The Inside Scoop🌎
List the four layers of the Earth, from the innermost layer to the outermost layer.
Inner core
Outer core
Mantle
Crust
What are the three main types of rocks?
- Igneous
- Sedimentary
- Metamorphic
Name the six factors that affect climate.
1. Latitude
2. Ocean Currents
3. Wind and Air Masses
4. Elevation
5. Relief
6. Nearness to Large Bodies of Water
What are the two types/categories of natural disasters?
Geological and meteorological/hydrological natural disasters
What are the four components that make up soil?
1. Minerals
2. Bacteria and Organic Materials
3. Moisture/Water
4. Air
What are the three main types of tectonic plate boundaries?
Divergent, Convergent, and Transform
Magma or lava cools and hardens to form igneous rock. What is this process called?
Solidification
Name one of the three types of rainfall/precipitation and explain its process.
1. Relief Rainfall: When moist air meets a mountain, it rises up the mountain's windward side, cools, and condenses to form clouds and precipitation.
2. Convectional Rainfall: Sun's rays heat the Earth's surface, causing warm air to rise. As the air rises, it cools, and water vapour condenses to form clouds. This can lead to heavy rainfall and thunderstorms
3. Frontal rainfall: When a warm air mass meets a cold air mass, the warm air rises above the colder air. As the warm air rises, it cools, and water vapour condenses to form clouds and precipitation.
Name four of the seven landform regions in Canada.
- Interior Plains
- Great lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands
- Hudson Bay-Arctic Lowlands
- Appalachian Mountains
- Innuitian Mountains
- Western Cordillera
What are the three horizons/layers of a typical soil profile?
- Topsoil
- Subsoil
- Parent Material
Identify the type of plate boundary where two plates move apart. Explain the process that happens and what is formed.
A divergent plate boundary. When two tectonic plates move away from each other, magma flows up to fill the gap between the plates. The magma cools and solidifies to form new crust. This process can create a volcanic ridge.
The Badlands and Oil Sands of Alberta are made of what type of rock?
Sedimentary rock
Explain why areas near large bodies of water often have milder winters and cooler summers than inland areas. What is this effect called?
The moderating effect: Water heats up and cools down more slowly than land, moderating nearby temperatures.
A coastal city experience an earthquake under the ocean, and the water suddenly pulls far back from the shore. What natural disaster might happen next, and what should residents do to stay safe?
A tsunami may occur. Residents should move immediately to higher ground or inland and follow evacuation guidance.
When an area experiences a lot of precipitation, water moves down through the soil and dissolves/removes nutrients in the soil that plants need. What is this process called?
Leaching
Explain the theory of continental drift proposed by Alfred Wegener. Identify one of the four proofs used to support his theory.
The continental drift theory explains that continents were once joined together in a supercontinent called Pangaea and gradually drifted apart over time to their current positions.
Proofs:
- Jigsaw fit of the continents: The coastlines of continents appear to fit together
- Matching fossils across continents: The same fossils were found on continents separated by oceans
- Matching mountain ranges (age and structure):
- Pattern of glaciation (ice) across continents
What two processes work together to turn sediments into sedimentary rock? Explain.
Compaction squeezes the sediments together under pressure, and cementation binds (or "glues") the sediments together with minerals.
Two cities are located at the same latitude. City A is near sea level and beside an ocean, while City B is inland at a high elevation. Predict which city is likely to have colder winters and greater annual temperature range. Explain why.
City B is likely to have colder winters because temperatures are colder at higher elevations. Its inland location also means it experiences less moderation from the ocean, which results in a greater annual temperature range.
Why is farming more difficult in the Canadian Shield than in the Interior Plains?
- The Canadian Shield has thin soil, lots of exposed rock, and more uneven terrain
- The Interior Plains have flatter land and more fertile soils.
A region in northern Canada experiences long, cold winters, short summers, and permanently frozen ground (permafrost). What type of vegetation would you expect to find there, and why?
Tundra vegetation, such as small shrubs, mosses, and lichens because the cold temperatures, short growing season, and permafrost make it difficult for larger vegetation, like trees, to grow.