volcano is made up of alternating layers of lava and ash, whereas other volcanoes are just made up of lava.
Tectonic Plates And Boundaries
1. The tectonic plates are moving because the core heats up magma, and when it rises it cools and slips back down, and it creates friction which gradually move the plates.
2. 180 million years ago, all of the continents we know were grouped together as a supercontinent called Pangaea, which was made up of tectonic plates. There are two types of plates,. continental and oceanic.
3. The repeated friction of the magma rising and cooling causes the plates to slide past each other, and when this happens, an earthquake occurs, shaking the ground on both sides.
4. There are four types of plate boundary: Constructive, Destructive, Collisional and Conservative.
5. San Francisco Disaster
  1. An earthquake called Loma Prieta hit Northern California on October 17th in 1989, which had a magnitude of 6.9 and killed 63 people, and 1,000 injuries in just 15 seconds of impacts.
  2. It happened because a conservative plate boundary slid past another in opposite directions. It is sometimes called a transformative plate margin, where friction is eventually overcome and the plates slip past in a sudden movement,
  3. To reduce the effects on earthquakes you could predict them, or have earthquake training centres where people can go to experience an earthquake and know the signs. You could also install weights on the roof to reduce movement and automatic window shutters.
  4. Tornadoes
    1. First of all you need cool dry air, warm dry air and warm moist air mixed together, which rises up and forms clouds which makes a storm and if winds blow in different directions it can start rotating. It causes a funnel to drop out of the cloud, but it only is a hurricane when it touches the ground.
    2. Avalanches
      1. Snow Layers - Snow on the mountain can turn to ice, and it becomes very slippery, and if fresh snow falls on top, it can slide forward and start an avalanche.
        Vibrations - Any thing from a person skiing down the slopes can trigger vibrations which cause avalanches.
        Heavy Snowfall - During periods of heavy snow, snow piles up and when it becomes too heavy it slides down.
      2. Steep Slopes - They are more likely to happen on steep slopes as it is easier for snow to fall down the mountain, due to gravity.
        Wind - The wind causes snow to drift and collect, and where it overhangs it is unstable and it collapses.
        To prevent avalanches people close the mountaintops and then drop dynamite to set off the avalanche so nobody is hurt by it when they may come across it later on.
        There are people who spot potential avalanches by looking at maps and past data to see where the next one could happen.
      3. Deforestation - Trees on the side of the mountain act as anchors, they hold the snow in place, and if they are cut down the snow becomes unstable.
Hurricanes
1. They start in the tropics (Cancer, Capricorn), and the water starts to heat up because there are no clouds, and the air gets hotter and starts to move and travel upwards. The warm air funnels inwards, outwards and up and then the vapour cools and condenses to form thick clouds. The wind causes the water to whip up massive waves .
2. Hurricane Katrina made 100 million people homeless, 1 million dollars worth of stock was stolen, 85% of New Orleans was flooded, several oil rigs were damaged, 1200 died and farmers crops were ruined.
3. Syrian Refugee Crisis
  1. ISIS are a terrorist group who want to make a new state which would join parts of Iraq and Syria together. They have threatened non-muslims to covert or die, and have taken control of many parts of Syria.
  2. Climate Change between 2006 and 2001 brought severe drought which lasted longer than anyone expected. This killed 85% of Syria's livestock and peppers.
    1. The government had bombarded civilian areas with air strikes, because an insurgent group had attacked the government positions.
  3. There was also a civil war, with the government fighting rebel groups to gain control of cities. This caused 220,000 to be killed. It started because lots of different religions are fighting against each other.
  4. Terrorism
    1. Terrorism is where people clash over laws, religion, marriage or other things that they believe are wrong, which leads to attacks like hacking, bombing or arson..
    2. Terrorism includes use or threat of violence,, or affecting members of the public.
    3. Desertification
      1. Caused by climate change when land begins to dry out. Farmers get more desperate and allow their animals to overgraze on the grass. Plants and tress start to die and many of them are eaten and die completely. Their roots are lost and they fly away and become dust, which repeats until nothing can grow and the land turns into a desert.

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	Created by Sarah Arnold over 8 years ago