Mississippis Natural Environment Chapter 1 Climate and Water

Mississippi’s Natural Environment Chapter 1

Climate and Water Resources 5 Themes of Geography: • Location • Place • Human-Environment interaction • Movement • Regions

MS Geographic Regions 1. 2. 3. 4. The Delta – (NW Mississippi) The Hills – (Central and North MS) The Piney Woods- (Southern MS) The Gulf Coast- (Borders Gulf of Mexico)

Location Relative Location-where a place is compared to others. Absolute Location-Directs us to a precise position on the Earth’s surface. Can be found using Latitude and Longitude. Latitude- Distance north or south of the equator. Longitude-Distance east and west of the prime meridian.

Natural Environment Our natural environment includes such elements as: • Climate • Water • Landforms • Soil • Energy/Mineral Resources • Vegetation • Wildlife

Climate: Humid Subtropical (humid most of the year and receives ample amounts of rainfall) Climate- long-term average of conditions Weather-day-to-day conditions Annual Temperature: 62° Precipitation: 52 inches

Natural Hazards Tornados (Fujita Scale) Hurricanes (Saffir-Simpson Scale)

Water Resources Surface Water – Lakes, ponds, rivers, and oceans Groundwater-Seeps below the earth’s surface into the spaces and cracks in the rocks. This forms Aquifers.

Water Resources Rivers Reservoirs (6 Major) 1. Pickwick 2. Arkabutla 3. Sardis 4. Enid 5. Grenada 6. Ross Barnett

Mississippi River Read pages 18 &19 about “The Mighty Mississippi. ” On a sheet of paper discuss how you believe the Mississippi River affects our state today as a whole. • Commerce/Ports • Flooding • Agricultural