Virginia SOLs

WG.2: The student will analyze how physical and ecological processes shape Earth’s surface by

a) explaining regional climatic patterns and weather phenomena and their effects on people and places;

b) describing how humans influence the environment and are influenced by it

c) explaining how technology affects one’s ability to modify and adapt to the environment.

Essential Understandings

Climate is defined by certain characteristics.

Climate patterns result from the interplay of common elements.

Climatic regions have distinctive vegetation.

Certain weather phenomena are unique to specific regions.

Climate and weather phenomena affect how people live in different regions.

Physical and ecological processes shape Earth’s surface.

Humans both influence and are influenced by their environment.

Technology has expanded people’s ability to modify and adapt to their physical environment.

Essential Knowledge

Climatic characteristics

• Temperature

• Precipitation

• Seasons (hot/cold, wet/dry)

Climatic elements

• Influence of latitude

• Influence of winds

• Influence of elevation

• Proximity to water

• Influence of ocean currents

World climatic regions

• Low latitudes (e.g., tropical wet, tropical wet and dry, arid, semiarid, highland)

• Middle latitudes (e.g., semiarid, arid, humid continental)

• High latitudes (e.g., subarctic, tundra, icecap)

Vegetation regions

• Rain forest

• Savanna

• Desert

• Steppe

• Middle-latitude forest

• Taiga

• Tundra

Weather phenomena

• Monsoons: South and Southeast Asia

• Typhoons: Western Pacific Ocean

• Hurricanes: Atlantic Ocean and Eastern Pacific Ocean

• Tornadoes: United States

Climate has an effect on

• crops

• clothing

• housing

• natural hazards.

Physical and ecological processes

• Earthquakes

• Floods

• Volcanic eruptions

• Erosion

• Deposition

Human impact on environment

• Water diversion/management

  1. Aral Sea

  2. Colorado River

  3. Dams (e.g., Aswan High Dam, Three Gorges Dam, Itaipu Dam)

  4. Canals

  5. Reservoirs

  6. Irrigation

• Landscape changes

  1. Agricultural terracing (e.g., in China, Southeast Asia)

  2. Polders (e.g., in the Netherlands)

  3. Deforestation (e.g., in Nepal, Brazil, Malaysia)

  4. Desertification (e.g., in Africa, Asia)

• Environmental changes

  • Acid rain (e.g., forests in Germany and Eastern North America)

  • Pollution (e.g., in Chernobyl; and oil spills)

  • Potential climate change (e.g., changes in sea level, temperature, and weather patterns)

Influence of technology

• Agriculture (e.g., fertilizers, mechanization)

• Energy usage (e.g., fossil fuels, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, solar)

• Transportation (e.g., road building, railways, suburbs, mass/rapid transit, airport expansion)

Environmental impact on humans

• Settlement patterns

• Housing materials

• Agricultural activity

• Types of recreation