Chapter 11 Vocab

Question 1

dikes

Answer 1

large banks of earth and stone; built in the Netherlands to hold back water

Question 2

polders

Answer 2

land reclaimed from the sea through dikes in the Netherlands; drained and kept dry by windmills; provided acres of land for farming and settlement

Question 3

glaciation

Answer 3

glaciers formed and spread over the Scandinavian Peninsula; carved out fjords

Question 4

fjords

Answer 4

long, narrow, steep-sided inlets carved by glaciers; provide fine harbors on Norway’s jagged coastline

Question 5

loess

Answer 5

fine, rich, wind-borne soil; southern edge of North European Plain

Question 6

timberline

Answer 6

the elevation above which trees cannot grow; below, trees are found in cooler Alpine areas

Question 7

foehns

Answer 7

dry winds that can cause sudden changes in the Alps when they bow down from the mountains into valleys and plains; trigger avalnches

Question 8

avalanches

Answer 8

destructive masses of ice, snow, and rock sliding down mountainside; caused by foehns in Alps region

Question 9

mistral

Answer 9

strong north wind from the Alps; sometimes sends gusts of bitterly cold air into southern France

Question 10

siroccos

Answer 10

high dry winds from North Africa that may bring high temperatures to the region

Question 11

chaparral

Answer 11

shrubs and small trees, supported by the hot, dry summers in much of southern Europe

Question 12

permafrost

Answer 12

soil that is permanently frozen beneath the surface; far north tundra and subarctic regions