HL Geography - Option C: Extreme Environments

Glacial mass budget

how ice accumulates and melts on a glacier which determines whether a glacier advances or retreats

U-shaped valley

a shape left behind by the glacier with a misfit stream

corrie or cirque

an amphitheater-like valley formed by glacial erosion characterized by deep, wide basins with very steep concave walls at its head as well as sides.

arête

a narrow ridge of rock that separates two valleys

Bergschrund

a feature formed at the beginning of a glacier when the initial ice mass becomes too heavy and breaks away from its base

pingos

dome shaped hills common in periglacial areas characterized by permafrost and a seasonally changing active layer. At the core is an ice lens, and the surface layer made of soil

patterned ground

symmetrical pattern of geometric shapes formed by the deformation of ground material in periglacial regions.

solifluction

when land mass moves down a slope due to freeze-thaw activity

Ice wedges

vertical masses of ice that penetrate down, formed as a result of the large amounts of ground ice present

rain-shadow effect

an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region forcing it to become a desert

rock pedestals

a naturally occurring rock whose shape resembles a mushroom as a result of wind erosion

mesas

sections of a plateau eroded away by water that are wider than they are tall

buttes

eroded mesas that are taller than they are wide

dunes

aeolian sands (sand moved by wind) trapped by barriers begins to build up

the Aral Sea

a lake which lies on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

75%

the Aral Sea has lost (…) of it’s original surface area

22

the number of fish species that have gone extinct in the Aral Sea

150 thousand tons

the amount of salt which has been lifted from the Aral Sea

Kokaral Dam

Dam constructed by Kazakhstan across a narrow stretch of the Aral Sea, splitting off the North Aral Sea from the much larger South Aral Sea.

13km and 100 million dollars

length and cost of the Kokaral Dam constructed by Kazakhstan

the Sahel

a semi-arid zone stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in West Africa to the Red Sea

60km per year

estimated growth of the Sahara as the Sahel dries

Uranium

Niger’s biggest mineral export

3434 tonnes

the amount of Uranium extracted in Niger in 2006

Areva

the French company owner of the biggest mine in the North of Niger

40%

Uranium represents (…) of Niger’s total exports

4.5%

Resource extraction represents (…) of Niger’s GDP

270 million m³

the amount of water estimated to be extracted in the next 40 years in Niger for Resource extraction

the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS)

an oil transportation system spanning Alaska that conveys oil from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez

800 miles

the approximate length of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS)

8 billion dollars

the cost to construct the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS)

16 billion as of 2010

the TAPS pipeline has shipped almost (…) barrels of oil as of (…)

85%

the percentage of Alaska’s revenue which comes from the petroleum industry

46’000 gallons of oil and water

The size of a spill caused by a crack in the TAPS pipeline in 2009