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