Overview of Maps	Worksheet Objective: To provide students with information on how to read maps used in geography.

Kinds of Maps

Maps are the main tools of geographers.  There are many different kinds of maps, each used to show particular kinds of information:

• Political maps - show man-made boundaries between countries, states, counties, and cities. They also show the locations of cities and major bodies of water.  There is a legend, or scale of miles, that helps you figure out distances on the map. 
  
  
• Physical maps - show the natural features of the Earth, including rivers, lakes, oceans, deserts, mountains, and continents.  They use shading to show relief, or variations in the elevation of the Earth’s surface.  There are shades of colors to indicate the general elevation of whole areas, such as mountain ranges, deserts, and plains.

Practice:

Acid rain is a form of pollution created by the chemicals released by coal-burning factories and power plants.  Acid rain is created primarily in the Midwest and is blown by westerly winds toward the east.  There it falls, damaging forests and lakes.

 

1. What is the source of acid rain?
   a) forests in the east
   b) coal mining
   c) coal-burning factories and power plants
   d) the manufacture of chemicals
   e) evaporation from damaged lakes

2. According to the map, which part of the United States is the most acidic due to acid rain damage?
   a) the Northeast
   b) the Southeast
   c) the Southwest
   d) the Northwest
   e) the West Coast

3. From the information and map, you can conclude that:
   a) acid rain is not a serious problem
   b) pollution can spread far
   c) coal has been outlawed as an energy source
   d) acid rain is a problem only in the United States
   e) acid rain is the most serious form of air pollution
   
   
4. Which of the following would be the best title for this information and map?
   a) The United States
   b) Pollution in the United States
   c) Power Plants in the United States
   d) Acid Rain in the United States
   e) Sources of Acid Rain
   
   Answers: 1. c 2. a 3. b 4. d

 

Climate and Seasons

An area’s location greatly affects its climate.  Nearness to the equator or to mountains can affect temperature and moisture.  The warmest parts of the world are near the equator.  This is because the sun’s rays are concentrated in these areas; the farther you go from the equator, the cooler it feels because the sun’s rays are not as concentrated.

The oceans also influence climate.  In the summer, heat from the sun warms the land more quickly than it warms the ocean.  The land near the ocean stays cooler than land farther away.  In the winter, the land cools more quickly than the ocean.  It holds more of the summer heat, so the areas near the ocean stay warmer in winter. 

Temperature can affect how much rain a place gets.  For example, warm places, such as Brazil in South America, tend to get a lot of rain.  That is because warm air absorbs more moisture from the ocean and other bodies of water.  When the air cools, the moisture falls as rain.  Cold places tend to get less rain than warm places.

Mountains can affect climate, too.  For example, if the wind comes to a high mountain range, rain clouds are pushed up higher and higher.  As the clouds rise, the air becomes cooler.  The clouds cannot hold as much moisture.  They drop the rain before they are high enough to cross the mountains.  So the areas on the other side of the mountain range never get much rain.

The climate of an area has a great deal to do with what kinds of plants and animals will be found there.  The climate also shapes the lives of the people who live there.  The people of an area usually eat foods that grow best in their climate.  They wear the kinds of clothes and live in the kinds of houses that best protect them from their climate.

You may know that the seasons are relative to where you are on the Earth.  When it’s summer in North American and Europe, it’s winter in most of South America and Africa.  Why is this?

The Earth rotates, or spins, on its axis.  The axis is an imaginary line running through the middle of the Earth.  The Earth’s axis is tilted, either 23 ½ º toward the sun or 23 ½º away from the sun.  The picture below shows how the sun’s rays hit the planet.  When the north pole of the axis tilts away from sun, the sun’s rays hit the Northern Hemisphere less directly.  The days are shorter and the weather is colder: it is fall and winter.  When the north pole of the axis tilts toward the sun, however, the Northern Hemisphere receives the sun’s rays directly.  The days are longer and it is warmer:  it is spring and summer.

The seasons change from summer to winter when the Earth has completed half of its journey around the sun.  On March 21^st, day and night are the same length all over the Earth.  This is the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere.  Autumn begins on September 21 in the Northern Hemisphere.

Zones

People often talk about climate and weather as if they were one and the same.  Climate is the general weather pattern in a geographical area.  Weather refers to the specifics of temperature, wind, and precipitation at a given time.    

KEY WORDS

Tropical zone—the region around the equator, between the tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn, characterized by a hot, humid climate

Temperate zones—two regions, one between the tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle, the other between the tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle, characterized by four distinct seasons

Arctic zones--- two regions, one north of the Arctic Circle, the other south of the Antarctic Circle, with an extremely cold climate

 

Practice:

5. Find the regions marked 10 in the United States.  Which description below would you think best describes the plant life in these areas?

a) very lush, dense, varied
b) moderately dense, varied
c) grassland and trees
d) marshes and swamps
e) sparse and limited

6. It’s spring like in the area marked 7 in South America.  At the same time, in the area marked 5 in North America the weather would be
   
   a) warm, with the days getting longer
   b) warm, with the days getting shorter
   c) cool, with the days getting longer
   d) cool, with the days getting shorter
   e) cold, with the day getting longer
   
   
7. In the phenomenon known as the midnight sun, the sun virtually never sets for six months.  You would expect to witness this phenomenon
   
   a) above the Arctic Circle and below the Antarctic Circle
   b) between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle
   c) between the equator and the Tropic of Cancer
   d) between the equator and the Tropic of Capricorn
   e) between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle
   
   Answers: 5. e 6. d 7. a