Geography Grade 9 Exam Practice Flashcards

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering Grade 9 Canadian Geography units including map skills, geology, landform regions, climate, and resources.

Cartography

The art of drawing accurate, easily readable maps.

General Map

A map that provides many types of information, such as parks, hospitals, and tourist attractions, using symbols and colours.

Thematic Map

A map that reveals geography patterns of spatial data and focuses on one specific theme or topic.

Topographic Map

A large-scale map showing both natural and human-made features, such as height of land, roads, and vegetation cover, in great detail.

Prime Meridian

The imaginary vertical line at $0$ longitude that runs through Greenwich, London, and divides the Earth into Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

International Date Line

An imaginary line along $180$ longitude in the Pacific Ocean where the date changes; moving west gains a day, while moving east loses a day.

Latitude

Imaginary horizontal lines measured from $0$ at the equator to $90$ north or south.

Longitude

Imaginary vertical lines measured from $0$ at the prime meridian to $180$ east or west.

Equator

The imaginary horizontal line around the middle of the Earth that divides it into northern and southern hemispheres.

Newfoundland Time Zone

The latest time zone in Canada, which is $30$ minutes later than Atlantic time.

Great Lakes

The five lakes represented by the acronym HOMES: Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.

Magma

Melted rock located inside the Earth.

Lava

Magma that has erupted and is on the surface of the Earth.

Igneous Rock

Rock formed when lava cools and hardens, such as granite and obsidian.

Metamorphic Rock

Rock formed when existing rock is changed by heat and pressure, such as slate and marble.

Sedimentary Rock

Rock formed when small pieces of rock and dead material are pressed and cemented together over time, such as limestone and sandstone.

Erosion

The movement of sediments by forces such as wind and waves.

Kettles

Holes left by glaciers that eventually fill with water.

Erratics

Large boulders that were transported and left behind by moving glaciers.

Precambrian Era

The oldest and longest era, lasting for $4$ billion years and accounting for $87\%$ of Earth's history, during which the Canadian Shield was formed.

Mesozoic Era

The age of the dinosaurs, lasting $180$ million years, during which the Rockies and Innuitian mountains formed.

Canadian Shield

A horseshoe-shaped landform region featuring very rocky terrain, many lakes, and minerals like diamonds, gold, and nickel.

Escarpment

A change in the height of land caused by the erosion of soft sedimentary rock, such as at Niagara Falls.

Interior Plains

A flat, wide-open region in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba known for agriculture and the oil industry.

Permafrost

Permanently frozen ground typically found in the Tundra vegetation region.

Boreal and Taiga Forest

The largest vegetation region in Canada, consisting mostly of coniferous trees.

Continental Drift Theory

The idea proposed by Alfred Wegener in $1912$ that continents were once connected as Pangeae and have since moved apart.

Crust

The thin, outermost layer of the Earth broken into plates that are pushed by magma from the mantle.

Ring of Fire

A $40,000\,km$ horseshoe-shaped area in the Pacific Ocean containing $75\%$ of the world’s active and dormant volcanoes.

Richter Scale

A scale from $1$ to $10$ used by scientists to determine the strength of an earthquake.

Epicentre

The point on the Earth's surface directly above the center of an earthquake.

Convergent/Subduction

A type of plate movement where plates collide, causing one to submerge under the other, forming mountains and volcanoes.

Divergent Boundary

A plate movement where plates separate, allowing magma to rise and create new crust.

Orographic Precipitation

Rain or snow that occurs when warm, wet air is forced to rise over high land or mountains, causing it to cool and condense.

Jet Streams

Strong streams of wind flowing from west to east that control weather patterns.

Maritime Climate

A climate found near oceans characterized by mild temperatures, a low temperature range, and more than $1000\,mm$ of annual precipitation.

Leaching

The soil process in wet climates where nutrients are washed down through the soil layers.

Calcification

The soil process in dry climates where minerals build up as water evaporates.

Pull Factors

Reasons that attract people to a new country, such as better job opportunities, safety, or education.

Renewable Resources

Resources that are replaced naturally over a short time, such as forests, fish, and fresh water.

Flow Resources

Resources that are constantly available and cannot be used up, such as sunlight, wind, and moving water.