Soils and Vegetation
What is an ecosystem?
An interdependent community of plants and animals.
What are the 2 most significant factors that define a climate region?
Temperature and precipitation
Ocean currents and wind currents.
What causes the seasons?
The Earth's tilt. As the Earth revolves around the sun, it is tilted at a 23.5 degree angle. This causes different parts of the Earth to receive direct rays of the sun for more hours or less hours depending on the time of year.
What is weathering?
The physical or chemical processes that break down rocks into smaller pieces.
What do we call tropical grassland?
Savanna
What are the 5 general climate regions?
Tropical (low latitude), dry, mid-latitude, high latitude, highland.
Globally, hot air flows towards the ________, and cold air flows towards the ___________.
The poles, and the equator.
What do we call the longest day of the year?
The summer solstice.
What is sediment?
Very fine particles of rock that form mud, sand, or silt.
What are the 4 components of soil?
Humus, rock, air, water.
What is the difference between Tropical Wet and Tropical Wet and Dry regions?
In Tropical Wet regions, it is always hot and it rains daily. Tropical Wet and Dry regions have a rainy season in summer and a dry season in winter. It is cooler in the dry season.
Is the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Hemisphere?
The Northern Hemisphere.
Twice a year, the days and nights are equal length. What do we call these days?
The spring equinox and the autumn equinox.
When weathered material is moved by the action of wind, water, ice, or gravity, what do we call it?
Erosion
What is the difference between deciduous and coniferous trees?
Deciduous trees have broad leaves that fall in the autumn. Coniferous trees have needles and are green all year round.
Are all deserts hot?
No. There are also cold deserts, found in the mid-latitudes, where rain shadow makes the region very dry.
Topography, Ocean currents, Wind currents, Elevation, Latitude.
What is a rain shadow?
When clouds blowing in from the ocean encounter mountains, they rise and cool down so that they deposit their rain on the windward side of the mountains. The land on the leeward side of the mountains is called a rain shadow because it receives little rain.
What shape are the valleys cut by glaciers into the land?
U-shaped
What is unique about vegetation in desert regions?
Which climate region is often cloudy, foggy, and damp?
Marine West Coast
Gases released by the burning of coal and petroleum cause more heat to be trapped in the atmosphere. What do we call this?
The greenhouse effect
Hurricanes have a different name in Asia. What is it?
Typhoons
What do we call the fertile deposits of wind-blown silt and clay sediment found in northern China, the Mississippi valley and elsewhere?
Loess