Grade 9 Geography Exam Nss

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Prime Meridian

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The Prime Meridian is an imaginary line that, similar to the Equator, divides the earth into eastern and western hemispheres.

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Equator

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an imaginary line drawn around the earth equally distant from both poles, dividing the earth into northern and southern hemispheres and constituting the parallel of latitude 0°.La

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Latitude

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Latitude is the angular distance of any object from the equator measured in degrees. The angular distance from the equator to itself is 0, thus the latitude at the equator is 0 °. If we move either up or down from the equator, our distance increases, and so does our angle to it. Eventually we reach either the North or South Pole. Standing on the these poles, places us at exactly a 90 ° angle to the equator.

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Longitude

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Longitude is measured in degrees east or west of the prime meridian. This means one half of the world is measured in degrees of east longitude up to 180°, and the other half in degrees of west longitude up to 180°.

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Absolute Location

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A place's absolute location is its exact place on Earth, often given in terms of latitude and longitude. For example, the Empire State Building is located at 40.7 degrees north (longitude), 74 degrees west (latitude).

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Relative Location

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Relative location refers to the position of a place or entity based on its positive with respect to other locations. For example, the location of the US Capitol is located about 38 miles southwest of Baltimore. Relative location can be expressed in terms of distance, travel time, or cost.

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Weather

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Weather is the day to day condition of the atmosphere. This includes temperature, rainfall and wind.

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Climate

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Climate is the average weather conditions of a place, usually measured over one year. This includes temperature and rainfall.

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Precipitation

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Precipitation is any form of liquid or solid water particles that fall from the atmosphere and reach the surface of the Earth. For the Gulf Coast area, precipitation includes drizzle, rain, hail, and on rare occasions, snow and sleet. Different seasons and geographic locations see varying amounts of precipitation in amount and intensity. Precipitation is caused when a mass of warm, moist air hits a mass of cold air. Condensation causes the moisture to form droplets that become rain or crystals that become snow or ice. When these droplets or crystals become too heavy to be suspended in the atmosphere, they fall to Earth as precipitation.

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Cardinal Directions

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Cardinal Directions and the Compass Rose. Cardinal Directions are the most commonly used forms of direction. and include North, South, East and West. The four equal divisions - Northeast, Southeast, Southwest and Northwest - are called Primary InterCardinal directions

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Census

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an official count or survey of a population, typically recording various details of individuals.

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Igneous

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Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava.

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Sedimentary

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Sedimentary rocks are formed by sediment that is deposited over time, usually as layers at the bottom of lakes and oceans.

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Metamorphic

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A metamorphic rock is a result of a transformation of a pre-existing rock. The original rock is subjected to very high heat and pressure, which cause obvious physical and/or chemical changes. Examples of these rock types include marble, slate, gneiss, schist.

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Cenozoic

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The Cenozoic Era, which began about 65 million years ago and continues into the present, is the third documented era in the history of Earth. The current locations of the continents and their modern-day inhabitants, including humans, can be traced to this period

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non-renewable

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any natural resource from the Earth that exists in limited supply and cannot be replaced if it is used up; also, any natural resource that cannot be replenished by natural means at the same rates that it is consumed. Eg. Oil, coal (fossil fuels)

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Ecozone

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A classification system that defines different parts of the environment with similar geography, vegetation and animal life.

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Plate Tectonics

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a theory explaining the structure of the earth's crust and many associated phenomena as resulting from the interaction of rigid lithospheric plates that move slowly over the underlying mantle.

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growing season

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A growing season is the period of the year when crops and other plants grow successfully. The length of a growing season varies from place to place. Most crops need a growing season of at least 90 days.

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Life expectancy

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Life Expectancy: the average number of years a person born in a particular country might be expected to live.

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CMA

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Stands for: Census Metropolitan Area

A "census metropolitan area" (CMA) is a grouping of census subdivisions comprising a large urban area (the "urban core") and those surrounding "urban fringes" with which it is closely integrated. To become a CMA, an area must register an urban core population of at least 100,000 at the previous census.

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Earth Overshoot

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Over population & overconsumption on earth

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Ecological Footprint

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the impact of human activities measured in terms of the area of biologically productive land and water required to produce the goods consumed and to assimilate the wastes generated. More simply, it is the amount of the environment necessary to produce the goods and services necessary to support a particular lifestyle.

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Biocapacity

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Biocapacity refers to the capacity of a given biologically productive area to generate an on-going supply of renewable resources and to absorb its spillover wastes. Unsustainability occurs if the area's ecological footprint exceeds its biocapacity.

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NIMBY

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Stand for: Not In My BackYard

used to express opposition by local citizens to the locating in their neighborhood of a civic project, as a jail, garbage dump, or drug rehabilitation center, that, though needed by the larger community, is considered unsightly, dangerous, or likely to lead to decreased property values.

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Mesozoic

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The Mesozoic Era is the age of the dinosaurs and lasted almost 180 million years from approximately 250 to 65 million years ago. This era includes 3 well known periods called the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods. A mass-extinction marked the beginning and end of the Mesozoic Era.

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Primary Industry

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industry, such as mining, agriculture, or forestry, that is concerned with obtaining or providing natural raw materials for conversion into commodities and products for the consumer.

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Secondary Industry

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Secondary industries are those that take the raw materials produced by the primary sector and process them into manufactured goods and products. Examples of secondary industries include heavy manufacturing, light manufacturing, food processing, oil refining and energy production.

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Tertiary Industry

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Tertiary production: this refers to the commercial services that support the production and distribution process, eg insurance, transport, advertising, warehousing and other services such as teaching and health care.

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Quarternary Industry

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intellectual activities. Activities associated with this sector include government, culture, libraries, scientific research, education, and information technology.

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Coniferous

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A conifer is a type of tree that produces cones and evergreen needles. Spot a pile of cones beneath a tree and you've found yourself a conifer. With the word cone embedded in it, it's no surprise that conifer is the term used for cone-producing trees.

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Deciduous

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(of a tree or shrub) shedding its leaves annually.

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Aquaculture

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The cultivation of marine or freshwater organisms, especially food fish or shellfish such as salmon or oysters, under controlled conditions. Also called aquafarming.

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Silviculture

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the growing and cultivation of trees.

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Climograph

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A climograph is a graphical representation of basic climatic parameters, that is monthly average temperature and precipitation, at a certain location. It is used for a quick-view of the climate of a location.

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Population Pyramid

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A population pyramid, also called an age pyramid or age picture diagram, is a graphical illustration that shows the distribution of various age groups in a population (typically that of a country or region of the world), which forms the shape of a pyramid when the population is growing.

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Paleozoic

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The Paleozoic Era, which ran from about 542 million years ago to 251 million years ago, was a time of great change on Earth. The era began with the breakup of one supercontinent and the formation of another. Plants became widespread. And the first vertebrate animals colonized land.

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Density

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is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume; it is a quantity of type number density. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and most of the time to humans

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Urban/Rural

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Urban: land areas, populations and housing developments located in urbanized areas, such as cities and towns or urban clusters,

Rural: refers to territory, populations and housing units located outside urbanized areas or clusters.

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Demography

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The quantitative study of human populations. Demographers study subjects such as the geographical distribution of people, birth and death rates, socioeconomic status, and age and sex distributions in order to identify the influences on population growth, structure, and development.

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Dependancy Load

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The dependency load is the age-population ratio that is usually not a part of the work force. Dependency load is most commonly referred to as the dependency ratio.

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Immigrant

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a person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence

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Refugee

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a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.

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Cultural Mosaic

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A cultural mosaic is a description of a nation that considers the different races, ethnicities and otherness of its citizens essential to its existence. The mosaic is often contrasted with the melting pot, which requires all of those differences to meld together in assimilation.

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HDI

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The acronym "HDI" stands for the Human Development Index. This index is used to measure whether a particular country is underdeveloped, developing or fully developed. The index relies on levels of education, life expectancy, literacy and gross domestic product to rank countries into groups.

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Time Zones

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A time zone is a region that observes a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries of countries and their subdivisions because it is convenient for areas in close commercial or other communication to keep the same time.

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Oil Sands

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Oil sand is a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay or other minerals, water and bitumen, which is a heavy and extremely viscous oil that must be treated before it can be used by refineries to produce usable fuels such as gasoline and diesel. Bitumen is so viscous that at room temperature it acts much like cold molasses. New technologies are increasing the treatment methods available to oil sands producers as more research is completed.

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Precambrian

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period of time that extends from about 4.6 billion years ago (the point at which Earth began to form) to the beginning of the Cambrian Period

The beginning of the Precambrian period starts with the formation of Earth about 4.5 billion years ago and ends at the first sign of complex life about 540 million years ago. The Precambrian has been divided into three eons: the Hadean, the Archean and the Proterozoic.

The Precambrian covers almost 90% of the entire history of the Earth.

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Nuclear

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Radioactive minerals such as uranium are mined.

Electricity is generated from the energy that is released when the atoms of these minerals are split (by nuclear fission) in nuclear reactors.

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Fracking

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(Hydraulic Fracturing) Fracking is the process of drilling down into the earth before a high-pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release the gas inside.

Water, sand and chemicals are injected into the rock at high pressure which allows the gas to flow out to the head of the well.

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Geothermal

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Geothermal energy is the heat from the Earth. It's clean and sustainable. Resources of geothermal energy range from the shallow ground to hot water and hot rock found a few miles beneath the Earth's surface, and down even deeper to the extremely high temperatures of molten rock called magma.

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Hydroelectricity

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Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water.

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Pangaea

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a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It assembled from earlier continental units approximately 300 million years ago, and it began to break apart about 175 million years ago.

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Canadian Shield

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The Canadian Shield refers to the exposed portion of the continental crust underlying North America.

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Prairies

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Prairies comprise the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, as they are partially covered by prairie. The Canadian Prairies is a region in western Canada, which may correspond to several different definitions, natural or political. Notably, the Prairie provinces or simply the grasslands

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Continental Drift

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Continental drift describes one of the earliest ways geologists thought continents moved over time. Today, the theory of continental drift has been replaced by the science of plate tectonics.

The theory of continental drift is most associated with the scientist Alfred Wegener. In the early 20th century, Wegener published a paper explaining his theory that the continental landmasses were “drifting” across the Earth, sometimes plowing through oceans and into each other. He called this movement continental drift.

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Fossil Fuels

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a natural fuel such as coal or gas, formed in the geological past from the remains of living organisms

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Renewable resources

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A renewable resource is a resource which can be used repeatedly because it is replaced naturally. Examples are: oxygen, fresh water, solar energy, timber, and biomass. Renewable resources may also include goods commodities such as wood, paper and leather.

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Indigenous

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Native Canadians

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Baby Boomers

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The Baby Boomers are a generation of people born during the post WWII ‘Baby Boom’, roughly during the years 1946 to 1964.

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Generation X

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Generation X came after the Baby Boomers, and typically covers people born between the mid 1960’s and the early 1980’s.

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Generation Y/Millenials

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Generation Y came after Generation X. Generation Y covers people born between the 1980’s and the year 2000, and these individuals are sometimes referred to as Gen Y, the Millennial Generation, or simply Millennials.

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Generation Z

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Generation Z is the generation of children born after the Year 2000.

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Urban Sprawl

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the uncontrolled expansion of urban areas.

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Cartographer

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Map maker

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Geologist

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A geologist is an expert in the field of geology, the study of what the Earth is made of and how it was formed.

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Meteorologist

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individual with specialized education who uses scientific principles to explain, understand, observe or forecast the earth's atmospheric phenomena and/or how the atmosphere affects the earth and life on the planet.

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First Nations

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(in Canada) an indigenous American Indian community officially recognized as an administrative unit by the federal government or functioning as such without official status.

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Inuit

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a member of an indigenous people of northern Canada and parts of Greenland and Alaska.

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Metis

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(especially in western Canada) a person of mixed American Indian and Euro-American ancestry, in particular one of a group of such people who in the 19th century constituted the so-called Métis nation in the areas around the Red and Saskatchewan rivers.

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Status Indian

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“Indian Status” refers to a specific legal identity of an Aboriginal person in Canada. With the creation of the Indian Act in 1876, the Canadian government developed criteria for who would be legally considered an Indian.

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Treaty

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A treaty is an agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as an (international) agreement, protocol, covenant, convention, pact, or exchange of letters, among other terms.

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Reserve

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An Indian Reserve is a tract of land set aside under the Indian Act and treaty agreements for the exclusive use of an Indian band. Band members possess the right to live on reserve lands, and band administrative and political structures are frequently located there.

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Landfill

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a low area of land that is built up from deposits of solid refuse in layers covered by soil.