world of knowledge-geography

8/13/2019 World of Knowledge-Geography

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Is Mount Kilirnanjaro a volcano?

BordersBefore th e colonisation of Africa in th e 19th century th ere were no rigidnational borders , as the population wa s largely nomadic, that is, theymoved from place to place in communities rather than se ttling in oneplace. Borde rs were created to separa te the territories of the di fferen tEuropean groups. That s why there are so man y straight lin es.As thenations gained independence during th e 19505 and 60s theseborders remained and have been the source of some problems asthey do no t necessarily match th e natural ethn ic make up of thepeople who live w ithin them.

frica is a continent that stretches fromthe Mediterranean in the north tothe South Atlantic Ocean. Thehuman race almost certainly began i l lEast Africa and Africa was, for over5,000 years, home to one of the greatestcivilisations - the Egyptians. Firstthe Arabs and then the Europeanscolonised settled parts of Africa; the

French i l l Algeria and the north-west,the Dutch i l l South Africa, andthe British i l l the west and i l lcentral Africa.

Mount Kilima njaro, the h igh est point in Africa, is volcanic. Altho ug h it isnot currently active , it d oe s emit gas though fumaroles vents on thema in summit of Kibo , oIo

300 600 900 1200 miles, I I Ii I I I500 1000 1500 2000 kilorneaes

Where is the Blue Nile?The Blue Nile is a river tha t has its so urce in Lake Tan a in Ethiopia.The White Nile begins much further sou th in Uganda. The two rivers meetnea r Khar toum in the Sudan, and fro m th ere it is ca lled the River Nile.

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he giraffeisanAfrican mammal with a very long neck and legs. It is the tallest lndanimal, often reaching a height of around5 m (17 It).

., ..The SaharaThe Saha ra desert 's bou ndaries are cons tantly shifting. As the climatebecome s dri er the desert continue s to expand southward, making itim possible for far mers to sustain a livi ng. Consequently there is a lotof po ver ty and sta rva tion. The Saha ra is the largest desert in theworld . Many of its inhabita nts are nomadic. Peop le have to movefreq uently so their animals can forage for food as pa st ures becomerapidly de p leted in the dry desert climate.

he gre t Mosqueof Denne in Mali is the largest mud structure in theworld. Everyyeara fresh co t of mud isappied alter the rainyse son.

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h ara desertThe Nile DeltaThe fer tile Nile Delt a (a delta is the area where a river flow s into thesea or a lake - often called the mouth of a river) is home to the densestpopulation in Africa, i.e. Cairo and Alexandr ia. Ca iro has a populationof over 7 million and almo st 4 million people live in Alexandria.

The Tuaregs (a tribeof the southernSahara) wear clotharound their facesto pro tect them fromthe sand. Th is isbelieved to originatefrom the belief thatsuch ac tion wards offev il spirits, but mo reprobably relates toprotection against theharsh desert san ds.

KenyaTwo tectonic plates have separated and for medthis great valley which extends fromTanzan ia in the south, throu gh the wholeof Kenya and into Ethiop ia in theNo rth . Tectonic mean s that there is astructural deform ation of the Earth scrust, such as the area is on an

ea rthquake li ne. Thi s area is stillsuscep tible to earthquakes.

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Kenya is one of the most fertile countriesin Africa. t is the thi rd largest pr oducer of tea inthe wo rld, and tea is a major source of the coun try sincome. Tea is grown mainly in the Ken yan High lan ds, we st of theRift Valley, and exports raise around 190 million ( 350 million) each yea r.< -

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Coffee bu shEthiopiaEthiopia is the birthplace of coffee. More than 1,000 years ago , a goa therd in Ethiopia's highlands plu cked a few redberries from the Kafa tree and tasted th em. He liked the flavou r, and the p leasant effect that followed . Toda y th e sameberries, dried, roasted and gro und, have become th e world's second most po pu lar non-alcoholic beverage after tea.Coffee accoun ts for 63 of Ethiop ia's exports and abo ut 25 of the po pu lation depends on coffee for its livelihood.

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Over 600 languages are spoken in Indonesia, whilst o rea on the other hand, is home toonly one language.A collection of over 8,000 life-size terracotta warriorsand horses below) was discoveredin 1974 in the Shaanz i provin ce in China. They hadbeenburied with the first Emperor ofQin Shi Huang around 210-209 ec Todaythey are known asthe Te rraco tta Army 700,000workmen took 38 yea rs to complete the work.

TransportThe longest railroad in the wo rld is the Trans-SiberianRailway, which connects Moscow with Vladivostok on thePacific coast. It is 9,244 km (5,744 miles) long and thejou rney, takes eight days . Shinkansen are the high speedtrains in Japan, and they are known as bullet trams. Thefastest Shinkansen train is the 500 series Nozorni whichoperates at a maximum speed of 300 m (186 mph) .

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Island communitiesThe Philippines is an archipelago of 7 07 islandswi th a total land area of ap proximately 116,000 sqmiles (300,000 sq km).An archipelago is a groupor cluster of islands. The islands are o n ydivided into th ree island groups: Luzon ,Visayas, and Mindanao. The bu sy port ofManila, on Luzon, is the national capital.However, Indonesia has almost 1S,000 islandsAbou t 7,000 of these are inhabited, sca tteredaround the equator, giving the coun try a tropicalclima te. The most populated island is Java (one ofthe most densely popula ted regions on Earth, whereabout hal f of the population of Ind onesia lives).

Industry The two most heavily populated coun tries the world ,China and India, are in Asia; they are also the two fastestgrowing economies. These countries and the huge area ofthe Russian Steppes are losing their communities as peop leleave the land to find work in the booming new industri alareas. There is an enormous contras t between the Jives of therich and those of the poor in thi s cont inent.Manufacturing has traditionally been strongest in east andso utheast Asia, particularly in China, Japan, Singapore, andSouth Korea. The industry va ries from manufactu ring cheaptoys to high-tech p roducts such as computers and cars .

EnvironmentOn Augus t 6, 1945, towa rds the end of the Second WorldWar, a nu clear bomb was dropped on Hi roshima, killing anestima ted 80,000 people and heavily damaging SO of thecity. In the follow ing months, an estima ted 60,000 morepeople d ied from injuries or radiation poisoning . Since 1945,several thousand have died of illnesses caused by the bomb.The Torii (ga te) to the Shr ine at Miya jima on ltsukushimaIsland is much photographed by visitors to Hiroshima .Itsukushima Island is considered to be sacred.The Chemobvl nuclear disaster in Ukraine in 1986 causedwidespread devastation over a large area, and still theneighbouring towns are uninhabitable.

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After the Second World War the Australian governmentp romoted an immigration pro gramme: ove r half of themigrants were British ; others were Greek, German, Dutch,Italian and Yugoslav.Today over 90 of the population are ofEuropean descen t; others are from Asia an d the Midd le East.ver 150 nationalities are represen ted in the population.

These we re Victoria, Queensland, No rthern Territory,Western Australia and South Australia. The isla nd to thesouth of the mainland is Tasmani a . On 1 January 1901, thesix colonies becam e a federation an d the Commonwealthof ustralia wa s formed .

ustralia is the largest island on thecontinent of Australia Oceania.Native Australians have inhabited itfor over 42,000 years. European explorersand traders starting arriving in the 17thcentury and in the 18th century the Britishclaimed part of the eastern half of thecontinent as a penal prison colony.This area became known as w SouthWales. The population grew andeventually five more states weresuccessively established over thecourse of the 19th century.

What is a flying doctor?

, Canberra is Aus tralia s capital, bu t Sydney is its largest city; and commercial centre, as we ll as having th e wo rld famousi opera house and the 503 m (1,650 ft) long Sydney Harbour: Bridge - whi ch has eight lanes of roadway, two railwaytra cks, a cycle track and a walkway.

ustralians livin g in th e outba ck can be far from thenearest town . The Flying Doctor serv ice star ted in ,1928 to provide eme rgency health care.

Was Tasmania once joined to us tralia?

Yes, it is believed tha t the isla nd was joined to themainland un til the end of the most recen t ice age, about10,000 years ago.

Sydney pera ouse

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ClimateWhile a large pr oportion of inlandAustralia is desert, 40 of the countryenjoys a trop ical clima te. Sno w fallsin the Australia n Alps at the southend of the Grea t Dividing Range, orEastern Highlan ds. This isAustralia s most subs tan tial rangeof mountains, which stretche s h omnorth-eastern Queensland in to thecentral plain in we stern Victoria.

The regional headqu arters of the flying doctor servicein Queensland

Isolated communities, The Alice Springs Scho o l of the irprovides an educ a tionalservice for children living in se ttleme nts and covers ove r1 million sq km (386,000 sq mil es) of ce ntral Aus tralia.These children live in an isolated env ironm en t and theirschool classes we re cond ucted via sho rtwave ra d io un tilvery recently. Today most schools use wireless In ter netlinks to receive their lessons.

The Greatarrier Reef

The Grea t Bar rier Reef, situated off thecoast of Que ens la nd, is th e world s longestreef, stretching 2000 km (1,243 miles). It is a. breeding gr ound for green and loggerhead turtles an dhome to humpback whales an d dolphins. mong the manyfish that inhabi t Austra lias s urro und ing wa ters are sharks,rays and lu ngfish. The lu ngfish is unu sual becau se it haslungs as well as a g ill-bre athing sy stem., The Reef is un der th reat fro m the crown-of-thorns starfish, which eats the livi ng cora l, an d also from rising sea levelsand tourism , which damage the frag ile coral ecosystem .

Although hunters haveused throwingsticks in many parts of the world the most famousof all such wea pons is the Aboriginesboome rang which may be the world s onlyreturnin g throwing stick.

The world s fussiest eater is the koa la which feeds exclusvely on euca lyptusleaves. It eatsonly sixof the 500speces of euca lyptus

e Great Bar rier reefprovides a home tomany creatures

en the Europeans arrived they bro ugh t disease withem , and many of the native people died fro m illnessesuch as smallpox . Today, many have abandoned theiraditional trib atway of life and live in towns and cities,aking up 1.5 of the population.

ustralianshe native Aus tra lians, known as Aborigine s, were the firs thabitan ts of A ustralia. The ter m bo rigine includes amber of native peoples thro ughou t ustra lia Ocea nia.hese native Aus tra lians were hunter-gatherers: this meansat the y moved from place to place in search of food. The yd no buildings.

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place. They can tell usif the re is likely to be athunderstorm, a hurricane or flash floods. All of thesefactors make up wh at we think of as weather. Weather iswha t is happening now or l ikely to h appen tomorrow orthe next day.

MeteorologyMe teorology is the study of weather an d weatherconditions all around the wo rld . Meteorologists can tell usabo ut the temperature, rainfall and wind at any given

hen we talk about climate wegenerally mean the weather Willit rain? Will it be hot or cold? How

hot? How cold? But climate and weatherare different.

Climatology is the study of climates and clima te change.Climatologists can tell us what climate conditions to expecraround the wo rld . They are more interested in s tatistics did it ra in more in March this yea r than it did in March lastyea r? And the year before that - and even in the la st 50; years The world ha s nine clear climatic zones. Each of the; a reas has a nam e, so that wh en we talk abo ut a temperateclimate or tundra, we know wha t to expect. For example,. in the win ter, we expect it to be mild and we t in Athens,: Greece and snowy in New York, USA.

. ForecastingWhen we know al of these details we can judge i theclimate around the wor ld is changing. Are there more hot,dry days now than there were in 1950? Or does it ra more, now than in 1950? we know that, farmers will know which

Are there any places that neverhave rain?

There are places with very little rain or even no ra ina t 1 The d riest p lace recorded is Calarna in theA tacama Deser t in Ch ile, The average rainfall is jus t3 mm 0.1 in.) per yea r, but ther e was a period of timewhen no rain fell there for 40 yea rs.

Where is the wettest place ever recorded?

The we t tes t p lace recorded is Cherrapunji. Ind ia, where9,300 r 360 in .) of rain fell in one month

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pes of crops to grow on their land. Water companies w illow if they need to make provision for water shortages.side towns will expect more peop le to visit the beaches.ill the farmers be able to harvest their crops? Will there beore floods? Where will we go for our holidays?

ypes of climateountain climateet ter than the low lands and 1C 2F) cooler forvery 150 m 490 ft) increase in altitude.emperate grass land climat eld winters and wa rm summers. Mainly d ry.emperate forest climateild winters and cool summers. Abundant rainlls all year.ot deser t climateery hot and d ry all yea r.

rap ica I rainforest clima teainfall is heavy all year. The annual rainfall is oftenre than 250 em 00 in.). t is also hot and humid .

oniferous forest clima tery cold w inters are common, w ith cool and mainlyry summers.

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eetahical grassland climateot all yea r. Two seasons on.ly - one dry and one we t.

The highes t tempera ture everrecorded was58 136F) atAI ziz iyah in Libya. Libya is a hotdesert area.The lowest temperature ever recorded was- 89-128.56F) at Vostok in Antarctica, which is in thesouthern polar region and so is very cold,

Mediterran ean climateHot dr y summers and mild, wet winters.

ola r bearPolar and tundra climatePolar: dr y and frozen all year. Tundra: dr y and frozenpar t of the year.

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idesert is a region that receives an annual rainfall of less than250 mm 10 inches . The people and animals that live in desertareas must adapt to the conditions to survive. People like theBedouins usually live in groups and move from place to place with theanimals. Where there are homes in the desert, the houses usually haveflat roofs and small windows Whereas most animals need to haveregular access to water, camels can survive for a week without water.

Deser ts are generally rocky and bare and on ly p artl ycovered in sa nd. Where there are large amounts of sand,the strong wind in sands torms blows it into huge pilesmaking sand dunes, It can then be very difficult for peopleto find their way as the landscape is constantly changing. esertplantsPlants which are found indeser ts need very long rootsto reach wa terunderground, or th ickstems which soak upwater. Cac ti can s torewater inside theirstems and the wholeplant swells upwhen it rains. In lesssevere conditionsplants with leavesare often pale grey toreflect the light, andneed very little water togrow. Seeds lie dormantduring dry periods and

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grow an d bloom andproduce new see d veryqui ckly when the rainscome. some places thereare oases in deserts, wherethere is wa ter. Palm treesoften grow aroundan oasis .

esertanimalsMany anima ls

live in deserts, n grousealtho ugh th eyare ra rely see n . As deserts are normally ve ryhot d uring the day and very cold at night,most animals w ill only come out to hunt andfind food at the cooler times of day, ear ly inthe morning or in the evening . Most deser tanimals are specially adapted to cope withdeser t life. Fennec faxes have huge over-sizedears to help them lose body heat quickly and

easily. Sand grouse are very pale in colour, so wellcamouflaged and difficult to spot among the rocks.


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There aredese rts on everycontinent on Earth They arethedriest places in the world andsometimes there is no rain formany yearsLlamas which come from SouthAmerica are close ly related to

ca mels h ey arealso traditionallyused for carrying goodsand for theirmeat Llamas are smaller than ca melsweighing about150 kgandmeasuring justovera metre in height

Camels

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How can camels go so long wi thou t water when otheranimals cannot? Although camels don t have to dr ink ve ryoften, perhaps only once a week, when they do drink theycan cons ume as much as 100 litres at a time. Tha t would bethe sa me sort of quantity as half a tank of petrol in yourfamily car. ICamels are often called ships of the desert as they are Iused for car rying peopl e and heavy load s of suppliesacross deserts. They are also used for the milk, meat an dskin which they provide. Camels can grip very tho rny foodfrom plants wi th their tough lip s and large teeth . In asands torm they protect themselves by pressing their earsflat, closing theireyes and sea lingtheir mouths andnostrils almo stcomp letely. In

. th is way theyavoid breathing Iin sand or j

i getting it in th eireyes, which areprotected byvery longeyelashes.

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e w or ld s largest desr t is th e Sa ha ra Desr t inhern Ar ica. TIle Sahara covers nearly 10 million

e k ilometres 4 million square miles .

hich is the world s la rgest desert

ow is sand madeextremes of temperature inmean that the rocks arentinually expanding andtrac ting in the heat of th e day an d cold of thet. This causes the surface of rocks to break offo tin y fragm ents, which become sand . As thed is blown about, new rock sur faces are exposed andprocess continues.


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Which is th e largest countryin Europe

What has the U achievedSince it was founded, the ED has: achieved over 50 years of peace in Europe helped to raise s tandards of living bui lt a single Europe-wide market so that peop le, goods and

mo ney ca n move around as freely as if in one country launched the single ED currency, the Euro ) streng thened Eur ope s position and voice in the wo rld.

y area France is the largest country and alta isthe smallest Hotoeoer Germany has the largestpopulation and again alta has the smallest r

D oe s t he European Union have a president

Yes She or he is called the President of the Commissionis selected by members of the European Council and isthen approved by the European Parliament The firstpresident was Walter Hallstein from West Gem/any

he European Union EU is a group of democraticcountries which have joined together. There are now27 member states, and the EU has its own currency-

the Euro. Not all of the countries use the Euro, preferring tokeep their own currency.Why a uropean UnionOl d frictions an d rivalries bet ween nations in the pastled to instability or ev en war. Following World WarI and World War II six Europea n nations agreed tose t up a grou p of countries wi thin Europ e whowo ul d w o rk for permanen t peace an d also enc ouragetr ad e between each ot her . The y called themselves theEuropean Economic Community or the EEC or theCom mon Mar ket . These first six countries we reFrance, West Germa ny, Italy, Belgium, the Ne the rlan dsand Luxembour g . The name Eur o pean Uni on cam elater because the purpose of the EEC cha ng ed frombeing simp ly a trading partner ship in toan economic and pol it ical partnership.

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The cur rent 27 memberstates:Aust riaBelgiumBulgariaCyprusCzech RepublicDenmarkEstoniaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryRepublic of IrelandItalyLatviaLithuaniaLuxembourgMaltaPolandPortugalRomaniaSlovakiaSloveniaSpainSwedenThe NetherlandsUnited Kingdom

The European ParliamentA lot of people are needed to do all of the work that iscarried out by the ED. The European Parliamentrepresents around 450 million citizens. lts membersare known as Members of the European Parliament MfPs). Since the last European elections in 2 4there have been 732 MEPs.

What i w didn t have the EUTry imagining a world now without the EO: we woulds till need to get our passport s stamped when visitingnearby coun tries. Wed have to change our currencywhen we crossed from France to Spain. Europeanbusinesses would be involved in constant negotiationswhen working with one another, witho ut being able tolook at agreed guidance and rules. Some of the poorercountries in Europe might not have benefited fromtrade partnerships and grants. And although countriesmight argue , we still have peace.

Where is the European ParliamentThe parliament meets in two places - in Brussels and inStrasbourg - and the European Cour t of Justice is inLuxembourg. The European Bank is in Frankfurt.For three weeks of the month the parliament meets inBelgium s capital city Brussels, where most committee andpolitical grou p meetings take place, then for one weekeveryone goes to Strasbourg in France. The StrasbourgParliament on the bord er between Germany and France,which fought two world wars in the last century, is also asymbol of Europe s peaceful new order.

l ondon, England , has the largest population of any city in the uropeanUnion, with over7 million inhabitants. Berlin, in Germany comessecondwith 3.5million.

uronotesareidentical throughout the uroarea while conshaveacommon designonone face anddesigns representing symbols unique to each country on the other face.

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nt imountain is a landform that extends above the surroundingterrain in a limited area. This usually refers to landforms over610 m (2,000 ft) in height. Mountains cover 2 of the world s

land surface and more than half the world s fresh water originates inmountains. There are mountains on every continent, under the sea andeven on MarsMount ai ns are for med over millions of years by volcanoes,erosion and disturbances in th e Earth s crust. TIle Earth scrus t is mad e up of six massive plates. When tw o of theseplates collide , th e lan d can be pushed upward formingmountai ns.K in ds o f mountain:Dome mo untains are formed when a great amoun t ofmelted rock pushes its wa y up un der the Ear th withoutfolding or faulting; the result is a rounde d do me. The domeis eroded as it is ra ised above its surro und ings, formingp eaks and valleys.Fold mountains form when two plates smack in to eachothe r an d their edges crumple. The Hi malayas, Alps andAn des were crea ted in this way.

Fault-block mountai ns are formed whe n faults in theEarth s surface force some blocks of rock up and othersdow n. Instead of folding, the Ear th fract ures and the blocksar e stacked. n us is how the mountai ns of the Sierr a Nevada :in No r th Ame rica we re formed.Volcanic mountai ns form when molten rock ( magma )erup ts fro m deep insi de the Earth and pil es up on th esurface. Mount St Helens in North America is an example ofa volcanic mountain.Plateau mountains are plateaux (whe re land is flat) thatha ve bee n wo r n d ow n by erosion , an d most hav e la rgear ea s of hi gh-level flat land.ount in r ngesIt is unusual for a mountain to stand alone - us ually theyexist as par t of mountain ranges. A mountai n range isa chain or group of mountains that are closetoget her. The longest mountai n ran ge in the

How ar e glaciers formed?

On the very coldest parts of some mount inssnow m y build up and turn into rivers of iceth tmove incrediblu slowly doumhill.Wh ich is th e tallest m o un ta in i n t he s ol arsystem?The tal lest mountain in the solar system islympu s Mons - on Mars

world is for med by the Andes Moun tains, which are morethan 7,200 krn (4,474 miles) long. The hi ghest mountainrange in the world is the Hi malayas (whose name meansLa nd of Snow .ount in lim teMountains ten d to be mu ch we tter pl aces than low lan ds.They also ten d to be colde r - the higher you climb up amountain, the colder it ge ts. This is why many mountainshave snow on th e top all year round , above wh at is calledthe snow line. Climate zones cha ng e qu ickly on mountains,so t ha t o ne can clim b from tropical jungle to the ice of aglacier in-just a few kilometres (m iles). The higher youclimb, th e lighter a nd thinner th e air becomes.Mounta ins can also affec t local climates - in some areas, forexample, they blo ck rain, so that one side of the

mountain may get plen ty of rain but the others ide is dry desert.


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ount in peopleout 10 of the worlds 6 billion people live onountains. Eleven million people live in the Alps,aking them the most densely populated

mountain area. No ton ly animals buthumans as well haveadap ted to living inmountainenvironmen ts - forexample, the Sou th merican Uru tribehave larger heart s andlungs to help thembreathe the thinner airat high altitudes.

ount in nim lsuntains are a bleak habitat for anima ls; and thegher you get, the more bleak it becomes.t mo unta in mammals hv evolved thicky fur (like the yak), and mountain sheepd goa ts (like the ibex) are very sureted to help them on the rough ter rain.ome of the highest mountain rangesre home to a va riety of endangeredpecies. For example, musk deer,engal tiger s alfl snow leopards livethe Himalayas .

ount in pl ntsThe lower slopes of mountains are oftencove red with forest, whi le the top s ofmountains are usually treeless. The placeabove which trees w ill not grow is called thetreeline. Nevertheless, there a re some plantsthat survive at very high altitudes wherethe terrai n is most ly bare rock - mostlyalpi nes, mosses and lichens .ount ins nd tourismOver 50 mill ion tourists head for themountains each year. They are attracted bythe cle an air and beau tifu l scenery, andactivities such as hiking, climbing, canoeing,skiing and snowboarding. Although tourismbrings in money and crea tes jobs for mountainpopulations, there is also the risk that toomuch can do harm to the environment andlocal economy - through erosion, pollu tionfrom traffic, leavinglitt er, and raisingthe price of landand food

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he world highestmountain peakan landisMount verest at around8850m 29 035 tabove seotteve.

Some islands arereallythe top of giant mountainspokingaut af the-seat


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ural is stershroughout history there have been many natural disasters, themost deadly recorded as being droughts and famines. Floods arethe next most deadly, followed by earthquakes a nd w ind storms.

O ther deadly natural disasters include extreme temperatureslandslides, volcanoes and forest fires.

The po in t w her e the se ismic activity occur s is the epicentre,, wh er e th e ea rthquake is s trongest. But it do esn t alwaysen d ther e because seismic waves trav el ou t from th eepi centre, some times creating w idespread destructionas they p ass.

VolcanoesA volcano is for medwhe n m olten rock,called mag ma,explodes throughth e Earths cru st.Volcanoes vary intheir structure - so meare sp li ts in th e Earth scrust, so me are d om es,

shields, or craters . Wh enthe magm a bu rsts throug h the Ear th s su rf ace it is called lava.: Sometimes as h and cinderscome from th e volcano, andalso p umice, w h ich is very ligh trock that is full of air bubblesand whi ch can float on wa ter.

/ EarthquakesAn ear t hq u ake is a tremor shaking) of the Ear th s surface.It is usually cau sed by the release of und erground s tressalong fault line s . Fault lines , or faults, are rock fract ures which sh ow sign s of movement. In spite of extensive

resea rch and so phisticated equipment, it is im possible to, pr edict an earthquake, altho ugh experts ca n es timate thelikelihood of an earthquake occurring in a particular region.

- . H ea vy objects, suc h as cars or even cows, can be sucked upan d flun g aro un d like confetti. Many people ha ve beenkilled in cars w hile the y we re t ry ing to ou tru n a tornado, an d a lt hough it is some ti mes possible to esca pe, it isgenerally not a goo d idea .

HurricanesOn e of th e mos t da magin g ev en ts is the hurricane, a fiercerotating storm w ith an int ense centre of low pr essu re theeye of the storm) th at onl y happen s in the tropics.

TornadoesTornadoes are caused by a collision of warm an d cool airstrea ms. A rotating area of low -pressure st or m clou d s for ms,and air within a low-pressu re front rises, creating a strongup ward draught like a vacuu m cleaner. Surroun d ing war mair is dr aw n in from ground level, ca us ing it to sp in fasterand faster. Thes e strong air currents can create a spi rallingfunnel of wind that can reach spe eds of 483 km /h 300 m ph ).

They are for med w hen lar ge a reas of theocean become hea ted , a nd the airpr essu re dro ps . This causesthunderstor ms an d strongsur face winds. As th ey tra vellong distances, gatheringener gy f ro m the ocea n, theyare likely to be classified asstro ng tropical cyclones . Atrop ical storm can on ly beclassified as a hurricane if itsustains wind speed s aboveforce 12 on the Beaufor t Scale.


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Is a tsunami alwayscaused by an earthquake? A tsunami is caused by ea rthquakes, landslides,vo lcanoes or a massive impact, su ch as if a meteor

crashed int o the sea. Sometimes tsunamis haveca lmed do wn by the time they reach the shore; onother occasions they can be devastating.

What was the biggest known tornado? In May 2004 in Nebraska, USA, the Hallam tornad obecame the record holder for width, a t nearly 4 km2.5 miles . This is pr obab ly close to the maximumsiz e for a tor nado.

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Hurricane Katrina (lateAugust 2005) was thecos tliest andoneof the de dliesthurric nesin the history of the UnitedStates. It wasthe sixth-strongest Atlantic hurrc neever recorded.

Often whenan unusu lly destruc tivehurricane hits, that hurricanes nameisretired and never used g in. Snce 1954,40namesh ve been retired.

As a tsunami leaves the de epwa ter of the open ocean andtravels into the sha llowe r waternear the coast, it is s lowed downby the shallow wa ter an d itsheigh t grows. Tsunamis bat terthe coast w ith tremen dousamo unts of energy.

10 of the worldspopuation lives under thre t from ctive volcanoes

The y are most comm on aro undthe edg e of the Pacific, w heremore than half the wo rld svolcanoes are foun d . Over thedeep Pacific Ocean, a tsunami travels at about 800 km /h500 mph . an earthq uake ha pp ened in Los Angeles, atsu nami could hi t Tokyo quicker than yo u cou ld flybetween the cities by jet.si n sun miOn Boxing Day 2004 the world witnessed the terrible powerof on e of the deadliest disasters in mod er n history.Anun dersea earthquake occurred abou t 8 a.m. local time. Thistriggered a series of leth al tsu namis that spread throughou tj the Indian Ocean. Waves up to 30 m 90 ft devastated theshores of Ind onesia, Sri Lanka, South Ind ia, Thailand andother countries.

sun mitsunami is a cha in of fast-moving waves caused byudden trau ma in the ocean. They can be generated byarthquakes, or volcanic erup tions. Tsunamis are alsoncorrectly known as tidal waves bu t, un like tidal waves,hey are not caus ed by changes in the tides.


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acific nhe Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean in the world covering 6of the Earth s surface. At almost 70 million sq miles (180 millionsq km), it is considerably larger than the entire land area of the

whole world

Does the International Date Line change thePacific Ocean?

The av erage de p th of the Pacific Ocean is 4,637.5 111(15,215 ft) deep . At its deepest part the Ma rianaTrench, it is 11,034 m 36200 ft) deep .

Exploration and settlementThe ti rst people wh o lived on the islands were from Asia .They crossed the op en seas in ancien t boat s. Europe ansexplorers arr ived in the 16th cen tur y, peopLe such as Vasco Nu ne z de Balboa fro m Spai n. During the 17t h century the Du tch man Abel Janszoon Tasman discovered Tasm ania

Peaceful sea?Pacific is from the Latin word s for Peace. However thePacific is not always peaceful. Ma ny typ hoons pound theislan ds of th e Pacific. The area is full of volcanoes and oftenaffected by ea rthquakes. Tsunamis. cau sed by un d er water: ea rthquakes, have dam aged islan ds and destroyed entiretowns and communities. Massive whirls, for med byocean currents, are found in the area north and southof the equat or.;Fishing The main fishing areas in th e Pacific are found in the morei sha llow waters of the continental shelf. The continentalshe lf is the extended lan d beyond each con tinen t, which isrelatively shallow. Then comes the continental slope, which

eventually mer ges in to the deep ocean floor. Salmon,halibut her rin g, sardine s and tu na are the chief catch.No t all fishing communities have large com mercial fleets,however. Sma ll islan d communities fish nearer to horne.

H ow d ee p is the Pacific Ocean?

Yes, it travels ro ughly along 1800 longitude, wi thdiversio ns to pa ss around some countries or islan ds.The Internation al Date Line is an imaginary line thatseparates tw o cons ecutive days. The da te in theEastern Hemisphere is al ways one da y ahead of th edat e in the Wester n Hemisp here.

The Pacific Ocean stretche s from the Arctic Circle toAn tarctica, an d fro m the we stern coas ts of No rth an dSouth America across thousands of small islands to NewZealan d , Au st ralia, Japan an d mainlan d Asia.


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e shore n co st l erosione usually picture sandy beaches when we think of the coast,but actually a coast is any l an d t ha t borders the sea. The placewhere land and sea meet is usually called the shorelineor seashore.

Estua ry - An estua ry is an areaw here the mouth of a river

widens out an d meets the seacorning in, caus in g fresh an dsa l t water to mi x.

H ead lan d - These are lon g ton gues of lan d s tickingou t in to the sea.Headlands are crea ted

ov er mill ions of ye ars ,as waves s trike rockysho res, wearing awa ythe sof ter kind s ofrock and leaving thehar d er ones .

Sp it - Also calledsandbars, spits occu r

when sand and d eb risare wa she d out across

bays by waves, creating tongues of sand th at ru nou t in to th e sea.

Features created coastal erosionThe coastline is always chang ing , ve ry slowly,du e to natural p roccsses like th e rise of sealevels, the pounding of the wa ve s, andweather. In most cases, th e result is that thecoast is grad ua lly being wor n aw ay. We callthis wearing aw ay erosion . oastal ero sioncan crea te man y spectacu lar features inpl aces w her e the coast is mad e up ofdifferent typ es of rock.Sea caves are for med wh en wa ves was haw ay an are a of so fter rock at th e base of acliff, mak ing a hollow insi d e harder rock.Sea arche s lik e the one top right arepr oduced when two se a caves are w or naw ay from different dir ections an d th enmeet when the rock separating th em iswo rn away.

Sea weed need s to be on or near the sea s surfacebecau se further down in the wa ter the re is not eno ug hlight for it to thrive. Seawe ed uses trap pe d air inpo ds to mak e it floa t.

BeachesA beach is a sloping area of sand,pebbles or shingle along the ve ryedge of the sea . Most beach esare mad e of san d, thou gh som earc roc ky. Some are ev enmad e f ro m b ro ken seashellsRock pools are pools of seawa ter that a re trapped inrocks on the beach whenthe tid e goes ou t, and arehorne to a wi de va riety oftiny w ildlife.

Sand is p roduced as waves grind do wn rocks and cliffsinto smaller an d smaller p ieces .

How is sand pr oduced ?

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Coastlinefeatures:Bay - A bay is a wi de inde n t i nthe coast, between twoh eadlands . Bays are usu allyshelt ered spots. A small bay is called acove. A huge bay is called a bigh t, and agu lf is a long, narrow bight. liff- Cliffs are formed ove r m illions of ye a rs bywaves wearing awa y the edg c of the lan d .


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e anemonescan live for up to100 years

The UKand Ireland together have13,870km (8,618 miles) ofco s tline.

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o ral is built from skeletons of tinyanimals c lled polyps. Polyps use theirtentacles to c pture foodby specal stinging celsin their tentacles that numb their prey.Then thetentacles p ss it to the polyps mouth.

rabs like the one opposite have five sets of limbs and canmove in any direction . A crab keeps its skele ton on theoutside of its body, which is called a carapace. Hermitcrabs canno t grow their own carapaces and so move in toemp ty seashells.Limpe ts are shellfish with flattened, cone-shaped shells .They have a mu scular foot which allows them to sea lthemse lves to the rocks and cling on to avoid bein g washedaway by the tide.She llfish such as mussels, clams and winkles live insideshells and at tach themselves to rocks w ith the footunderneath the shell. Many she llfish are edible.

Sea stacks like theone below a re formedfrom sea arches, whenerosion finally causesthe top of the arch tocollapse. nus leaves only a p /pi llar of rock stand alone in the se .

hatl v s on the seashoreSea anemones like these above are brigh tly colouredcrea tures that look like flowers when the many tentaclesthat surround their mouths are extended. These ten taclesare used to capture prey and to sting any th ing that attacksthe anemone . They have no skeleton and can only moveve ry slowly.Starfish have no bones. Mos t have five arms - if an a rm iscut off, the starfish will grow anothe r The ir mouths are

underneath their bodi es - a s tar fishthat wan ts to ea t especiallylar ge prey can actually pushits stomach out of its

mou th to catch andd iges t the p rey.Sea urchins are spiny,hard -shelled crea tu reswhich are oftenfound washed up onbeaches. They havesp ines all over the irshell for pro tection,and some urchinshave venomousspines.


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Wa sSuccessive English Kings tried to integrateWales into England, King Edward Iord ered a ring of castles to be built tocircle the land but it was not until thereign of Henry VIII that Wales was fullyintergrated . The castles today remain asmagnificent tourist attractions . Wales is arugged coun try; in the north are themagnificent mountains of Snowdonia.Mid Wales has a more rollingcountryside bu t is very sparselypopulated , willie in the south are theBlack Mountains and the coal-richWelsh Valleys. It is in this region thatthe capital, Cardiff, is situated andwhere most of the people live.

representatives who have total controlover issues such as education, health,agricultu r e and justice. The parliament isin the capital ty of Edinburgh, whichha s many fine bu ildings such asEdinburgh Cas tle and Holyrood House.

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cotlandThe Celts of Scotla nd have always fiercely defendedtheir homeland . The Romans cou ld not defeat theman d bu ilt two wa lls, the An tonine Wall between theRiver Clyde an d the firth of Forth and Hadrian sWall between the River Solway and River Tyne, totry and keep them ou t of England . The tw ocountries became unified in 1707. The Scotsachieved their own parliament in 1998 and elected

Stonehenge is a megalithic monumentlocated in the n glish o unty of Wiltshire. Itis composed of earthworks surrounding acircula r setting of large standing stonesand is one of the most famous prehistoricsites in the world. Archaeologists thinkthestanding stoneswere erected between2500 and 2000Be.Britain is the home to the world smostpoisonous fungus, the yellowisholiveDeath ap

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T

So u t he rn CaliforniaNevada an d Arizona ared esert the dri est pl acebeing in Death Valley.Wate r from th e Riv er

near Aspen in Co lorado an d L ik e Tahoe in California. As th e traditional coa l steel an dau tomob ile indu stries of th e Eas ternUSA d eclin ed m an y p eople moved toth e Wes t Co as t wh er e new ind ustries we re growing . Ai rcraft and softw a redevelop ment in Sea ttle computercomp one n t devel opment an dmanufa cture in Silicon Valley San

Fran cisco an d th e music m ovi e an dentertainment indust r i es o f Lo s An geleshave built on e of th e richest regions in th ewo r l d . Television an d film dominat e Ame ricancult ure and spread it th rou ghou t th e wo rl d . H ollyw oo dmo vi es are viewe d

wo rldwide as are s uchlon g-running televisionp ro gr am s as TheSim ps ons .

What do th e stars an d stripesmean on th e United States flag?

Did the Ma yflower take th e fir st set tlersto America?No. The firs t se ttler s are though t to ha ve been a groupof English traders w ho la n d ed in Vir g in ia in 1607. Bu tthe Mayflower which sa iled in 1620 is pro bably themost fam ou s of th e ea rly shi ps to go to A me ri ca .Those on boar d included 102 passengers fro m Holla ndan d Brit ain . A re p lica of the Ma yflo we r can be see n a tPly mo u th Massachusetts.

The flag of the Un ited Stat es has 13 horizon tal redstrip es which rep resent the 13 or ig in a l colonies. Inthe top left corn er of the flag is a blu e rectangle wi th50 sma ll w hite sta rs . Th e se rep resent the 50 states inthe Un ited Sta tes of Am er ica. The flag is known asth e Star s and St ripes .

Western USAH er e the nation s mo st dramatic land s ca p e s can be fo u n d .Th e Rocky Mou n tains for m sev era l l ar ge mou n tain ranges.Vast q uantities of p ow d er sno w ma ke this one of thew orl d s bi ggest wi nter skiing areas th e m ain cen t res being

The USA stretches from the Arctic Ocean to tropical Hawaii andincludes the massive Rocky Mountains as well as fertilelowlands. Vast natural resources and a culture of enterprise makethe USA one of the world s richest nations the home of many globalbusinesses such as Ford McDonald s Microsoft and Disney.The peopleTh e Un ite d States has on e of the wor ld s most di versep opulations w i th immigra nt s fro m all ove r th e wo rld .Tho usa nds of y ea rs ag o Asians crosse d the Be rin g Straitfro m As ia and po p u la te d bot h No rth and Sou th A merica.Th eir d escen dants ar e the Na tive Ame ricans. SpanishFren ch a nd Eng lish se ttlers co lon ize d in th e 1600s an dsl av es from Africa we re brough t to th e co u n try later. Th eIndustrial Revolution attracted million s of Euro pe animmigr an ts fro m Ireland Brit ain an d Italy an d th e last50 ye urs h a ve brough t immi gr an ts from Mex ico.

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\\

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Co lorado has cu t the deep go rges of the Grand Canyonand Bryce Cany on and provides much needed wa ter forthe farme rs an d cities of California.

Eastern USEur opeans have se ttled the eas te rn half of the USA sinc e1613 and man y towns are nam ed af ter the places fromwhich these colonists came . People who migrated to se ttlepermanently in colonies contro lled by their country oforigin we re called colonists or se ttlers. Som etimes thesettlers forme d the colony themselves if they se ttled in anunpopulated etrea. A colony is the territory where thepeop le se ttle

ew Orleans1 Ne w Orlea ns called the Big Easy due to its relaxed l ifes tyle is the wo rld s jazz capital and the Ma rdi Grasfestival a ttracts millions of visi tors. In August 2005Hurr icane Katrina the largest hurricane ever recordedover the USA flooded ove r 80 of Ne w Orl eans.Washington D CWashington D .C. named af ter the first Pr esid en t GeorgeWashing ton is the capital city and hom e to the Presidentof the United States and to the US Capitol. t w as d es ignedin 1791 by a French architect an d wa s the wo rld s firs tp lanned capital. Washing ton D.C. is oneof Ame rica s most visited sites.

The worlds largest silver nugget,weighing 835 k g (1,840 Ibs) was foundin 1894 near Asp n , Co lorado.Disney World, near Orlando Foridais theworlds largest tourist attraction, ov ring anarea of 12,140 hectares (30,000 ar s).

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es

CindershapesCinder cones havestraight side s with steep slopes and a large, bowl-shaped crater at thesummit . They rarely rise tomore than 304 m (1,000 feet); above the surroundinglandscap e. They are known fortheir very violent, explosive, exciting eruptions . Pari cutin in Mex ico is a famous cinder cones.

Active volcanoes Cone shapesA volcano is considered active The volcano s eruptions canif lava comes out of the top . create cone-shapedWhen this happens, the accumulations of volcanicvolcano is erupting. material. The thickness ofvolcanoes have been the underground magmaqui et for a long time determines how athey are inactive. Some . vo lcano w ill erupt, andinactive volcanoes ; what kind of cone will

suddenly become active. form. There are threecone shapes: cindercones, shield cones,and stratovolcanoescones.

Shield shapesShield cones hav e very gentle slopes. They we re named byIcelandic peopl e becau se the cones sha pe reminded th em of a wa rrior s shie ld laid down . These volc anoes er up t i ; ; ; man y times over the same area forming huge, thick lava, plateaus. The Columbia Plateau of the wes tern Un itedStates is the largest lava pla teau in the world. coversalmost 259,000 sq km (100,000 square mile s) an d is a lmost a

mile thick in places.

eep under the Earth is very hot runny liquid called magma .Sometimes the magma rises to the surface building up greatpressure and than an eruption occurs . When this happens avolcano is formed. Gases and lava shoot up through the opening andspill out causing lava flows mudslides and falling ash. Largepieces o lava are called lava bombs. n erupting volcanocan also cause earthquakes and tsunamis.

Dormantand extinctvolcanoesSome volcanoes have noterup ted for at least 10,000 years.These volcanoes are de scribed as dorman t,since they ha ve the po tentia l to erup t aga in , omevo lcanoes only erupt once, an d these are called extinct ,

becaus e they wi ll not erupt again.

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27

How often do you think volcanoeserupt?

What is The Ligh thouse of the Mediterranean ?

Every day, ten volcanoes erup t somewhere on Ear th.Mos t of these are small eru ptions, bu t they may befollowed by larger ones .

Stromboli, off the coas t of Italy, has erupted repeatedlyover many centuries. The volcano has been called TheLighthouse of the Mediterraneanbecause it erupts every20 minutes or so.

. 200,000 peop le died, most of them killed by subsequent: tsunamis w ith waves up to 30 m 98.5 ft)., When Vesuvius erupted suddenly 79 AD, the town of: Pompeii in Italy was bu ried under a vast layer of rock andi volcanic ash , The town was prese rved in a nearperfecti sta te, and uncovered by archeologica l excavations that, began in 1738.

WorsteruptionsThe re have beenmany ca taclysmicerup tions. Afte r aseries of erup tionsove r the course ofsevera l days 26-27Augus t 1883), the

uninhabited island ofKrakatoa in SumatraJava exploded w ithprobab ly th e loudest bangever heard by hum ans,audible up to 4,800 km 3,000miles) away. About

UnderwatervolcanoesMany volcanoes begi n onthe sea floor. The vas t

cones of the Hawaiia nislands and man y o the rvolcanic islands in thePacific Ocean beganlike this.

The word volcano comes from the Roman god of fire, Vulcan. Vulcanwas said to have had a forge a place to melt and shape iron) onVulcano, an active volcano on the Lipari Islands in Italy. Mauna oa Hawaii, is the tallest mountain in the worldif measured from the floor of the ocean where it wasformed. It is 4165 m 13,677 It) above sea level, butover 5177 m 17,000 It) lies under the water. 50 thisvolcanic mountain is over 9137 m 30,000 It) tall

Stratovolcanoes shapesStratovolcanoes cones have gentle lower slopes, bu t steepupp er slopes. They are fo rmed from a combina tion oferuptions. Firs t the volcano has an explosive erup tion thatejects hu ge amoun ts of s team, gas and ash . Th is is followedby the ejection of lava. A lar ge cone is built up wi th manylayers of ash an d lava. These are the mos t commonvolcan ic cones, and a famous example is Moun t StHelens in Washing ton.


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More than 10 of the Earth s land massis a nature reserve or a recognised wil erness are .

The fir nature reserve in theworld was in Sri l anka in the3rd century BC

Wilderness is the name of acity in South Africa.

Nearly 5 of the land in the US is designated aswilderness, but more than half of this is in Alaska.

untin r s rv s man y areas of the wo rld, wi ldlife reserves have been se tup to conserve animals just so that they can be hunted .Th is is how many of the big game reserves in Africa firstcame in to being. However, ideas of making areas intona tural hunting reserves da te back much earlier, to thehunting rese rves created by the kings of England in the iddle Ages .

What is the oldest national parkin the world?

nwha t year was the WorldWideund for Nature World WildlifeFund in the US formed ?

llowstone National Park in the US.

1961.

In th e UK the oldest nature reserve is Wicken Fen inCambridgeshire, a vast we tland area which wases tablished in 1899. The fens hav e been changing sinceRoman times, and this area was the on ly pa rt whichremained of th e or igina l landscape.

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KEY FACTS

ountriesargest countries

17,098,242 sq krn 6,601,668 sq m iles Russia

9,970,610 sq km 3,849,674 sq miles Can9,629 91 sq km 3,717,812 sg miles Uni ted States of America

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9,598,086 sq km 3,705,841 sq miles Chin8,514,877 sq km 3,287,612 sq miles Brazil


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igg st popul t ons

6 464 750 000 Worl 1 315 844 000 China

1 ] 03 371 000 In ia298 213 000 USA

222781000 n onesia186 405 000 Brazi l


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