United States Geography Sprenkle Review

How did the Great Lakes form?

• by the collision of tectonic plates
• by runoff from the Appalachian Mountains
• by water rising from underground springs
• by glacier basins filling with water

What major river flows some 2,350 miles (3,782 km) from its source in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, making it an important route for trade?

• the Colorado River
• the Allegheny River
• the St. Lawrence River
• the Mississippi River

Why is the United States one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world?

• The lands which Europeans colonized contained powerful kingdoms of many nationalities.
• The earliest inhabitants arrived some 15,000 years ago.
• Over centuries, immigrants have arrived from many different countries.
• The British founded the thirteen colonies along the Atlantic coast.

Because of its immigration history, ________ in the United States.

• cities are the most ethnically uniform areas
• there are abundant natural resources
• a postindustrial economy emerged
• many different religions are practiced

A wind turbine is a source of ________ energy.

• fossil fuel
• solar
• renewable
• geothermal

What are the Great Plains of the United States?

• the flat, desolate area in central Alaska
• the flat area between the Pacific Ranges and the Rocky Mountains
• the flat region surrounding the Great Lakes
• the flat landscape east of the Rocky Mountains

What is the area between the Pacific Ranges and the Rocky Mountains that often experiences the rain shadow effect?

• the Continental Divide
• the Great Plains
• the Columbia Plateau
• the Atlantic Coastal Plain

One can infer from this chart that a person in the United States who speaks a language other than English at home is most likely to be from which of these countries?

• Brazil
• Canada
• Germany
• Mexico

It has often been argued that the United States is a "melting pot" of cultures. Which is the best explanation of what this means?

• European cultures are allowed to take precedence over other cultures.
• Cultures with undesirable traits have those aspects “melted” out of them.
• People and cultures combine to a degree in which a homogenous culture is created from many.
• While there is a distinctive basic set of cultures, component groups are distinguishable from one another.

Doppler radar is used to predict which natural hazard?

• earthquakes
• floods
• landslides
• tornadoes