"THE GREEN PAGES"
EARTH SCIENCE at SPRING VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL

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UNIT IV: LANDFORMS AND TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS

«1. Understand how landscapes are classified

a. ???? Landscapes are areas of land that are recognized by their features (rugged, rolling, mountainous, flat, high, low-lying, etc.).
b. ???? Mountains (Highlands)- at least 300 meters above the surrounding land.
c. ???? Plateaus (Uplands)- large areas of flat land at high elevation.
d. ???? Plains (Lowlands)- large areas of flat land at low elevations.
e. Landforms are the result of the interaction of tectonic forces and the processes of weathering, erosion, and ???? deposition .

«2. Identify NYS landscape regions (see ESRT p.2)

a. Atlantic Coastal ???? Plain - the low, wide plain along the ???? east coast of North America, including Staten Island and Long Island in New York; horizontal sedimentary rocks; near sea level; Long island consists of glacial deposits; waves and ocean currents have shaped the shoreline.
b. Newark ???? Basin (“DINOSAUR COUNTRY” - HOME OF EAST RAMAPO CSD)- This region is composed of weak sedimentary rocks dating from the Age of Dinosaurs (Late Triassic-Early Jurassic). Footprints of Coelophysis, a meat-eating dinosaur about three meters long, were found near Nyack in ???? Rockland County. Dinosaur fossils have not been found in any other part of New York. A volcanic intrusion called the Palisades ???? Sill borders the Hudson River. Because of its greater resistance, it forms a cliff that ranges up to more than 150 meters above sea level.
c. Hudson ???? Highlands - eroded roots of ancient Precambrian mountains; metamorphic rocks used to be sedimentary; part of the New England Highlands; northwestern Rockland County.
d. Manhattan Prong- the region underlain by ???? metamorphic rocks in the New York City- Westchester County area.
e. ???? Taconic Mountains- Highlands in eastern New York and western New England; highly folded and faulted metamorphic rocks.
f. Hudson-Mohawk Lowlands- covers most of Hudson and Mohawk River valleys; soft ???? sedimentary rocks.
g. Alleghany Plateau- northern end of ???? Appalachian Plateau; uplifted horizontal sedimentary rocks deposited in a warm shallow ???? sea that covered much of New York State during the Late Silurian and Devonian.
h. Erie-Ontario Lowlands- low, flat areas north and ???? west of the Alleghany Plateau; horizontal sedimentary rocks covered by many glacial deposits.
i. Tug Hill Plateau- resistant horizontal sedimentary rocks; one of the ???? snowiest regions west of the Rocky Mountains; receives twenty feet of snow annually.
j. Adirondack Mountains- a circular region that is part of the ???? Grenville Province; Precambrian mountains composed mostly of metamorphic rocks.
k. St. Lawrence and Champlain Lowlands- part of the Interior ???? Lowlands that extend west through the Great Plains; mostly horizontal ???? sedimentary rock.
l. The Catskills- a deeply eroded section of the Alleghany Plateau; not true ???? mountains .

«3. Interpret and apply isolines on topographic maps

a. The latitude-longitude system is a coordinate system using two sets of lines that make a ???? grid covering Earth’s surface.
b. Earth’s coordinate system of latitude and longitude, with the equator and prime meridian as reference lines, is based upon Earth’s ???? rotation and our observation of the Sun and stars.
c. The east-west lines are ???? parallels of latitude.
d. The north-south lines are ???? meridians of longitude.
e. Latitude is a measurement of angular distance north or south of the ???? equator .
f. Longitude is a measurement of angular distance east or west of the ???? Prime Meridian .
g. A ???? topographic or contour map is a map showing the elevations of a portion of the Earth’s surface.
h. The contour lines on a contour map pass through points that have the same ???? elevations .
i. Where contour lines are closely spaced, the gradient, or slope, of the surface is ???? steep .
j. Where contour lines are ???? widely spaced, the gradient or slope is gradual (gentle).
k. A perfectly ???? flat area has no contour lines at all.
l. The contour ???? interval is the change in elevation between neighboring contour lines.
m. Every ???? contour line encloses a definite area. There are no loose or free ???? ends dangling in mid-air.
n. When you approach a closed contour from the outside, you are going ???? uphill .
o. When you leave an area enclosed by a contour line, you are going ???? downhill .
p. A contour line never ???? crosses itself or any other contour lines. They may appear to touch on a vertical slope, cliff, or overhang.
q. ???? Depressions in the land are shown by hachured contour lines. The hachure lines point toward the inside of the hole. A depression contour line always has the ???? same elevation as the lower of the neighboring contour lines.
r. Contour lines point ???? uphill when they cross a stream or river. If the V is sharp, the river valley has ???? steep walls.

«4. Draw profiles of topographic maps, calculate gradient and draw isolines

a. A profile shows the changes in ???? elevation (ups and downs) of a line across any part of a contour map.
b. Place the ???? edge of a sheet of paper along the line to be followed.
c. At each point where the line crosses a contour, make a ???? mark on the edge of the paper.
d. Record the height of the contour next to its mark on the ???? paper .
e. When all points are marked, use the vertical scale to raise each point to its proper height on the graph or lined paper.
f. Finally, draw a smooth curve connecting the ???? points .
g. Gradient (ESRT p. 1) can be calculated by dividing the difference in ???? elevation by the distance between the two points where the elevations were measured. (Unit=m/km)
h. ???? Contour lines (isolines connecting points of equal elevation) can be drawn on a map by following the contour line rules above (3.g.-3.q.)

«5. Define uplift and leveling events

a. ???? Leveling or Destructional Forces- forces of weathering, erosion, and deposition, which are reducing slopes and making the surface horizontal. These forces are acting constantly to bring the land down to a uniform, flat surface.
b. ???? Uplifting or Constructional Forces- forces, operating beneath the surface, that undo the work of leveling forces. Uplifting tends to increase elevations and also to roughen, or increase the relief of, the surface. Ex/ volcanic activity, isostasy (the vertical readjustment of the surface of the Earth due to the addition or removal of weight; the lithosphere floats on the ???? asthenosphere as an iceberg floats on water), Earthquakes, seafloor spreading and continental drift.
c. In a particular landscape, one of these forces may be dominant (occurring at a ???? faster rate).
d. In some places, the rates of uplift and leveling may be approximately equal, and the landscape will be in a state of dynamic ???? equilibrium (a situation in which changes are occurring, but a balance among the changes keeps the overall conditions the same.).

«6. Compare/contrast bedrock structure for mountains, plateaus and plains

a. ???? Mountains usually have folded or faulted rock structure due to crustal movements.
b. ???? Plateaus usually have horizontal rock structure that was uplifted.
c. ???? Plains are usually formed by the deposition of sediments in horizontal layers at or below sea level.

«7. Explain the effect of climate on landscape development

a. ???? Arid (dry) landscapes- steep slopes, sharp and angular landscape features; little vegetation to hold sediments in place.
b. Humid landscapes- smoother and more ???? rounded landscape features; sediments are better held in place by vegetation.

«8. Identify the main watersheds/drainage basins of NYS and the USA

a. The land area where precipitation runs off into streams, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs is called a watershed, or drainage ???? basin .
b. Watersheds can be identified by tracing a line along the highest ???? elevations between two areas on a map, often a ridge.
c. ???? Drainage basins come in all sizes, from the size of a book (think about a little depression that collects water after a rain) to thousands of square miles (the area into which water that falls drains into the Mississippi River). The ???? Mississippi River basin covers 48% of mainland United States.
d. Divide- The ridge that separates drainage ???? basins .
e. Continental Divide- An imaginary boundary line that runs north-south along the crest of the ???? Rocky Mountains, separating river and drainage basins that flow west to the Pacific Ocean from those that flow ???? east to the Atlantic Ocean.
f. ???? New York has many watersheds: Long Island Sound Basin, Delaware River Basin, Hudson-Mohawk River Basin, Lake Champlain River Basin, St. Lawrence River Basin, Lake Ontario Basin, Lake Erie/Niagara River Basin, Susquehanna-Chesapeake River Basin, Allegheny-Ohio River Basin (part of The Mississippi River Basin: Water from here eventually flows to the Gulf of ???? Mexico !), etc.
g. ???? Drainage Pattern- the geometric pattern that a stream's channels take in the landscape. These patterns are controlled by factors such as slope, climate, vegetation, and bedrock resistance to ???? erosion .
h. Dendritic Drainage Pattern- resembles the pattern of a branching ???? tree ; forms on horizontal strata.
i. Radial Drainage Pattern- a system of streams running in all directions away from a central elevated structure, such as a ???? volcano .
j. Trellis ???? Drainage Pattern- nearly parallel streams occupy valleys cut in folded strata.
k. Rectangular Drainage Pattern- numerous ???? right angle bends that develop on faulted strata.

«9. How does human population growth affect pollution

a. Typically, ???? higher populations result in more pollution.
b. The results of ???? human activities may be beneficial at first, but the long-term affects are often ???? harmful .
c. Excavation and agriculture often expose the surface to agents of ???? erosion and introduce pollutants to the environment.
d. Highway construction can disrupt groundwater flow and surface ???? runoff .
e. Man-made chemicals commonly ???? pollute groundwater and streams.

«10. Discuss efforts to restore the environment

a. Certain measures, like ???? contour farming (each crop row is planted across, rather than up and down, the slope, following the contours of the land), crop rotation (alternating, every year, which crops will grow in a certain area), terracing (shaping a slope with a series of “steps”. The steps allow for planting on level areas and reduce the potential for erosion across a steep slope), windbreaks (wind barriers of living trees and shrubs planted to block ???? wind flow, reducing soil erosion), and strip cropping (a crop that leaves bare ground between rows is alternated with a crop that completely covers the ground), help minimize ???? erosion .
b. Wastewater treatment facilities can help reclaim or protect ???? water quality.
c. Ground ???? water levels can be maintained and surface runoff controlled and conserved through the use of such devices as recharge basins, dams, and stream bank protectors.
d. Sanitary landfill methods can help reduce the negative effects of solid-waste disposal, and can be used to reclaim unusable areas for recreational purposes.