Zoom Lesson for 3/15/21

Zoom Lesson for 3/15/21

Be ready to learn!

The Western Region!

Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Hawaii.

General Information about the West Region.

• The Western United States commonly referred to as the American West, the Far West, or simply the West traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. 

• The West contains several major biomes. It is known for arid to semi-arid plateaus and plains, particularly in the American Southwest – forested mountains, including the major ranges of the American Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains – the massive coastal shoreline of the American Pacific Coast - and the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest.

General Information about West Region.

• The entire Western region has also been strongly influenced by European, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Native Americans; it contains the largest number of minorities in the U.S. 

• The West also contains much of the Native American population in the U.S., particularly in the large reservations in the Mountain and Desert States.

• Most of the public land held by the U.S. National Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management is in the Western states. Public lands account for 25 to 75 percent of the total land area in these states.

General Information about the West Region.

• As a generalization, the climate of the West can be described as semiarid; however, parts of the West get extremely high amounts of rain and/or snow, and still, other parts are true desert and get less than 5 inches (130 mm) of rain per year. Also, the climate of the West is quite unstable, as areas that are normally wet can be very dry for years and vice versa.

• The seasonal temperatures vary greatly throughout the West. Low elevations on the West Coast have warm to very hot summers and get little to no snow. The desert southwest has very hot summers and mild winters. While the mountains in the southwest receive generally large amounts of snow. The Inland Northwest has a continental climate of warm to hot summers and cold to bitterly cold winters.

General Information about the West Region.

• Plains make up much of the eastern portion of the West, underlain with sedimentary rock from the Upper Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic eras. The Rocky Mountains expose igneous and metamorphic rock both from the Precambrian and from the Phanerozoic eon. The Inter-mountain States and Pacific Northwest have huge expanses of volcanic rock from the Cenozoic era. Salt flats and salt lakes reveal a time when the great inland seas covered much of what is now the West.

• The Pacific states are the most geologically active areas in the United States. Earthquakes cause damage every few to several years in California. While the Pacific states are the most volcanically active areas, extinct volcanoes and lava flows are found throughout most of the West.

Open Ended

What are the differences in the geography of Nevada and Idaho?

Open Ended

What are the differences in the geography of Montana and Wyoming?

Open Ended

What are the differences in the geography of Colorado and Utah?

Open Ended

What is the difference between the upper part of California and the lower part?

Open Ended

What are the differences in the geography of Oregon and Washington?

Open Ended

How would you describe the geography of Hawaii? Does it have a different type of geography than the other states we have looked at?

Open Ended

How would you describe the state of Alaska? Does its geography differ from the other states?

The End!

Be sure to be ready for your test.