Volcanoes

We will be starting a new topic on earthquakes and volcanoes in Year 8. So here are a selection of videos to provide a taster of what we will be studying.

The Aral Sea - environmental catastrophe

The Aral Sea was once the world’s fourth biggest inland sea, but misuse of its water has caused it to shrink by two-thirds and scientists predict that it will dry up altogether in little more than 10 years wreaking havoc on the climate, environment and people who live in the area. Watch a video about it here.

Located in the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea disaster began when the government ordered the water from the rivers that supplied the sea to be diverted so that vast areas of cotton fields could be irrigated. The use of the water meant the sea could no longer be replenished and began to dry up leaving beds of salt polluted by high concentrations of pesticides that were used by the farmers when growing the cotton.

The fishing industry that once thrived on the sea has been destroyed and the climate has changed with drier summers and colder winters. Old fishing boats are now stranded in a desert landscape some 80 kilometres from the shoreline.

The chemicals have caused a dramatic increase in illness with extremely high infant mortality rates. Death from chronic gastritis and kidney disease has increased by 15%, heart disease has doubled and cancer has increased by 1000% (cancer of the oesophagus is the highest in the world, while the death from tuberculosis is 21 times higher than it was in the 1960s. There is also evidence that local people are suffering genetic damage.

But despite warnings of the catastrophe, Uzbekistan continues to rely on the production of cotton.

See some images of the way the sea has almost disappeared can be seen here.

Pollution song

Here is another Geography-related song, this time about pollution. It was written by American satirist Tom Lehrer in the 1950s and 1960s but is still relevant today.

When the Levee breaks

When the Levee Breaks is a blues song written and first recorded by husband and wife Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie in 1929. The song was written in response to the devastation caused by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. You can hear it here.

British rock group Led Zeppelin recorded their own version of the song in 1971.

You can read more on the flood and see some photographs of what happened here.

Saving Water

Water is a precious resource. This webpage gives you some valuable tips on how you can save water at home and school. Here is a fun site that gives you some more tips about how to save water at school.

Ordnance Survey Mapzone site

For some great map skill activities and games take a look at the Ordnance Survey Mapzone site. It is a fun way to check on your map skills. You can do activities on grid references, contours, symbols and a host of other map skills.

Floods in Madrid, Sept 2008

Floods in Bangladesh

Floods have also had a devastating effect on Bangladesh. Here are some images of the floods that took place in the country in 2004.
Bangladesh floods

The following graphic explains why Bangladesh is so vulnerable to flooding.
Causes of Bangladesh flooding.

Hurricane Katrina information

Information from the Met Office on Hurricane Katrina which struck the South Eastern part of the the United States of America in August 2005. It was one of the biggest storms to hit the US in the last 100 years and provides an example of the devastating effects flooding can have on a city.
Hurricane Katrina

Atlas Work - glossary

Atlas Skills Glossary

A political map - a map dealing with man-made divisions and constructions.
A physical/relief map - a map dealing with natural features of the landscape.
A thematic map - a map showing a particular theme such as population.
Scale - the relative size of a map or model compared with the area or object in real life.
Sphere - A completely round 3 dimensional object such as the earth.
Hemisphere - half a sphere.
Equator - An imaginary line around the middle of the world. The 0º line of latitude.
Northern Hemisphere - Everywhere on the Earth that is North of the Equator.
Southern Hemisphere - Everywhere on the Earth that is South of the Equator.
Latitude - Lines that run across a map, showing the position shown North or South of the Equator.
Longitude -Lines that run vertically up and down a map, showing the position East or West of the Greenwich Meridian.
Degree - Unit used to measure latitude and longitude.
Minute - Subdivision of a degree. 60 minutes = 1 degree.
Second - Subdivision of a minute. 60 seconds = 1 minute.
Greenwich Meridian - 0º line of longitude. Also known as the Prime Meridian.
Tropic of Cancer - An imaginary line 23.5º North of the Equator.
Tropic of Capricorn - An imaginary line 23.5º South of the Equator.
Arctic Circle - An imaginary line circling the Earth at 66.5º North of the Equator.
Antarctic Circle - An imaginary line circling the Earth at 66.5º South of the Equator.
Axis - An imaginary line around which a solid object such as the Earth rotates.
Tropical zone - The area of the Earth's surface between the two Tropics.
Temperate zone - The areas of the Earth's surface between each of the Tropics and the Arctic or Antarctic circles.
Polar zones - The areas North of the Arctic Circle and South of the Antarctic Circle.
North Pole - The northerly point on the Earth's surface through which the Earth's axis passes (90º North).
South Pole - The southerly point on the Earth's surface through which the Earth's axis passes (90º South).