Physical Processes Impact in Latin America ©2012, TESCCC.

Physical Processes Impact in Latin America

©2012, TESCCC

Physical Processes Impact in Latin America

• Plate tectonics• Hurricanes • desert • Earthquake• Rainforest• Volcanoes• Rift valleys

©2012, TESCCC

Earth’s Spheres

• Atmosphere: located right above the Earth’s surface and includes layers of gases (clouds, air pollution, sand storms, hurricanes, etc.)

It protects us by absorbing solar radiation.• Biosphere: life on land, rivers and oceans (Biomes)

deserts, forests, grasslands• Hydrosphere: water in liquid and solid state (oceans,

glaciers, snow, lakes, rivers, etc.)• Lithosphere: solids of the Earth (rocks, soils,

landforms, etc.)©2012, TESCCC

Physical Processes and Their Impact

Physical Processes

Shape Environment

…by creating landforms and climate regions

Which affects culture

How?

Political, Social and Economic

©2012, TESCCC

©2012, TESCCC

How were the Andes and volcanoes of South America created?

STOP! and Think….

• How do physical forces create landforms?– Through plate tectonics (shifting plates) that may

create/cause formation of mountains • How do these landforms affect economic,

political and/or social development? Political: these may serve as boundaries between societies Economic: it may isolate people making it difficult for trade Social: isolated societies develop uniquely—music,

language, etc. and therefore do not assimilate into the dominant culture

Terrace farming• In the South American Andes, farmers have

used terraces known as andenes for over 1,000 years to farm potatoes, maize, and other native crops.

• Terraced farming followed complex systems developed over centuries by Inca engineers to conserve scarce water in the mountains.

• The terraces were built to make the most efficient use of shallow soil and to enable irrigation of crops.

• The Inca used a system of canals and aqueducts to direct water through dry land and increase fertility.

• These terraced farms are found wherever mountain villages have existed in the Andes.

• They provided food necessary to support the populations of great Inca cities and religious centers such as Machu Picchu.

Is this an example of adaptation or modification?

Climate Regions

Consider the following question:

How do climate regions influence political, social and/or economic activities?

©2012, TESCCC

Inter-tropical Convergence Zone

• The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), known by sailors as the doldrums, is the area encircling the earth near the equator where the northeast and southeast trade winds come together

• The zone is referred as the doldrums because of its erratic weather patterns with stagnant calms and violent thunderstorms.

• When the ITCZ is positioned north or south of the equator, these directions change according to the Coriolis effect imparted by the rotation of the earth

Coriolis Effect• The Coriolis effect is caused by the

rotation of the Earth and the inertia (resistance to change) of the mass experiencing the effect

• Forces cause moving objects on the surface of the Earth to be deflected in a clockwise sense (with respect to the direction of travel) in the northern hemisphere, and in an anti-clockwise sense in the southern hemisphere

• Rather than flowing directly from areas of high pressure to low pressure, winds and currents tend to flow to the right of this direction north of the equator, and to the left of this direction south of it

CE

Other “winds”

• Westerlies- The Westerlies, anti-trades, or Prevailing Westerlies, are prevailing winds in the middle latitudes between 30 and 60 degrees – The strongest westerly winds in the middle latitudes

can come in the Roaring Forties, between 40 and 50 degrees latitude

– The Westerlies play an important role in carrying the warm, equatorial waters and winds to the western coasts of continents, especially in the southern hemisphere because of its vast oceanic expanse.

Other “winds”

• Trade winds- The trade winds (also called trades) are the prevailing pattern of easterly surface winds found in the Tropics– Historically, the trade winds have been used by

captains of sailing ships to cross the world's oceans for centuries, and enabled European empire expansion into the Americas and trade routes to become established across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, hence the name "Trade Wind".

– Produces heavy rainfall

El Niño*Also known as Southern Oscillation* Is a climate pattern, not a storm*Occurs across the tropical Pacific Ocean roughly every five years. The Southern Oscillation refers to variations in the temperature of the surface of the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean and in air surface pressure in the tropical western Pacific* The extremes of this climate pattern's oscillations, El Niño and La Niña, cause extreme weather (such as floods and droughts) in many regions of the world* Developing countries dependent upon agriculture and fishing, particularly those bordering the Pacific Ocean, are the most affected* El Niño is Spanish for "the little boy" and refers to the Christ child, because periodic warming in the Pacific near South America is usually noticed around Christmas* La Niña refers to the cold phase of the climate pattern

Columbian ExchangeSpatial Diffusion: Transfer or movement of things, ideas, people from place to place…

©2012, TESCCC

©2012, TESCCC

Public policies in Latin America have been influenced by cultural beliefs. Example: After people from the colonized territories began to engage in wars for independence, a sense of nationalism and patriotism developed.What are other examples?

Texas:What cultural

patterns might be evident?

Why?