Online Geography Resources

Base knowledge and understanding

Context

Lesson Aim

• To examine the opportunities for resource development in permafrost environments.
• To examine the challenges posed by permafrost and other characteristics of periglacial areas for resource development (mineral extraction and any associated settlement and communications).
• To use the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline as a case study to illustrate the opportunities and challenges of mineral (oil) extraction in permafrost environments.

Synthesis

Trans-Alaskan Pipeline - Opportunities

The wealth generated by Prudhoe Bay and the other fields on the North Slope since 1977 is worth more than all the fish ever caught, all the furs ever trapped, all the trees chopped down; throw in all the copper, whalebone, natural gas, tin, silver, platinum, and anything else ever extracted from Alaska too. The balance sheet of Alaskan history is simple: One Prudhoe Bay is worth more in real dollars than everything that has been dug out, cut down, caught or killed in Alaska since the beginning of time.

Alaska historian Terrence Cole

Task One - Opportunities

Produce detailed notes on the following:

• the opportunities posed by oil-extraction in the north of Alaska

Geofile 566 (April 2008) - Periglaciation and the Primary Economy: In Uneasy Alliance in Contemporary Alaska - is useful for this task.

Trans-Alaskan Pipeline - Challenges

Task Two - Image Annotation

Task Three - Challenges

Produce detailed notes on the following:

• the challenges posed by the periglacial environment for development of the oil resources

Geofile 566 (April 2008) - Periglaciation and the Primary Economy: In Uneasy Alliance in Contemporary Alaska - is useful for this task.

Review

Exam style question:

Using a located example, examine how a periglacial environment can offer both challenges and opportunities for mineral extraction. [10 marks]

The markbands can be found here - you need to look at Paper 2.