Urban Environmental Geography
– HW10 YOUR NAME:
Due March 3, Wednesday.
Two parts to your homework:
PART A. 10 points -- Complete Encounter Geosystems
Chapters 8 and 9.
5 minute rule: work on a
question 5 minutes, max. At 5 min… write “5 min” as an answer… and quit working
on that question. 5 minutes means you’ve thought about it… but not spent
egregious amounts of time on it. You still should be completing about 85% of
the labs.
PART B. 20 points.... this part is much more
important.
Apply Earth systems concepts to your urban setting.
Critical thinking. TECTONICS
(1) Information about your urban setting.
NOTE: Your workbook and the
computer files greatly simplify major plate boundaries and don’t present intra-plate
tectonic dynamics. Reply to the first two questions using Google Earth; the
second two questions using USGS site: http://pubs.usgs.gov/imap/2800/ . Reply to
the fifth question after a Google search… your city and …. “tectonics” “earthquake
hazards” or “seismic hazards.”. If you find no information, ask yourself why.
a) Using your workbook’s
approach, how far is your city from a major plate boundary? ______
b) What is the tectonic
environment of your city with respect to major plate boundary? (a) active
tectonics (compressional, extensional, or strike slip); or (b) relatively
quiescent.
c) On the USGS map, Dynamic
Earth: what plate is your city on? ____________________
d) What direction and how
fast with respect to
e) What did a “google search”
indicate about your city’s setting with respect to seismic hazards?
(2) Think Earth systems
thoughts...
Think Earth systems
thoughts... meaning... go through a mental checklist. Think about each
relationship. Not all will be affected ways that matter to you as an urban
environmental geographer... but you still should be open to the idea that it might.
Jot down some ideas… think about each of the subsystems… jot down ideas for
three of five.
· How does tectonics affect the atmospheric conditions
of my city (weather and climate)?
· How does tectonics affect the hydrosphere
relationships of my city (water supplies, water issues)?
· How does tectonics affect the biosphere of my city
(directly its flora and fauna, and its "footprint" its agricultural
dependencies)?
· How does tectonics affect the geosphere relationships
(tectonics, erosion / deposition... directly or indirectly)?
· How does tectonics affect the anthrosphere of my city
(for example, physical layout; transportation and connectedness; society and quality
of life; economics and the metabolism of the city (what it consumes, and
produces, including wastes))?
(3) Write a paragraph
(maximum of two) that explain(s) how past and present tectonics affects your
urban setting.