Chapter 5 The Changing Surface of Earth LANDFORMS    Basic types: Plains Plateaus Mountains

1. Plains • Large, relatively flat areas covering much of the country

Coastal Plains plains along coasts called lowlands because of low elevation (height above/below sea level) marshes, swamps, low hills Gulf coastal plain and  Atlantic coastal plain Atlantic coastal plain

Interior Plains from Appalachian Mts. to Rocky Mts. from Gulf Plain north into Canada - Great Plains - Central Lowland

Plateaus relatively flat, raised areas (raised by geologic forces) easy to tell from surrounding area they are clearly higher in elevation Colorado Plateau Colorado Plateau from the Air

Mountains Rise high above surrounding area. We will look at Four types: 1. Folded  2. Upwarped  3. Fault-block  4. Volcanic Long's Peak, Colorado

Folded - Mountains Appalachian Mts. layers of rock that have been pushed and caused to fold

Upwarped pushed straight up by deep forces from within Rocky Mts.

Fault-block Tilted and pushed, separated by faults (cracks along which rock moves)

Fault-block continued

Volcanic Molten rock is forced through the crust to the surface, and builds up Ash blows through onto the surface and builds up

Volcanic continued Sunset Crater, Arizona - a cinder cone Devil's Tower, Wyo., a Volcanic Neck

Earth View Points

Latitude and Longitude • distance in degrees north or south of equator • parallel to equator • the poles are 90o Equator • imaginary circle around Earth halfway between the poles 0o Latitude Longitude • distance in degrees east or west of the prime meridian Prime Meridian: It is Perpendicular to equator. Runs north/south through what used to be the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England 0o to 180o the opposite side of the globe from the 0o of the prime meridian is 180o, the International date Line International Date Line - not an 800 number 180o longitude, adjusted for local needs

VIEWPOINTS or How We Look at the Earth and Manage to Find Anything, Including Ourselves

Maps Projections Earth's surface is curved, so plotting on a flat map is inaccurate any way you do it. Most early views of earth were with planar projections: slices either vertical or horizontal

Projection Types Mercator - standard flat map • correct shapes of continents, but • areas are distorted • longitude lines are projected parallel to each other, but remember that longitude lines are not parallel - they meet at the poles! area distortions increase as you get closer to the poles

Robinson Similar to Mercator, but less distortion near poles. Continent shapes are foreshortened near edges and poles. Longitude lines are projected curved, similar to the way they would look on a globe So areas are less distorted near the poles than with Mercator

Conic Used for small areas Most accurate for the small area Points from globe projected onto cone-shaped paper later laid flat

Topographic Maps Show changes in elevation of earth's surface. Contour lines • lines on a map that connect points of equal elevation Contour interval • the difference in elevation between two side-by-side    contour lines Index contours • contour lines marked with their elevations.

Rules for Contour Maps 1. The difference between a hill or a depression • closed lines will be used for both hills and depressions BUT : around a depression, short lines (called hachures) perpendicular to the contours will be shown pointing downhill. 2. CONTOUR LINES NEVER CROSS A particular spot can't have more than one elevation! 3. Distance between Contour Lines shows slope. Contour lines that are closer together mean   land is steeper.  Contour lines that are farther apart mean land is less steep. 

Rules for Contour Maps cont. 4. Contour lines form V 's that "point" upstream, wherever they cross rivers and streams. • If you walk straight across a stream, you go downhill to the stream. Then you go uphill as you walk away from the stream. If you wanted to walk at the same elevation, you would have to go upstream, then back downstream, to do so.

Map Legend Legends, explain symbols and meaning of them. Scale: used to measure distances on maps. 1:80,000 this scale means that 1 unit on the map represents 80,000 units on land.

Time Zones Earth rotates once every 24 hours 24 Time zones Time zones are 15 degrees wide 6 Time zones in the United States Time zones lines are relative to lines of longitude. (outside cities)

International Date Line The 180 degree meridian West of the IDL, advance 1 day East of the IDL, back 1 day