CGC 1D1: Grade 9 Geography

June 2015 Final Exam Review & Study Guide

UNIT 1:

-Introduction to Canadian GeographyMapping Canada & the world

Provinces + Territories:

Capital cities:

Alberta

Edmonton

British Columbia

Victoria

Manitoba

Winnipeg

New Brunswick

Fredericton

Newfoundland and Labrador

St. Johns

TERRITORY Northwest Territories

Yellowknife

Nova Scotia

Halifax

TERRITORY Nunavut

Iqaluit

Ontario

Toronto

Prince Edward Island

Charlottetown

Quebec

Quebec City

Saskatchewan

Regina

TERRITORY Yukon Territory

Whitehorse

Great Lakes: name + location

Lake Huron
Lake Ontario
Lake Michigan
Lake Erie
Lake Superior

H S
O M
M H
E E
S O

What is Geography?
Geography is the subject that describes the earths surface, its physical features,
climate, vegetation, soils and role in the solar system. Simply, geography is the
study of land and its people

Features/ Components of maps:

Maps are representations of earths features drawn on a flat surface
There are Large and Small scale maps.
Large Scale Maps: Show a large amount of detail of a small area, they are maps
with a scale of 150000 and 125000 or less.
Small Scale Maps: Show a small amount of detail of a large area, they are
maps with a scale of 1250000 or more. Used to show general details.
TYPES OF MAPS:

Thematic Maps: Are used to display very specific information about a place.
Topography Maps: They use symbols to show a variety of landscape features,
such as mountains. Very important for military use
MAKING MAPS (CARTOGRAPHY):

Title: Identifies the area shown on map, topic, explains maps purpose.
Direction: Represented by north arrow, compass, symbol
Scale: Compares distance between points on the map with actual distance
between those points on earths surface.
Legend: Explains meaning of symbols/colours used on the map.
Grid: Lines on a map that help us find and describe location
Date of Publication: Tells the reader if the map information is recent of old
Border: Sets the map apart from other information.
LABELS:

Identify a specific location on the map

Provinces and Territories are labelled in all Capitals. While capital cities begin
with a capital letter followed by lower case letters

Direction and the compass rose:

Compass is the symbol which shows the direction on a map
Compass bearing are the degrees on a compass measured in
clockwise direction from 0 to 360 north
Cardinal directions: N, E, S, W (Each are 90)
Ordinal points: Northeast, Southeast, Northwest, Southwest
(Each are 45)
Smaller divisions (i.e. north-north east) that go by 22.5.
*CLOCKWISE DIRECTION

Grid systems
Hemispheres: There are 2 hemispheres the Ecuador and the Prime
Meridian. The Ecuador divides and separates the globe into two halves;
northern and southern. Prime Meridian divides and separates the globe into two
other halves; eastern and western hemispheres.
Latitude and longitude: Latitude tells you whether you're north or
south of the Ecuador. **ALWAYS STATED FIRST**. Longitude tells you
whether you are east or west of the Prime Meridian.

Alphanumeric Grid: A grid that uses letters and numbers to identify

squares in a grid pattern. **Letters are always first**.
Military grids (4-digit Military grids): First 2 digits are called the
Easting. Those 2 first numbers refer to the vertical grid lines. The numbers
increase as you go east + **Easting numbers always given first**. The last 2
digits are called Northing, and they refer to the horizontal lines. They increase
as you go north.

Time Zones
The earth rotates east to west. When going to left <--- you subtract and
when going to right you add --->. Lines of longitude deal with time zones. The
International Date Line is located at 180 longitude.
Time zones in Canada: There are 6 times zones in Canada. Pacific
Time, Mountain Time, Central Time, Eastern Time, Atlantic Time,
Newfoundland Time (only hr) .

Scales
3 types of Scales: The 3 types of scales are the Direct Statement scale,
Line scale, and Representative Fraction scale. The direct statement scale uses
words to describe the relationship between distance on a map and a specific
distance on earths surface (i.e. 1 cm = 10 km). The linear scale is a special
kind of ruler that is divided into units of distance. The Representative Fraction
scale is given as a ratio using the same unit of measurement (i.e. 1:50'000)
*1km = 100'000cm* cm to km = / by 100'000 AND km-->cm= x by 100'000
UNIT 2:

-Physical diversity of CanadaContinental Drift Theory

Continental drift Theory: Alfred Wegener's theory claimed two things.

First, 300 years ago all the Earth's land masses collided to form one continent
called Pangaea (meaning: all land). 20 million years ago Pangaea started to
break up and the continents drifted in different locations to where they are
today. Evidence: The jigsaw fit, fossil correlation, glaciation, coastline fit.
People disagreed: The reason why people disagreed is because he could
not explain what mechanism was powerful enough to move huge continents.
Plate Tectonics Theory

J. Tuzo Wilson what did his theory claim: His theory claimed that
the earth consists of about 20 plates made up of both continental and oceanic
crust. Tectonic plates are floating over a layer of hot rock several hundred
kilometers below Earth's surface. Convection currents caused by unequal
distribution of heat within the Earth's core makes the plates move. The
movement of plates are:
Convergent Boundary - Collide / Crash
Subduction Zone - going under/below
Transform Boundary - Sliding
Divergent Boundary - separating / pulling apart.

Volcanoes: Active means it can possibly erupt at any moment. Dormant

means not active but it could suddenly erupt violently. Extinct are the ones that
are no longer likely to erupt.
The Ring of Fire is an area with high volcanic and seismic activity;
most of the active volcanoes on Earth are located in the Ring of Fire.
Geologic time

Geologic time is the history of Earth from its formation to the present.
Era: Major divisions of geologic time
Precambrian era is 90 % of the entire history of earth. It first began
4600 million years ago and ended 570 million years ago. Major geological
events are the formation of Earth. Glaciation occurs. Major biological events
are the first multi called organisms and first single called organisms
Paleozoic Era is the first of the 3 geologic eras in the most recent 10%
of Earth's history. It began 570 million years ago and ended 245 million years
ago. Major biological events are periods when large areas of North America are
covered by shallow seas, and Appalachian Mountains are formed. Major
Biological Events are first insects appear, large swamps-coal form from this
vegetation, and first plants and animals on land.
Mesozoic era is the second of the 3 geologic eras in most recent 10% of
Earth's history. It began 245 million years ago and ended 66 million years ago.
Major geological events are the formation of Rocky Mountain, and shallow
seas represent in the interior of North America at various times. Major
Biological events are the age of reptiles such as dinosaurs, first flowering
plants, first birds and mammals, and more warm climates-- no glaciers.
Cenozoic era is the last of the three geologic eras in most recent 10% of
Earth's history. It began 66 years ago million years ago and its still ongoing.
Major geological events are ice sheets cover much of North America,
continents take on their present shape, and formation of Rocky Mountains is
completed. Major biological events are age of mammals, human beings
developed, and moderns forms of life evolve.
Landform Regions of Canada
Canada has seven landform regions and they are: Innuitian Mountains,
Hudson Bay- Arctic Lowlands, Western Cordillera, Interior Plains, Canadian
Shield, Great Lakes- St. Lawrence Lowlands, and Appalachians.

UNIT 2.2:

-Weather and ClimateWeather vs Climate

Weather is the daily conditions of temperature, precipitation, and wind in

the atmosphere. ( Ex. Today is 8 degrees and it has a 10% chance of
precipitation). Climate is the weather conditions of a place averaged over a
long period of time. (Ex. There is warm climate in Florida).
Climate regions are areas with similar climates that are grouped together
to form a climate region. There are 8 climate regions in Canada and they are:
the Pacific Maritime, Cordilleran, Arctic, Taiga, Boreal, Prairie, southeastern
and Atlantic Maritime.
LOWERN

LOWERN stands for latitude, ocean currents, winds & air mass,
elevation, relief and nearness to water.
Latitude affects the climate because, since the earth is circular its harder
for the suns energy to concentrate in places further away from the equator,
causing the Earth's energy to have to spread out over the curve of the earth.
**north + south of equator tempt. gets colder**
Ocean currents affect our climate because depending on whether if it's a
warm or cool current the air passing over it will change. Warm currents raise
tempt. of the air that pass over it therefore raising tempt. of a nearby land, and
cold currents do the opposite (lower tempt.).
Winds and air mass affect climate because air moves along the surface
of Earth from high pressure areas to low pressure areas. The moving of this air
causes winds. High and low pressure belts around the earth have created a
well-stablished pattern of prevailing winds. In Canada prevailing winds blow
from **west to east** and therefor are called Westerlies. The type of weather
conditions an air mass brings depends how much how warm or cold and dry or
moist the air mass is to begin with. The polar jet stream is what separates the
cold/dry air between the warm/moist air.
Elevation this affects our climate because the higher you go the colder it
gets. To calculate this you first do (condensation begins)/100*1 (ans1) then you
subtract (mountain top) (where condensation begins) the answer of that (call
it (ans2) you do (ans2)/100*0.6 the answer of that (call it (ans3)), and finally
sea level ((ans1) + (ans2)). If there is no condensation u skip 2nd step.
Relief affects our climate relief affects our climate because Mountain

barriers create relief precipitation. Moist air condenses, meaning it becomes

liquid as it rises up to the side of a mountain causing relief precipitation. The
rain shadow on the leeward side, the side away from the wind, receives little
rain while the windward side of the mountain, the side facing the wind,
receives a lot of rain
Nearness to Water **the continental climate** are areas located further
away from large water bodies. There is a large temperature range because
there's no large water bodies to moderate temperatures, and there is also lower
amounts of precipitation because it is further away from a large water body.
**Maritime climate** are areas located on the coastline and close to a large
water body. There is a small temperature range because the water body
moderates the temperatures and there is also higher amounts of precipitation
because these areas are closer to a large water body. The moderating affect is
the effect that water bodies have in the climate of nearby land. Large water
bodies make winter temperature somewhat warmer and summer temperatures
are somewhat colder than areas located further from large water bodies. This
helps prevent extreme tempt. like -40c and 40c.
Climate Graphs

Climate Graphs: They show the average tempt. + precipitation in a

month over a year, of just one place. Tempt. is shown as a broken dot-line
graph **red**. The precipitation is displayed is bar graphs **blue**. The
average tempt. in a place is found by **adding all the tempts together and
dividing them by 12**. The tempt. range is found by **subtracting the highest
tempt from the lowest tempt. If answer is greater than 25c then its continental,
if answer is lower than 25c then its maritime**. You find the = precipitation
by *adding all precipitations together. If answer is greater than 1000mm its
maritime, if its lower than 1000mm its continental climate. To find the seasonal
distribution of precipitation you; for winter: you **add all of the winter months
O,N,D,J,F,M** and for summer: you **add all of the summer months
A,M,J,J,A,S** To find the season of maximum precipitation you compare the
totals from seasonal distribution of precipitation and see which number is
larger. **If winter precipt. is greater than its a Maritime Climate. If there's a
large difference between winter and summer the place is on the west coast and
if there's a slight difference then the place is on the east coast. If summer
precipitation totals are greater, then its a continental climate.**
3 Types of Precipitation

Air may rise for any of the following reasons:

Air Risis to cross an area of high elevation which would cause **relief
(orographic) precipitation** Air rises, because it has absorbed heat from
Earth's surface, called **convectional precipitation**, and air could also rise
because there's cooler denser air mass flowing beneath it forcing it upwards,
this is called **frontral (cyclonic) precipitation**.
Soil and Vegetation

Precipitation determines not only the amount of water available to plants

but the fertility of the soil. Desert soil is far more fertile than tropical rain forest
soil. It also determines plant leaf size. Temperature determines the type of
plants that can grow there. The plants determine the kinds of animals that can
survive there. Clearly the amount of rain, sun, heat, winter, etc directly effect
what plants grow in a region. The type of plants available then affects what
animals will live there.
Calcification vs Leaching: **Calcification** occurs in areas of low
precipitation (dry climate soils). What occurs is the upward movement of water
through the soil. As it occurs water evaporates leaving behind the minerals tjat
were dissolved into the soil. Too much calcification results in a layer of mineral
deposits that is poisonous to plants. **Leaching** occurs in areas with high
precipitation (wet climate soils), its the downward movement of water through
the soil, as it occurs water dissolves the chemical nutrients and carries them
downwards into the soil. Too much leaching results in a poor environment.
Vegetation Regions of Canada

There are 7 Natural vegetation regions in Canada amd the are the

**Cordilleran Vegetation, Grassland, Tundra, Taiga and Boreal Forest,

West-Coast Forets, Mized Forest, Decidious Forest.**
There are 4 Soil Region in Canada and they are the **Tundra, Dryclimate Soils, Wet-climate Soils, and complex Soils of Mountain
Areas**
Decidious vs Coniferious Trees: Decidious trees are trees like maple,
birch, ash and oak. They have flat leaves that fall off during fall. In winter they
send their sap down to be stored in its roots (this how they survive winter).
They have deep root symstems to store plant food for winter na dthey are found
in te warm regions of southern Canada. Coniferious trees are trees like pines

and spruce. They are cone bearing trees with thin needle-type leaves. The
needles contain a material that acts as an anti-freeze during the long cold
winters of the North. Also, they can survive the winter because of thick banks
that can hold moisture. They are found were soils are thin and rocky, further
north in Canada, out south of the tree line.
Water

The earth is a closed system, similar to a terrarium, meaning that it rarely

loses or gains extra matter. The same water that existed on the earth millions of
years ago is still present today. Of all the water on the earth, humans can use
only about three tenths of a percent of this water. Such usable water is found in
groundwater aquifers, rivers, and freshwater lakes.
The three types of water pollution are: Physical: the floating garbage, old
tires, paper, litter, etc. Biological: Bacteria and viruses that enter lakes and
rivers. Chemical: These pollutions are odourless, colopurless, tasteless wastes
in lakes and rivers.