Online Geography Resources

Hot, arid environments

IB DP Geography - Extreme Environments

Base knowledge and understanding

Annual precipitation - Draa Valley, Morocco

Video Clip

Data Visualization

Al Jazeera - Morocco flash floods leave dozens dead
[24 November 2014]

	weathering
	erosion
	wind-formed
	water-formed
	flash flood

News Article

Words to be defined

Context

The aim of this lesson:

To explain weathering and the processes involved in wind and water-formed features in hot, arid environments.
To explain the occurrence of flash floods in hot, arid environments.

Task One - Notes on Weathering and Erosion

Produce notes on weathering [such as exfoliation and salt crystallization] and erosion [focusing upon the action of the wind] in hot, arid areas.

Wind and Water-Formed Features

[Wind: Crescent (Barchan) Dunes, Yardangs, Zeugens | Water: Wadis, Mesas, Buttes and Spires]

Produce notes on the following wind and water-formed features.

Option 1		Answer the questions by hand - no note-taking frame
Option 2		Answer the questions using this Google Documents note-taking frame

Crescent (Barchan) Dunes

Yardangs

Yardangs in the Western Desert of Egypt | Source

Zeugens

Wadis

Arid Environment Landform - a Wadi, Morocco

Mesas, Buttes and Spires

Synthesis

I-Spy in the Desert Task

I-Spy on the Pavement was published in 1961. Have a look at the style of the writing and images. There is always a description, a question and a points value. How many 'chair menders' have you seen on the pavement in your town/city?

Source

Produce your own version of 'I-Spy in the Desert - Landforms Chapter'. Your booklet should include descriptions, a question and an image of each of the landforms.

Blank I-Spy in the Desert Booklet

The Occurrence of Flash Floods

Make notes on the occurrence of flash floods in desert areas, including an annotated sketch of a storm hydrograph for a flash flood in a hot, arid environment.

Wanderlust - Atacama Desert faces worst flash floods in 11 years

Topographic Map Skills

USGS topographic maps can be downloaded, for free, from The USGS Store. Do a search for 'monument valley' to find the region of the Colorado Plateau, in Utah, which is characterized by a cluster of vast sandstone buttes.

Review

These tasks were linked to the following IB DP Geography syllabus point:

Explain weathering and the processes involved in wind- and water-formed features. Explain the occurrence of flash floods.

'Explain' is a Assessment Objective 2 command term which is likely to generate 4 or 6 mark questions. Write a series of possible questions that you could be asked for this syllabus point.