The Atacama Desert

Read the passage about the Atacama Desert. Where is the Atacama Desert located?

• Africa

• Asia

• South America

• Australia

Read the passage about the Atacama Desert. The Atacama Desert is known for being one of the ______ places on Earth.

• driest

• coldest

• wettest

• highest

Read the passage about the Atacama Desert. What is the Atacama Desert made up of?

• Glaciers and forests

• Stones, salt lakes, sand, and lava

• Rivers and grasslands

• Ice and snow

Read the passage about the Atacama Desert. The soil in parts of the Atacama Desert has been compared to the land on which planet?

• Venus

• Mars

• Jupiter

• Mercury

Read the passage about the Atacama Desert. True or False: The Atacama Desert experiences extreme temperature changes between day and night.

• True

• False

The Atacama Desert is one of the driest places on Earth.

• True

• False

What unusual weather event happened in the Atacama Desert in July 2011?

• An arctic front brought snow to the desert.

• A hurricane struck the desert.

• A massive sandstorm covered the region.

• A heatwave caused record high temperatures.

What country is the Atacama Desert in?

• Brazil

• Argentina

• Ecuador

• Chile

Based on what you know about plants in the Atacama, what do you think happened to these plants that grew after heavy rainfall?

• They are probably still thriving in the Atacama Desert.

• Scientists probably dug them up and replanted them on Mars.

• They are probably still living because the Atacama gets rain regularly now.

• They probably were not able to adapt to the Atacama’s usual extreme conditions.

What is the main idea of this passage?

• The Atacama Desert covers 41,000 square miles down the west coast of the country Chile in South America.

• The Atacama Desert is one of the driest places on Earth, and its extreme conditions make it hard for living things to survive there.

• The Atacama Desert almost never gets rain, except in July of 2011, when an arctic front brought snow to the area.

• The South American Gray Fox and Darwin’s Leaf-Eared Mouse are two animals that have adapted to the Atacama Desert.