THE DUST BOWLMia Cunicelli and Ali Gagnon

Dust Bowl Location The Great Plains Southern Plains American Midwest

Colorado New Mexico Texas Oklohoma Kansas

Theories for Dust Bowl Cropping submarginal land Cropping land meant for grazing

Severe drought Wind erosion Poor weather situations

The New Deal Plan President Franklin Roosevelt Many reforms addressing effects of Great

Depression Stream of bills passed

To relieve poverty To reduce unemployment To speed economic recovery

The New Deal Plan Series of economic measures Created in hopes of reinvigorating the

economy 15 major laws enacted by FDR Four day bank holiday Adjustments in farming

Federal Initiatives National Resources Board Land Utilization Program

Resettlement Administration Soil Conservation Service Farm Security Administration National Recovery Administration National Industrial Recovery Act

Federal Initiatives

New Study of Dust Bowl Evaluation of all 280 counties in Dust

Bowl region Causes of wind erosion Analyzing data from agricultural censures Soil surveys Weather stations using geographic

information systems (GIS) choropleth and overlay mapping All this allows for detailed analysis

Wind Erosion Must understand in order to understand

why dust storms happen Erosion when strong winds blow across

dry soil Saltation occurs and sets everything else

in motion Cycle of medium size soil particles

breaking off smaller and larger creating more dust, storm

Dust Storms Most common in Spring

Winds at their strongest Southern landscape thawed and free of snow

Infrequent in Fall Rare in Summer and Winter

Winter: Ground is frozen Winds are mild Summer: Plant growth protects soil

Soil Data Sandy soil—more likely to erode Many Great Plains counties have sandy

soil

More plowed land by farmers, more sandy soil exposed

More sandy soil in March (peak dust season)

Drought Explains location of dust storms More probable than misuse of land for

causing dust storms Drought and dust storms moved in

tandem from 1925-1935

Water Necessary for life Drought in Midwest

Lack of water led to dry, dusty soil Crops can not grow

Dorothea Lange Famous

depression era photographer

Most famous photo of her career

Migrant Mother

“Lost” Civilizations Environmental causes

Water necessary for life Drought, no water, evacuation or no life

Extreme temperatures Drastic temperature changes

Machu Picchu Located in Peru Ancient Inca citadel

Mysteriously vacated Unknown purpose Possible environmental effect cause

evacutation

Machu Picchu

Mesa Verde Located in American Southwest Entire village carved into the side of a cliff Pueblo people, often called “Anasazi” No writing system Past determined by oral stories passed down Archaeological remains left behind Environmental effect could have led to

disappearing Drought Extreme temperatures

Mesa Verde

Sources http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/gene

ral-article/dustbowl-new-deal/

“Causes of the Dust Bowl” article

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http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/dbimages/dust2.gif

http://images.intellicast.com/App_Images/Article/134_2.png http://grist.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/dust-bowl-flickr-

erjkprunczyk http://rooseveltinstitute.org/policy-and-ideasroosevelt-histor

yfdr/new-deal

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