Geography Standards
Geographic Understandings SS5G1 The student will locate important places in the United States.
a. Locate important physical features; include the Grand Canyon, Salton Sea, Great Salt Lake, and Mojave Desert.
b. Locate important man-made places; include the Chisholm Trail; Pittsburgh, PA; Gettysburg, PA; Kitty Hawk, NC; Pearl Harbor, HI; and Montgomery, AL.
SS5G2 The student will explain the reasons for the spatial patterns of economic activities.
a. Explain how factors such as population, transportation, and resources influenced industrial location in the United States between the end of the Civil War and 1900.
b. Locate primary agricultural and industrial locations since the turn of the 20th century and explain how factors such as population, transportation, and resources have influenced these areas.
a. Locate important physical features; include the Grand Canyon, Salton Sea, Great Salt Lake, and Mojave Desert.
b. Locate important man-made places; include the Chisholm Trail; Pittsburgh, PA; Gettysburg, PA; Kitty Hawk, NC; Pearl Harbor, HI; and Montgomery, AL.
SS5G2 The student will explain the reasons for the spatial patterns of economic activities.
a. Explain how factors such as population, transportation, and resources influenced industrial location in the United States between the end of the Civil War and 1900.
b. Locate primary agricultural and industrial locations since the turn of the 20th century and explain how factors such as population, transportation, and resources have influenced these areas.
The Grand Canyon
If there is any place on Earth that puts into perspective the grandiosity of Mother Nature, it is the Grand Canyon. The natural wonder, located in northern Arizona, is a window into the region's geological and Native American past. As one of the country's first national parks, the Grand Canyon has long been considered a U.S. treasure, and continues to inspire scientific study and puzzlement.
The Salton Sea
The Salton Sea is a shallow, saline, endorheic (has no outlet besides evaporation) rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault, predominantly in California's Imperial Valley. The lake occupies the lowest elevations of the Salton Sink in the Colorado Desert of Imperial and Riverside counties in Southern California. Like Death Valley, it is below sea level. Currently, its surface is 226 ft (69 m) below sea level. The deepest area of the sea is 5 ft (1.5 m) higher than the lowest point of Death Valley. The sea is fed by the New, Whitewater, and Alamo rivers, as well as agricultural runoff drainage systems and creeks.
The Sea was created by a flood in 1905, in which water from the Colorado River flowed into the area. While it varies in dimensions and area with fluctuations in agricultural runoff and rainfall, the Salton Sea averages 15 mi (24 km) by 35 mi (56 km). With an average area of roughly 525 sq mi (1,360 km2), the Salton Sea is the largest lake in California. Average annual inflow is 1,360,000 acre·ft (1.68 km3), which is enough to maintain a maximum depth of 52 ft (16 m) and a total volume of about 7,500,000 acre·ft (9.3 km3).
The Sea was created by a flood in 1905, in which water from the Colorado River flowed into the area. While it varies in dimensions and area with fluctuations in agricultural runoff and rainfall, the Salton Sea averages 15 mi (24 km) by 35 mi (56 km). With an average area of roughly 525 sq mi (1,360 km2), the Salton Sea is the largest lake in California. Average annual inflow is 1,360,000 acre·ft (1.68 km3), which is enough to maintain a maximum depth of 52 ft (16 m) and a total volume of about 7,500,000 acre·ft (9.3 km3).
The Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake, located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah, is the largest salt water lake in the western hemisphere, and the fourth-largest terminal lake in the world. In an average year the lake covers an area of around 1,700 square miles (4,400 km2), but the lake's size fluctuates substantially due to its shallowness. For instance, in 1963 it reached its lowest recorded level at 950 square miles (2,460 km²), but in 1988 the surface area was at the historic high of 3,300 square miles (8,500 km2).
The lake is the largest remnant of Lake Bonneville, a pluvial lake which covered much of western Utah in prehistoric times. The Great Salt Lake is endorheic (has no outlet besides evaporation) and has very high salinity, far saltier than sea water. The Jordan, Weber, and Bear rivers (the three major tributaries) deposit around 1.1 million tons of minerals in the lake each year, and since water (but not the minerals) is constantly being evaporated, the concentration of minerals increases further. Because of its unusually high salt concentration, most people can easily float in the lake as a result of the higher density of the water, particularly in the saltier north arm of the lake, Gunnison Bay
The lake is the largest remnant of Lake Bonneville, a pluvial lake which covered much of western Utah in prehistoric times. The Great Salt Lake is endorheic (has no outlet besides evaporation) and has very high salinity, far saltier than sea water. The Jordan, Weber, and Bear rivers (the three major tributaries) deposit around 1.1 million tons of minerals in the lake each year, and since water (but not the minerals) is constantly being evaporated, the concentration of minerals increases further. Because of its unusually high salt concentration, most people can easily float in the lake as a result of the higher density of the water, particularly in the saltier north arm of the lake, Gunnison Bay
The Mojave Desert
The Mojave desert consists mostly of the southern portion of California with parts of Utah, Nevada and Arizona. It is name after the Mohave Native Americans and covers 54 000 square miles and as said in its name is a desert biome.
The Mojave Desert is special because it has a little bit of everything, people often refer to the Mojave Desert as a "high desert" because it has an elevation of 2,000 to 5,000 feet. It changes from a cold desert in the northern section and a hot desert in the southern section due to the cold desert in the north and the hot desert in the south.
The Mojave Desert is special because it has a little bit of everything, people often refer to the Mojave Desert as a "high desert" because it has an elevation of 2,000 to 5,000 feet. It changes from a cold desert in the northern section and a hot desert in the southern section due to the cold desert in the north and the hot desert in the south.
Chisholm Trail
A former cattle trail from San Antonio, Texas, north to Abilene, Kansas. It was important from the 1860s to the 1880s, when it fell into disuse following the expansion of the railroads and the introduction of barbed-wire fencing.
Map of Pennsylvania
Can you find Gettysburg and Pittsburg?
Kitty Hawk, NC
The Wright Brothers flew the first airplane here.
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Japanese bombers attacked an unsuspecting Hawaii on December 7, 1941.
Montgomery, Alabama
This was an important place during the Civil Rights Movement.
