Deck 2: North America's Environmental Setting

Question 1

The Intermontane physiographic province has which of the following characteristics?

A)Low,rolling hills
B)Many fertile swamps and marshes
C)Steep canyons,mesas and buttes
D)Widespread volcanism and tectonic uplift

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Most of North America is located on which tectonic plate?

A)The Juan de Fuca Plate
B)The Pacific Plate
C)The Atlantic Plate
D)The North American Plate

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Sinkholes are associated with which type of landscape?

A)Glacial
B)Karst
C)Volcanic
D)Fluvial

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The San Andreas Fault is located in which part of North America?

A)The southeast
B)The northwest
C)The Great Plains
D)California

Question 5

Explosive eruptions of pyroclastic debris and gases are associated with which type of volcanoes?

A)Shield volcanoes
B)Composite cone volcanoes
C)Bulging volcanoes
D)Concave volcanoes

Question 6

Which major physical feature in North America was created by down-cutting?

A)The Appalachian mountains
B)The Erie Canal
C)The Great Lakes
D)The Grand Canyon

Question 7

The Erie Canal was constructed to provide water route between the Atlantic Coast and what?

A)The Great Lakes
B)The Mississippi River
C)The Ohio River
D)Lake Powell

Question 8

The study of the environmental characteristics of Earth is called what?

A)Human geography
B)Physical geography
C)Earth studies
D)Environmental geography

Question 9

The Great Lakes-St.Lawrence system flows ________ into the ________.

A)South-east,Atlantic Ocean
B)North,Hudson Bay
C)North-east,North Atlantic
D)South,Gulf of Mexico

Question 10

Mount Mitchell,the highest mountain in the Appalachians is ________ the highest peaks in the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada.

A)Much higher than
B)Much lower than
C)About the same elevation as
D)Almost as high as

Question 11

When depositional forces are dominant on a coastline,those forces produce which of the following features?

A)Rugged,narrow beaches
B)Sea cliffs
C)Broad beaches
D)Sea stacks (isolated columns of rocks)

Question 12

The Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain physiographic province has which of the following characteristics?

A)Many fertile swamps and marshes
B)Low,rolling hills
C)Folding,uplift,and faulting
D)Small mountain ranges and flat valleys

Question 13

The Mississippi-Missouri river basin flows ________ into the ________.

A)South-east,Atlantic Ocean
B)North,Hudson Bay
C)South,Gulf of Mexico
D)South-west,Pacific Ocean

Question 14

Which major physical feature in North America did glaciers create?

A)The Rocky mountains
B)The Erie Canal
C)The Great Lakes
D)The Grand Canyon

Question 15

The Canadian Shield covers about how much of the area of Canada?

A)10%
B)30%
C)50%
D)80%

Question 16

The Fall Line is an imaginary line formed by points

A)Along eastern rivers that was the limit of accessibility for ocean going ships
B)At which draft animals of settlers moving west would drop from exhaustion
C)Along eastern rivers where there were waterfalls
D)All of the above
E)Both A and C

Question 17

Another name for the process of mountain building is what?

A)Orogeny
B)Elevation formation
C)Eolian activity
D)Down cutting

Question 18

The lava of a shield volcano

A)Has a low viscosity and so flows across the landscape
B)Erupts explosively,spreading ash and debris through the atmosphere
C)Is the hottest form of lava because it comes from deeper within the earth
D)Tends to contain a large amount of gas bubbles

Question 19

During the maximum extent of glaciation in North America,continental glaciers extended how far south?

A)Ohio
B)Tennessee
C)Oklahoma
D)Florida

Question 20

The first mountain chain that slowed the western movement of early American settlers was ________.

A)The Rocky Mountains
B)The Appalachian Mountains
C)The Ozark Mountains
D)The Sierras

Question 21

The process of orographic uplift cools air as it rises over mountain ranges,the opposite process,in which air warms as it descends in elevation,is called what?

A)Adiabatic heating
B)Prothermic depression
C)Cyclic winds
D)Depressive heating

Question 22

The tundra biome is found in areas with what type of climate?

A)Mediterranean
B)Polar
C)Tropical
D)Marine

Question 23

Looking at the maps (Figure 2.12),what part of North America receives the highest levels of precipitation during the summer?

A)The Pacific Northwest
B)The Gulf Coast
C)New England
D)The Great Plains

Question 24

Differences in atmospheric pressure are measured using what?

A)A thermometer
B)A barometer
C)A pressure gradient
D)A compression meter

Question 25

Orographic precipitation is caused by what?

A)Moist air cooling as it is forced to higher elevations
B)Dry air warming as it is forced to higher elevations
C)Moist air warming as it is forced to lower elevations
D)Dry air cooling as it is forced to lower elevations

Question 26

Wind is caused by the movement of air from an area of ________ pressure to an area of ________ pressure.

Question 27

How are people living near the Great Lakes impacted by the weather changes related to presence of a large body of water?

A)Temperatures are unaffected by the presence of the lakes,and precipitation is increased.
B)Temperatures are unaffected by the presence of the lakes,and precipitation is decreased.
C)Temperatures are moderated by the presence of the lakes,but precipitation is increased.
D)Temperatures are moderated by the presence of the lakes,but precipitation is decreased.

Question 28

On average,temperatures decline about 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit for every 1000 ft rise in elevation.What is this temperature decline called?

A)Altitudinal decline
B)Nominal rate of decline
C)Normal lapse rate
D)Vertical thermic lapse

Question 29

What type of natural vegetation covers most of Canada?

A)Grassland
B)Tundra
C)Needleleaf evergreen forest
D)Mixed broadleaf deciduous and needleleaf evergreen forest

Question 30

Looking at the map (Figure 2.13),during what time of the year does Toronto,Ontario have the most precipitation?

A)During the summer
B)During the winter
C)During the spring and fall
D)Actually the precipitation is even all year round

Question 31

A front is an area of contact between two different air masses where warmer,moister air is force to rise above cooler air,causing ________.

Question 32

Parts of the Subarctic climate zone are characterized ________,in which soils that are totally or partial frozen all year.

A)Permafrost
B)Subthermic
C)Glacial
D)Arctic

Question 33

Areas with dry climates on the leeward (downwind)side of mountain ranges are said to be located in the what?

A)High deserts
B)Rain shadow
C)Nonprecipitous zones
D)Arroyos

Question 34

In general,warmer air masses can hold ________ moisture than colder air masses.

A)More
B)Less
C)About the same
D)Actually there isn't a stable relationship between temperature and moisture in the air.

Question 35

If the same amount of sunlight was hitting an area of land and an area of water,which area would heat more rapidly?

A)The land would heat more rapidly.
B)The water would heat more rapidly.
C)They would both heat at about the same rate
D)It would depend on the characteristics of the water and land.

Question 36

Places that are closer to the equator receive ________ solar radiation that places near the poles.

Question 37

Places near the ocean tend to have ________ temperature variation than places farther inland.

Question 38

The Chinook winds in the Rocky Mountains and the Santa Ana winds in Southern California are both examples of winds caused by changes in what?

A)Topography
B)Climate
C)Weather
D)Water temperatures

Question 39

Which variable influences that amount of solar radiation of a place,and the length of day in that place?

A)Latitude
B)Longitude
C)Angle
D)Time

Question 40

When the temperatures in a city are generally higher than those in the surrounding landscape it is called ________.

Question 41

An area that shares a common drainage system is called a ________.

Question 42

Air masses that originate over land are generally ________ in comparison to ________ are masses that originate over oceans or large lakes.

Question 43

After a fire,chaparral vegetation ________.

Question 44

What are some different characteristics that geographers use to describe the physical environment? Pick two different characteristics and describe how they relate to each other.

Question 45

GIS stands for ________.

Question 46

Why is it important to understand the physical geography when studying the human geography of a region? Be sure to include at least two examples in your answer.

Question 47

Compare a Mediterranean climate to a West Coast Marine climate.Where are these climate zones located? How are they similar or different?

Question 48

Compare and contrast weather to climate.What is the difference between the two and how are they connected? What are the basic components or characteristics that scientists use to measure them?

Question 49

Temperate grasslands are one of the most highly modified biomes in North America because ________.

Question 50

Describe some of the observed and potential impacts of global climate change on North America.Are certain parts of the region more heavily impacted? If so,why?