NZ Environment Flashcards
What is the Natural Environment?
Everything around us that has been produced by nature.
What is Cultural Environment?
Everything around us that has been produced by humans.
Humans depend upon the earth to provide us with essential things that we need to survive, like food, water and shelter. All the goods we create and manufacture are directly dependent on the resources provided by the planet. e.g. Oil, Coal and Timber.
TRUE or FALSE?
True
Geographers use the term ‘relief’ to refer to the height and shape of the land. Relief features are usually categorised into what four types?
Mountains
Hills
Plateau
Plains
Does NZ sit on the south-west segment of the Ring of Fire, where the Australian plate and the Pacific plate meet?
Yes
The Ring of Fire is a zone of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that encircles the basin of the Pacific ocean.
TRUE or FALSE?
True
What is a mountain?
Areas of steep land over 1000m in height.
e.g. Southern Alps of NZ
What is hill country?
Areas lower than 1000m in height with slopes less steep than mountains.
What are plains?
Areas of low-lying land either flat or with very gentle slopes.
What is a plateau?
Areas of relatively flat land that are located at some height above sea level.
What is NZ’s longest river?
Waikato river
425 km
What is NZ’s largest lake?
Lake Taupo
606 sq km
What is NZ’s deepest lake?
Lake Hauroko
In Fiordland
462m deep
What is NZ’s highest recorded temperature?
42.4 °C
In Rangiora & Jordan (Marlborough)
What is NZ’s lowest recorded temperature?
-21.6 °C In Ophir (Central Otago)
What is NZ’s driest region?
Central Otago
What is NZ’s wettest region?
Fiordland (West Coast)
What is NZ’s highest mountain?
Aoraki / Mt. Cook
Height 3755m
The Canterbury Plains are known as a depositional landform.
TRUE or FALSE?
True
The valley caused by glacier is an erosional landform.
TRUE or FALSE?
True
The resulting line of active volcanoes, from Ruapehu to White Island, and active earthquake fault lines including the Alpine Fault and Wellington Fault run parallel to this collision zone of plates.
TRUE or FALSE?
True
The Pacific Plate collided with the Australian plate forcing the Pacific Plate down, which causes magma to rise as it gets destroyed and melts, hence the formation of volcanoes. This process is called subduction.
TRUE or FALSE?
True
What year was the Christchurch earthquake?
2011
How many people died in Christchurch earthquake?
185
What caused the Tangiwai train disaster in 1953 that killed 151 people?
Mud flow (lahar)
What other city in North Island of NZ in 1931 had a massive earthquake?
Napier
256 people killed
What agencies help NZers in major hazards?
Civil Defense
Red Cross
Army
EQC
The process of wearing down the earth’s surface is ___.
erosion
Movement of eroded sediment is ___.
transportation
When eroded sediment is dropped on earth’s surface, it is called ___.
deposition
Name the four climate based factors that influence NZ climate?
latitude
altitude
distance from the sea
wind direction
Describe weather.
It refers to what it is like at a particular time on a particular day.
Describe climate.
It refers to weather conditions of a particular place averaged out over a long period of time (e.g. 30 years).
Describe NZ’s climate.
NZ has a varied climate ranging from warm sub-tropical in the far north to cool temperature climate in the far south, with severe alpine conditions in the mountains.
How do mountain chains affect NZ’s weather?
Mountain chains extending the length of NZ provide a barrier for the prevailing westerly winds, dividing the country into dramatically different climate regions.
Where are the wettest and driest places in NZ?
The West Coast of South Island is the wettest area of NZ, whereas the area to the east of the mountains just over 100km away is the driest. e.g. Central Otago.
What is the mean annual temperature range?
The mean annual temperature ranges from 10°C in the south to 16°C in the north of NZ.
What are the coldest and warmest months in NZ?
The coldest month is July and the warmest month is usually January and February.
How many sunshine hours are there in NZ?
Most of NZ have at least 2000 hours annually.
Why is the Sun in the NZ dangerous?
The sun is considered to be NZ’s most dangerous natural hazard due to high levels of UV radiation, an outdoor lifestyle and ozone hole over Antarctica.
Where is snow found in NZ?
Most snow in NZ falls in mountain areas. It falls very rarely in the coastal areas of North Island and the west of South Island.
The further away from the equator, the colder the temperature, and vice-versa.
TRUE or FALSE?
True
NZ is located 30-48 degrees south of the equator.
TRUE or FALSE?
True
Relief can be described as the shape of the land, high or low, steep, gentle or flat, hills and valleys.
TRUE or FALSE?
True
NZ lies on the boundary between two massive plates. Which are these plates.
Indo-Australian and Pacific plates
The surface of the earth is made up of huge slabs of rocks called ___.
plates
Hundreds of million years ago all the continents were joined together in one supercontinent called ___.
Pangaea
What was the southern supercontinent called after it was split up from Pangaea?
Gondwana
NZ’s long narrow shape ensures that most places are close to the sea, therefore NZ has a ‘maritime climate’.
TRUE or FALSE?
True
Places located inland tend to experience great temperature variations between summer and winter.
TRUE or FALSE?
True
NZ’s prevailing wind is westerly - that is it is blowing from west to east.
TRUE or FALSE?
True
When winds blow the pick up the characteristics of where they came from or what they are passing over.
TRUE or FALSE?
True
Wind blowing over the sea will be moist whereas wind passing over hot and dry land will become hot and dry.
TRUE or FALSE?
True
Rainfall varies from place to place largely due to the mountains.
TRUE or FALSE?
True
The prevailing wind in NZ is ___.
Westerly
When air rises it condenses and forms clouds and then rain occurs. This type of rain is called ___ rainfall and it is very common in NZ.
orographic
Orographic rainfall makes the western regions of NZ much wetter than the eastern areas.
TRUE or FALSE?
True
Dry area between the mountains is called a ___.
rain-shadow region
Name a region that has suffered from serious floods in NZ.
Manawatu
Convectional rainfall occurs when the energy of the sun heats the earth’s surface and causes water to evaporate changing to water vapour. This warm moist air rises and as it rises it cools. The air reaches a point called the condensation level where it has cooled to such an extent that the water vapour condenses and turns into a liquid form.
TRUE or FALSE?
True
Which statement is not correct about flooding?
a. Flooding in NZ is not an issue.
b. NZ also has many fast flowing rivers that are prone to flooding.
c. Most parts of NZ receive regular and plentiful rainfall and nearly all parts of NZ experience torrential rainfall at some part of the year.
d. NZ’s greatest weather hazard in the last 100 years has been flooding.
a. Flooding in NZ is not an issue.
A ___ will bring cold and dry air from Antarctica.
Southerly
A ___ will bring warm moist air from the tropics.
Northerly
A westerly will bring ___ and sometimes ___ weather.
mild, showery
The Wahine was a drive-on passenger ship which serves the overnight voyage between North and South islands.
TRUE or FALSE?
True
What date was the Wahine disaster?
10-Apr-1968
The year of the Whaine disaster was 1964.
TRUE or FALSE?
False
How many people were on-board the Wahine ship?
733
Where did the Wahine start its voyage from?
Lyttelton
How many people dies in the Wahine disaster?
51
Who was the captain of the ship (Wahine)?
Capt. Robertson
The remnants of the cyclone Giselle hit Wellington at the same time as another storm which had driven up from the West Coast.
TRUE or FALSE?
True
There were two major storms that met over Wellington creating a single storm just as the Inter Islander ferry was crossing the ___.
Cook Strait
There were a number of factors that caused the Wahine to sink. Which statement below if not true?
a. Wahine radar system out of action, winds increased to 160 kmph and visibility was poor.
b. Wahine pushed off course by a huge wave, in line with Barrett reef, captain unable to correct.
c. For 30 mins the Wahine battled the waves, trying to head back out to sea, however they were unsuccessful and hit the rocks on the reef.
d. The captain did not care and he was drunk.
d. The captain did not care and he was drunk.
