Cavs Geography Homework 1.11

1. Name three non-renewable energy resources.

Oil, coal and uranium.

2. Name three renewable energy resources

hydro electricity, thermo electricity and solar power.

3.  Why is Australia looking to develop clean energy sources?

To reduce green house emissions

4. List the top four coal producers in the world.

China, United States, India and Australia

5. How large are Australia’s coal reserves?

There are proven coal reserves of 76 billion tonnes in Australia enough to last another 200 years

6. How much natural gas does Australia have?

Four billion dollars worth of it each year

7. Describe the solar power plant to be built near Mildura.

It will use advanced technology such as those used to power satellites, where mirrors up to 0.8km long will concentrate on capturing the suns rays and each cell will produce 1,500 times that of an average hose roof top solar panel. 

8. How can electricity be generated by the wind?

The wind rotates a copper turbine that creates electricity

9. Draw a table showing the advantages and disadvantages of
the Starfish Hill wind farm.

 

Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

1. All about the recent natural disaster in Japan:

On Saturday night, 120 kilometers off the coast of Japan a huge earthquake hit. It  was the largest earthquake ever recorded in Japan and 5th largest recorded in the world since the beginning of the 20th century. A sudden uprising in the plates below the ocean caused an uplift in the sea, creating a large and powerful wave to thunder towards Japan. The earthquake was nothing compared to the destruction of the Tsunami. The Tsunami flattened coastal villages and killed many thousands of people. The wave in some areas traveled as far as 5km in shore.

2. Where was the epicenter of the earthquake?

Just off the coast of Honshu, Japan

3. What was the size of the earthquake?

The earthquake was originally thought to be a magnitude of 8.9 but yesterday night has recently been reclassified as a 9.0 earthquake

4. What are some of the areas most effected? 

Coastal villages and towns are reported to have been  devastated and totally swept away.

5. Describe the devastation and include an image.

The destruction of the tsunami and earthquake has been utterly devastating.  It has all infrastructure and will cost the Japanese government billions upon billions of dollars in order to repair and rebuild their nations.

6. Describe the impending man-made disaster: what, where , why?

The impending man made disaster is the melt down of multiple nuclear facilities across the Japanese nation. Radiation from the nuclear facilities can cause mutations, death and total destruction on the surrounding environment 

Homework Revision Questions

1. What are resources?
Resources is the collective wealth of a country's natural minerals
2. Define renewable and non-renewable resources?
Renewable resources are resources that can be recycled and used effectively again and again. Non-renewable resources are resources that can't be effectively recycled and reused.
3. Explain how a renewable resource can become non‑renewable?
Renewable resources can become non-renewable resources through over exploitation 
4. Why is soil a valuable resource?
Because it is the base of all life and agriculture.
5. What is silviculture?
The cultivation of forest trees
6. What is the area of forest in Australia?
The area of forest is known as fauna
7. How valuable are Australia’s fishing and aquaculture industries?
Extremely valuable, they provide thousands of jobs and contribute billions of dollars towards Australia economy. Not to mention it feeds half the nation and keeps them healthy with all the valuable nutrients they obtain from eating seafood.
8. Describe one measure put in place to protect a fish species?
The Australian Fishing management authority's put fishing limitations or bans on endangered or over fished fish species.
9. Which minerals does Australia have the largest reserves of in the world?
Australia largest known economic resources of bauxite, iron ore, lead, zinc, silver, uranium, industrial diamonds and mineral sands.
10. Why are Australia’s mineral reserves increasing?
Because of the better and more efficient mining technologies frequently coming out
11. Refer to 1.54 to write a paragraph describing Australia’s forest resources?
Over 1/5 of the total land area in Australia is covered in forests. Australia's economy makes over 2 billion dollars in profit each year from tree forestation and Australia imports more than they export buying up to 4 billion dollars worth of timber.
12. Explain why uranium is a valuable resource.
 Because it is such a rare resource and creates huge reserves of energy that can be harnessed, also because it can be made into such a cataclysmic weapon. 
13. Explain why World Heritage sites are valuable resources.
Because they teach us so much about our past, and we can learn so much from them. They are also becoming increasingly more valuable as more and more are cut down
14. How do you think uranium mining impacts on the landscape?
I think it is affecting the landscape in a very negative way. We are tearing up the land and destroying the local fauna and flora that inhabit the area. We are also destroying the Aboriginals native land that they so tenderly cared for over 40,000 years. 
15. Describe the location of the Australian fishing grounds shown in 1.55?
Australia's fishing grounds include an area much bigger area than Australia itself. 

16. Refer to 1.59:
a. Describe the spatial distribution of Australia’s uranium reserves.
There is quite a few potential mines throughout Australia each of them hundreds of Kilometers apart
b. Name the former uranium mine located in South Australia.
 The former uranium mine the was situated in South Australia is called Radium Hill 
c. Name the uranium mine in the Northern Territory.
The uranium mine currently active in the Northern Territory is called Ranger.
17. Construct a suitable type of graph to represent the statistics in 1.61. Describe the world distribution of uranium resources shown in the graph.
18. Refer to 1.60:
a What was the value of Australlia’s uranium exports in:
i 1986: was valued at 300 million dollars
ii 1996: was valued at 250 million dollars
iii 2006: was valued at 550 million dollars
b What was the average value of uranium exports from 1997 to 2006?
The average export value of Australia's uranium from 1997 to 20066 was 390 million dollars
 c Describe the trend in the value of uranium exports
Ever since 1997 Uranium export profits have been consistently rising.

                                                                                                                                                               

Cavs Geography Homework 1.6

What is the difference between climate and weather?

Climate is the pattern of weather expected in a particular place while weather is the state of the atmosphere in terms of wind, rain, temperature, moisture and pressure.

How does latitude influence climate?

Latitude affects the climate of an area because the further you are from the equator the colder the climate gets while the closer you are to the equator the more humid the climate gets. 

Describe the summer and winter pressure patterns that affect Australia’s climate.

In a typical summer there is usually high pressure in the south and low pressure in the north, in a typical winter their is low pressure in the south and high pressure in the north.

How do oceans influence climate?

Ocean Currents from nearer the poles bring cooler currents and those from nearer the Equator bring warmer currents. 

Describe the influence of relief on climate?

Relief is the decrease of temperaure that comes with the decrease of height. Highland areas are cooler and wetter than lowland areas.  

Discuss the usefulness of average climate statistics for:

A. An Australian farmer

The climate average in a particular area to a farmer is very useful because it can help farmers chose what crops to grow in their particular area, what crops would be the most fertile.

B. A tourist in Australia

It can be useful to a tourist because it will notify them of the climate they are going to be visiting in order to better prepare and turn up with the right gear and clothing.

Describe and explain the relationship between climate and vegetation in Australia.

In the  more coastal wet regions there is large, wet,  diverse dense, green forest extremely in flora and fauna. In the dry arid parts of Australia, there lies little vegetation but still a large diversity of life that have adapted to the climate.

Refer to 1.29. Use the climate data to plot climate graphs for Hobart and Darwin.

Calculate the average annual precipitation and temperature for each place.

Average temperature for Darwin is 32.04 degrees and the average precipitation is 142.4 milliliters.

Average temperature for Hobart is 17.05 degrees and the average precipitation is 43.9 milliliters.

Describe and explain the temperature and rainfall patterns for Melbourne and Alice Springs.

A. Which place has the greatest temperature range?
Alice Springs has the greatest temperature range
B. Which place has the most seasonal rainfall?

Melbourne has the most seasonal rainfall

Australian Export and Import

1.Who is Australia's largest export partner?
Australia's largest export partner is China
What products do they export with them?
The main products exported to China are Australia's natural resources retrieved by Australia's large mining Industry, some natural minerals that are exported to China include gold, copper, iron, aluminum, coal etc. We also export large amounts of beef, cotton and wheat.
How much of each product do they export?
Australia exports up to 25 million tonnes of coal each year to China
Australia exports over 4 billion dollars of wheat each year to China
For what purpose does that country need the products they import from Australia?
China needs these natural minerals because their country is not rich like Australia in natural resources and in their growing economy they need plenty of these minerals to continue their growing infrastructure. They also need wheat and cotton because they may not have the right climate in order to grow these  things.

 2. Who is Australia's largest import partner?
Australia's largest import partner is China
What do they import from them?
We import all sorts of stuff like electronics hardware, this includes the production of iPods, printers, computer etc. 
How much do we import from China?
We import 10's of Billions of dollars of electronic hardware from China each year
Why do you think that Australia imports these goods from this country?
Australia imports these goods from China because it is much cheaper and easier to manufacturer these goods in their country  

Cavs Geography Homework 1.7

1 Why are so many of Australia’s plants and animals unique?   

Because Australia has been isolated from the rest of world for over 50 million years      

2. Why have many species in Australia survived for millions of years?        

Because they have learned to adapt to the constantly shifting climate and weather 

3. What does endemic mean?                                                                                                             

Endemic means it can only be found in Australia    

4. What percentage of Australia’s reptiles is thought to be endemic?

89% of Australia’s Reptilian species is thought to be endemic

5. Name three areas in Australia with great biodiversity.

Three areas in Australia with great biodiversity include the tropical rain forests of Queensland, The Great Barrier off the Queensland coast, and the Botanical province of Western Australia 

6. Where can the richest insect fauna be found? 

They can be found in the Tropical rain forests of Queensland 

7. What are marsupials? Name an example

A marsupial is a mammal that contains a pouch; an example includes Australia endemic kangaroo 

8. What are monotremes? Name an example.    

A monotreme is a mammal that lays eggs; an example includes the Australian endemic Platypus 

9. What is the difference between a kangaroo and a wallaby?  

There isn’t much of a difference between the kangaroo and the wallaby, the difference however lies in the general size of the animal and areas that these creatures can be located.  Kangaroos are generally found on the large open grass lands of Australia while the wallabies range from the national parks of NSW and Queensland to the Blue Mountains and Great Dividing Range.  

10. Write a paragraph describing the duck-billed platypus

The platypus is seemingly a strange genetic adaptation to the Australian climate, it is a mammal/reptile as it lays multiple eggs like a reptile but remains warm blooded like a mammal. It is strange in appearance with a large duck like bill, four webbed feet and a long paddle like tail. It is covered in thick brown fur and has small beady black eyes.                                                                                                                                           

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Exchange student from London

My exchange student Jack is coming from London, England to Sydney, Australia for the next three months.

The weather here has recently been great, hot, sunny and humid. However the weather is taking a turn for the worse. During the winter months Jack, the weather turns cool and chilly maybe not as cold as what you may experience in London but it does snow in various places to the south of Sydney. One such place is Thredbo which we will visit during your stay here with us. 

 The weather has been great lately but come winter we will see a dramatic change, cooler winds, cloudy and generally colder climate. As well as a change in temperature conditions there is a change  in other weather conditions such as average rainfall. The average rainfall decreases in the winter time when there are not as many convection currents.

 The rainfall compared to England is mildly more in Sydney in our winter months but not quite as much as in your Summer months. We also have hotter climates in our summer but in our winter it can reach temperatures as low as 5 degrees. Not quite as cold as -5 degrees that you sometimes experience in London.

The further South from Sydney you travel it becomes colder in climate in our case as we travel to Thredbo we are bordering on the NSW and VIC border. It is very cold there constantly falling below freezing point overnight, this is great because it will allow us to go skiing. You will need to bring warm cloths, beanie, gloves, ski goggles, ski boots, thick woolen socks, and a weather proof jacket and tracksuit. Nothing you wouldn't already have because of the cold climate in which you live in. You will need casual clothing on the week ends that we are not attending school, this will include jeans, sweater, shorts, t-shirts nothing out of the ordinary fro you since the weather and climate is roughly the same just not as cold as what it reaches in your home city London.

New Zealand earthquake

1. The quake in New Zea land on Tuesday is the product of a new fault line in the Earth’s crust that seismologists were previously unaware of.

2. The earth quake hit right in the epicenter of Christchurch devastating the capital city of New Zea Land

3. Casualties are still been found everyday and is estimated that over 240 died in last Thursdays quake

4. Major damage has been done to the city's infrastructure including roads and all sorts of transport such as railways and bridges. Major structural damage has been caused to most buildings in the area.

5. That buildings may still collapse and cause serious injury or death to nearby citizens because of the structural damage caused by Thursdays quake.

 6.  I feel dearly sorry for the citizens of New Zea Land  who may have lost friends or their homes. I pray that there beautiful city will once again be restored to it's former glory and that the people of Christchurch recover from this tragedy. I hope that no further causalities are pulled from the city's ruins and that the families who have been affected can cope with their losses and continue on with their lives