1. Geography of a Place
Grade 3, Unit 3, Lesson 2

2. Image courtesy of Carol Curtiss

3. Image courtesy of Carol Curtiss

4. What can you tell about this place?
Climate
Landforms
Natural resources
Natural hazards
History
The place is Ashkum, Illinois, a village founded in 1856 when the railroad went through. It is named after a Potowatami Indian chief whose band lived nearby on the banks of the Iroquois River. Chief Ashkum died in 1839.
Climate
The town is located approximately 60 miles south of Chicago and about 20 miles west of the Indiana border. It is at N 40° 52' latitude and W 87° 57' longitude. Elevation is at 626 feet.
It is a temperate climate with hot, humid summers and cold winters. The daily maximum air temperature in January is 33deg.F, and the average daily minimum is 19deg.F. July is normally the warmest month with average daily maximum about 84deg.F and average daily minimum about 67deg.F. The lowest recorded temperature was -27deg.F in 1985.
Landforms:
The area landscape consists of open prairies with some woodlands and marshes near rivers and in low areas.
The topography of the region was shaped by glacial advances and retreats, leaving flat plains and broad, gently sloped ridges. The topography has been modified by stream and wind erosion and deposition, and of course, by man's activities.
Natural resources
Water is abundant in rivers and underground, with a water table approximately
The soil is very fertile. Farming is a major economic activity, with most farmers growing corn and soybeans. Before farming, the area was part of the tall-grass prairie. (A plain is a flat land; a prairie is a kind of plain – with perennial grasses. Prairies are plains, but not all plains are prairies.)
Natural hazards
Records dating from 1804 indicate only ten seismic events of note. No earthquake has had a magnitude as great as 6.1 on the Richter Scale, i.e. associated with significant property damage. In fact the whole of northern Illinois falls into a low seismic risk category.
The area is susceptible to tornadoes.

5. *
Photo credit:
Image compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS home page is
National Atlas of the United States. (Artist). (2013). Political us map. [Web Map]. Retrieved from

6. Climate zones in the contiguous United States.
Photo credit:
U.S. Department of Energy. (Artist). (2010). International energy conservation code (iecc) climate regions [Web Graphic]. Retrieved from

7. Photo credit:
Image compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS home page is
National Atlas of the United States. (Photographer). (2010). Mean annual daily minimum temperature. [Web Graphic]. Retrieved from

8. Image courtesy of Carol Curtiss

9. *
Photo credit:
Image compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS home page is
National Atlas of the United States. (Artist). (2013). Political us map. [Web Map]. Retrieved from

10. Photo credit:
Image compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS home page is
National Atlas of the United States. (Artist). (2013). Shaded relief us map. [Web Map]. Retrieved from

11. The green line indicates the Continental Divide
The green line indicates the Continental Divide. Water to the west of the Divide drains to the Pacific Ocean. Water to the east of the Divide drains to the Mississippi River, as does water on the west of the Appalachian Mountains. The Mississippi drains the whole center of the country, emptying into the Gulf of Mexico.
Photo credit:
Image compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS home page is
National Atlas of the United States. (Artist). (2013). Continental divide. [Web Map]. Retrieved from

12. Earthquakes.
One way people adapt to Earthquakes is they build buildings and other structures with the effects of earthquakes in mind. See the FEMA Training site for more detailed information:
Photo credit:
Image compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS home page is
National Atlas of the United States. (Artist). (2013). Earthquakes. [Web Map]. Retrieved from

13. Are there patterns? What causes earthquakes?
What happens to the physical landscape as a result of earthquakes?
Mountains rise or sink, tsunamis can occur, splits in the earth’s surface appear. Things in the Texas landscape that are the result of earthquakes long ago:
If desired, include discussion of the man-made structures as well, especially in relation to how humans adapt to variations in the physical environment. The specific student expectation
asks students to Describe the effects of physical processes such as volcanoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes in shaping the landscape. Information and pictures about effects on humans’ structures can be found at the FEMA training website:

14. Volcanoes
Red triangles are volcanoes within the last 100 years. Pink volcanoes are old ( AD) purple are very old.
The USGS website shows Mt. St. Helens to demonstrate changes to the landscape caused by volcanoes.
Photo credit:
Image compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS home page is
National Atlas of the United States. (Artist). (2013). Volcanoes. [Web Map]. Retrieved from

15. Are there patterns? What causes volcanoes?
What happens to the landscape as a result of volcanoes?
Like earthquakes, volcanoes occur most often along tectonic plates, when lava from deep within the earth finds a fissure and makes its way to the surface.
One change that can occur is that new land is created when volcanoes erupt. The Hawaiian Islands were completely created by lava from volcanoes. Since 1983, the volcano Kilauea has added nearly a square mile of land to the island of Hawaii.

16. Hurricanes
The yellow, green and red lines are the paths of hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean,
People adapt to hurricanes by changing their buildings to withstand hurricane winds (hurricane shutters, more sturdy building codes, buildings on stilts to survive floods, create early warning systems, develop more accurate methods of predicting hurricanes, people track hurricanes on hurricane maps)
Photo credit:
Image compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS home page is
National Atlas of the United States. (Artist). (2013). Hurricanes. [Web Map]. Retrieved from

17. Photo credit:
Image compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS home page is
National Atlas of the United States. (Artist). (2013). Typhoons. [Web Map]. Retrieved from

18. Photo credit:
Image compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS home page is
National Atlas of the United States. (Artist). (2013). Rivers. [Web Map]. Retrieved from

19. Now what do you see?
What physical features do you see?
Mountains, high plains, hills, coastal plain
Photo credit:
Image compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS home page is
National Atlas of the United States. (Artist). (2013). Texas. [Web Map]. Retrieved from

20. How about now? What do you see?
What physical features do you see?
Rivers added – draining to the Gulf of Mexico (If desired, go back to slide 11 to find Texas in relation to the Rocky Mountains, Mississippi River, and the Continental Divide)
Note that the wavy borders to Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas are rivers.
Photo credit:
Image compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey. The USGS home page is
National Atlas of the United States. (Artist). (2013). Rivers. [Web Map]. Retrieved from