Texas Geography is: The study of Texas and the people who live in it. Texas Landforms: Texas has mountains, plains, valleys, rivers, plateaus, escarpments. Texas Climate is the average weather of a location. Texas is so large it has more than one climate! Resources: soil, plant & animal life, water timber, grass, oil and gas, rock, sand, etc.: (What we need to survive!) Take notes. Copy this, explain we will learn more about these as we go through the power point.

Geography (Landforms, Climate, Resources) affects how we live: What we eat, what we wear, what kind of tools we use, what kind of house we live in, how we travel. Take notes and discuss drawing of Comanches: What are they wearing, what kind of shelter, what kind of transportation, food, etc? A Comanche Camp Drawing by: James E. Taylor

Absolute Location: absolutely where you are! Lines of longitude: run north and south & are called meridians. (from Pole to Pole) Lines of latitude: run horizontally around the earth east to west. (Equator) The Earth is divided into hemispheres: Northern and Southern, but also Eastern and Western. N W E S Bring apples cut in half both ways. Process Activity, could use worksheet to practice finding locations using latitude and longitude. After the next slide!

Absolute location: Exact location on the Earth by latitude and longitude. Example: Tyler is located at ____degrees ___latitude and ____degrees ___ longitude Relative location: The location of one place in relationship to another location. Houston is south of Tyler. Look at Map and record in notes. Figure it out together and show the lines and how they are numbered. Have students give you some other relative location examples.

Resources: what we need to live Effect--- Cause--- Resources can be depleted Pollution People use resources to live: for food, shelter, clothing, tools American Indians valued the land and its resources. Do we value the land and resources today? Drawing of Plains Indians by James E. Taylor Discuss photo which shows American Indians in 1800’s wearing clothing of the white man, but still living their way. How did the Indians value the land from what you already know? How do we value the land and resources today? What resources do we value the most? What resources do we learn to conserve? What are ways we conserve resources? What resources are renewable? What resources are gone once we use them up? These are prompts to get discussion going.

Human-Environment Interaction: 1. 2 ways people use the environment and change it for better or worse: a. b. 2 ways the physical features affect people: Have students answer, then write down 2 of each in notes. The book discusses water pollution, affects on fishing and drinking water, also, farming practices can cause erosion if not careful; using up non-renewable resources vs. recycling; creating cities over the land: good or bad? Oil production and pollution—also natural gas, coal, alternatives; use fertile soil and water to grow crops for food. Physical factors: what are they? Weather, landforms, earthquakes, things that man cannot control: tornadoes, hurricanes, drought, mountains, deserts, etc.

Climate of Texas Middle Latitudes (between North Pole and Equator) gives Texas mild winters and hot summers Gulf Air Stream brings warm moist air from Gulf of Mexico over Eastern Texas causing rain, humidity, warmer winters Warm, moist Gulf air meets Cold, dry air from the North causing violent storms and tornadoes

Middle Latitudes Gulf Air over Texas Pictures to show middle latitudes and who warm air over gulf which also contains moisture hits colder air from north and causes wsot

Topography and Elevation Sea Level at Gulf Coast Rising in elevation from the coast to the west Coastal Plains on the coast Plateaus or Tablelands start in the western half of Texas, formed by escarpments where land is pushed upward on a fault line Mountains farthest West

Escarpments Balcones Escarpment created the Edwards Plateau west of Austin, part of it is known as the Texas Hill Country Cap Rock Escarpment created the Llano Estacado and the Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle

Caprock Escarpment Balcones Escarpment Show with pointer where the lines are and explain this is a satellite photo from space where the fault lines are visible. Balcones Escarpment

Water Resources Gulf of Mexico provides sea ports for shipping and seafood Rivers provide water for transportation, drinking, irrigation Have been dammed to provide reservoirs or lakes which meet Texas’ water needs Droughts are times of little rain. Look at Map: Find cities on Gulf which are major ports, Look for Rivers, Look for Lakes on Rivers. Process activity, list the Give them a Texas Black line map and have them locate major port cities of Beaumont/Port Arthur, Houston, Corpus Christi and Brownsville, Locate Sabine, Red, Rio Grande, Neches, Trinity, Brazos, Colorado, San Antonio, Nueces, Canadian and Pecos; Locate Toledo Bend, Lake Amistad, Lake Texhoma, Lake Palestine.

Texas Aquifers Underground reservoirs hold much of Texas water resources. Major aquifers: Balcones Aquifer under the Edwards Plateau Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer under East Texas Ogalalla Aquifer under the High Plains of the Panhandle Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer serves the water needs of 66 counties and the largest populated areas are: Tyler, Lufkin, Nacagdoches, Bryan-College Station. The aquifer runs parallel to the Gulf Coast. Balcones meets the needs of the Austin, San a Antonio area and is a very fragile water system. Many Caves in the area such as Longhorn Caverns, Innerspace Caverns. Ogalalla Aquifer is the main source of irrigation for all the agriculture in the Panhandle region. Process activity: locate these on a black line map.

Aquifers provide water through springs which seep out of the ground, forming rivers and streams Water is pumped out of aquifers to provide irrigation and water needs of population Can’t be refilled without rain. Conservation practices insure enough water for future needs.