The Earthquake in NZ

The New Zealand 6.3 magnitude Earthquake hit Christchurch in the Canterbury region causing many damages to building and putting many lives at risk. The Earthquake was centred 2 kilometres west of the town of Lyttelton and 10 kilometres south-east of Christchurch which is the second most popular city in New Zealand.  The earthquake was caused by the disturbance of the plate tectonics in the Earth’s outer layer; New Zealand is located right on the convection currents.  The Earthquake has damaged many building such as the one below showing the Christchurch’s Pico Wholefood building which is now all ruined.

The Earthquake has caused the New Zealand dollar to drop more than 1 cent against the US dollar. Economists believe the damage bill will exceed the $NZ6 billion cost in September.

I feel very unfortunate for the people living in New Zealand. There are many people who trapped in collapsed buildings, which are severely injured or have lost their life, I feel terrible for them. Losing a home would be very heart-breaking and depressing and I would know how it would feel to be in that situation.

        This is one of the many shops that have been ruined by the Earthquake

1.6 Australia's Climate and vegetation

1. What is the difference between climate and weather?
Climate is the pattern of weather that is expected in a particular place, weather is the atmosphere at the present time.

2. How does latitude influence climate?
The Earth receives more of the Sun's energy at the Equator than at the poles so temperatures are hgiest at the Equator and decreases as latitude increases.

3. Describe the summer and winter pressure patterns that affect Australia's climate.
There is low pressure in the north and high pressure in the south in Summer time. Winter is the opposite with hight pressure in the north and low pressure in the south.

4. How do oceans influence climate?
Oceans influence climate as currents from nearer the poles bring cooler conditions and those from nearer the Equator bring warmer conditions.

5. Describe the influence of relief on climate.
An example of this could be when temperature decreases with height as moist air that is forced to rise by mountains cools, and the water vapour condenses.

6. Discuss the usefulness of average climate statistics for:
a) An Australian farmer - it would be very useful for farmers to grow their crops
b) a tourist in Australia -

8. a) Calculate the average annual precipitation and temperature for each place.
Darwin average temperature is 26.26 degrees Celsius
Hobart average temperature is 12.75 degrees Celsius

9. a) Which place has the greatest temperature range?
Perth

b) Which place has the most seasonal rainfall?
Alice Springs

1.5 Australia's Major Landforms

1. What are the three main land regions in Australia?
The Western Plateau, the Central Lowlands and the Eastern Highlands.

2. Where are the Australian Alps?
The Australian Alps stretch from the Brindabella Range north to Canberra to the Baw Baw Range east of Melbourne.

3. Why are the mountains in the Australian Alps rounded in shape?
Because they are very old therefore erosion and weathering have given it's rounded shape.

4. Where is Uluru? 
It is located 335 kilometers south-est of Alice Springs in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

5. Write a detailed description of Uluru.
Uluru is the second largest monolith in the world, measuring 9.4 kilometers around the base and extending for several kilometers underground.

6. Explain why Uluru appears to change colour.
In the middle of the day the Sun's rays pass through less thickness of atmosphere so less of the blue light is filtered. At sunrise and sunset, the Sun's rays pass through a greater thickness of atmosphere; therefore, more of the blue light is filtered.

7. What is a drainage basin
An area of land that is drained by a river and its tributaries.

8. Name the two largest drainage basins in Australia.
The Murray-Darling Basin and the Lake Eyre Basin

9. Which are the three longest rivers in Australia
The Murray, the Darling and the Murrumbidgee

10. Where does all the water in the Lake Eyre Basin go?
They flow slowly and a large amount of water is lost through evaporation.

11. What is unusual about the Finke River?
The unusual feature about the Finke River is that it only flows on a few days each year.

12. Where is the Franklin River and why has it become synonymous with conservation?
The Franklin River flows for 125 kilometres from the Cheyne Range to the Gordon river. It has become synonymous with conservation in Australia.

13. What court ruling eventually saved the Franklin? 
Battle to save the Franklin

14. Hold a class forum into the control of water in the Murray-Darling Basin. Conduct research into past and current control as well as proposals for the future. Be prepared to give your opinion about who should be responsible for the water. 
The Murray-Darling Basin is very important as it produces over one-third of Australia's food supply. Water in storage is used for urban communities, stock and domestic, irrigation and industries.


15. Refer to 1.20
a)   For each of the three land regions write a paragraph describing its features.
The Western Plateau is comprised of the remains of the ancient rock rock shield of Gondwanaland. It uses two-thirds of the country including the parts Western Australia, South Australia and Northern Territory. The central lowlands is about 25 percent of Australia. It is characterized by extremely flat, low-lying plains of sedimentary rock. It stretches from Australia's largest river basin, the Murray-Darling, through Artesian Basin, extending north to the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Eastern Highlands are a series of hills, valleys and mountains. The range extends north to the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland and south to Tasmania.


b)  In which land region is:
i.  Lake Carnegie - Western Plateau
ii. Gibson Desert - Western Plateau
iii. Simpson Desert - Central Lowlands
iv. Mount Kosciuszko - Eastern Highland
v. The Musgrave Rangers - Western Plateau

c) On the transect from Shark Bay to Maroochydore where is:
i. the highest place - Mt Woodroffe
ii. the lowest inland place - Simpson Desert

d) What is the height range of the:
i. Great Sandy Desert - 0-200m
ii. Great Victoria desert - 200-500m
iii. Tanami Desert - 500-1000m

1.1 Putting Australia on the Map

1 What do the words Terra Australis mean?

Hidden or undiscovered Southern land or Hidden or undiscovered Land of the south.

2 Who first used the word ‘Australia’ as the name for our country?

The first person to use the word Australia was the navigator Matthew Flinders

3 Which two continents are entirely in the Southern Hemisphere?

Australia and Antarctica

4 Which continents are in the Eastern Hemisphere?

Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia

5 Which line separates the Northern and Southern hemispheres?

The equator

6 Name the lines of latitude with each of the following values:

a 23½˚S

Tropic of Capricorn

b 23½˚N

Tropic of Cancer

c 66½˚S

Antarctic Circle

d 66½˚N

Arctic Circle

7 The highest value for a line of latitude is 90˚. What is the highest value for a line of longitude?

180⁰

8 Fill in the blanks with latitude or longitude:

a Lines of Latitude are parallel.

b Lines of Longitude are all the same length.

c The Equator is a line of Latitude.

d Lines of Longitude meet at the poles.

e The Prime Meridian is a line ofLongitude.

9 Name and locate Australia’s nearest neighbours.

Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Indonesia.

10 Which sea separates Australia and New Zealand?

Tasman Sea

11 Refer to 1.3:

a Estimate the latitude and longitude of each of the following:

i Los Angeles

30⁰N 90⁰ E

ii Buenos Aires

30⁰ W 60⁰ E

iii Singapore

0⁰ N 90⁰ E

iv Alice Springs

24⁰ S 135⁰ E

v Perth

30⁰ S 90⁰ W

b Which countries are located at the following:

i 30˚N 120˚E

ii 60˚N 120˚W

Russia

ii 60˚S 120˚W

iv 10˚S 60˚W

12 Use your atlas (or Google Earth/Maps) for the following activities:

a Name three countries on the Equator.

Indonesia, Brazil and Kenya

b Name three countries on the Prime Meridian.

United Kingdom, France and Spain.

c Name two countries with the same longitude as New South Wales.

d Which island nation in the Pacific is nearest to Australia?

 Indonesia

e What is the distance from the south coast of Tasmania to Antarctica?

3443 km

f What is the nearest country in South America to Australia?

 Hawaii

g What is the nearest country in Africa to Australia? *

Mozambique

1.4 Geographical Perspective on the Origins of Australia

1. What is continental drift?
The movement of the Earth's continents in a process.

2. What name is given to the processes associated with plate movements?
Convection currents

3. What is the name of the super continent that existed over one billion years ago?
Rodinia

4. When did Pangaea exist?
About 700 million years ago

5. Which present-day continents were pat of Gondwana? 
South America, Africa, India,Antarctic and Australia

6. At what speeds and in what direction is the Australian continent moving?
Five centimeters a year

7. How old are Australia's desert landscapes?
About a million years old

8. What is the main agent of erosion in Australia?
Wind and waves

9. What is geomorphology?
The study of landforms

10. What does a geomorphologist do?
They study landforms to determine the processes that form and transform them.

Year 9: Vocabulary List Unit 1 Australia - A Unique Continent

Geography Vocabulary: Australia - A Unique Continent

batholith - a large body of intrusive igneous rock believed to have crystallizedat a considerable depth below the earth's surface

Catchment - the act of catching water.

Dreamtime
epicormic - a shoot growing from an epicormic bud from underneath the bark of a stem or branch of a plant.

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) - an area along a country's coastline to which acountry claims exclusive rights for economicactivities

geomorphologist - the study of the characteristics, origin, and development oflandforms.

hemisphere - half of the terrestrial globe orcelestial sphere

isobar - a line drawn on a weather map or chart thatconnects points at which the barometric pressure is thesame.

latitude - the angular distance between an imaginary line around a heavenly body parallel to its equator and the equator itself

lignotubers -  starchy swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem by fire.

longitude - angular distance east or west on the earth'ssurface, measured by the angle contained between themeridian of a particular place and some prime meridian

lunette - any of various objects or spaces of crescentlike orsemicircular outline or section.

mallee - any of various dwarf Australian eucalyptuses,that sometimes form large tracts of brushwood.

metamorphic - A rock that has been changed from its original form by subjection to heat and/or pressure

sclerophyll - a woody plant with small leathery evergreen leaves that is thedominant plant form in certain hot dry areas

sedimentary - A form of rock made by the deposition and compression of small particles

tectonic forces - Forces pertaining to, causing or resulting from structural deformation of the earth's crust.

watershed - the region or area drained by a river, stream, etc

xerophyte - a plant adapted for growth under dry conditions

1.2
population density - is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans.

1.4
continental drift - the gradual movement and formation of continents

convection currents - Heat deep inside the Earth that drives the movement of the Earth's plates nearer the surface

glaciation - the condition of being covered with glaciers or masses of ice

1.5
Central Lowlands - a geologically defined area of relatively low-lying land in southern Scotland

Eastern Highlands  - a mountain range running along the eastern coast of Australia

Western Plateau - is Australia's largest drainage division and is composed predominantly of the remains of the ancient rock shield of Gondwanaland

1.6
El Nino -  a warm ocean current that flows along the equator from the date line and south off the coast of Ecuador at Christmas time

La Nina - a climate pattern that occurs across the tropical Pacific Ocean on average every five years

euclypts - woody plants belonging to three closely related genera: Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophora

1.7
biodiversity - the diversity of plant and animal life in a particular habitat

fauna - all the animal life in a particular region or period

flora - all the plant life in a particular region or period
montoremes

1.8
cresent-shaped dunes - a dence where it is generally wider than longer

diprotodon -  largest known marsupial that ever lived

megafauna - The large animals of a given region or time, considered as a group

thylacine - rare doglike carnivorous marsupial of Tasmania having stripes on its back

1.9
epheremals - Plants that emerge and bloom during one season, then die back for the remainder of the year

epicormic - An epicormic shoot is a shoot growing from an epicormic bud from underneath the bark of a stem or branch of a plant. 

transpiration - the emission of water vapor from the leaves of plants

1.10
acidification - the process of becoming acid or being converted into an acid

aquaculture - rearing aquatic animals or cultivating aquatic plants for food

non-renewable -  a natural resource which cannot be produced, re-grown, regenerated, or reused on a scale which can sustain its consumption rate

salinity - The amount of dissolved salt in the water

silviculture - the branch of forestry dealing with the development and care of forests

sustainable - capacity to endure. In ecology the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time

World Heritage  -  the list that is maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee

Australia's Large Coastline

Write a blog post explaining the positive and negative aspects of Australia having a long coastline and large EEZ.

Positive aspects for having long coastline:

• Tourist Attractions
• Beautiful scenery
• Safety from attack
• Shipping access

Negative aspects for having long coastline:

• Harder to travel
• More expensive to travel 
• Vulnerable to defend
• Easily to get lost when surfing

Positive aspects for having large EEZ:

• Great tourist attraction
• Beautiful Scenery
• Great sea life

Negative aspects for having large EEZ:

• Further away from other countries meaning travel would be more expensive
• It would take longer to travel to other countries
• Shipping from other countries would take a long time