Using the power of Google Earth, GeoTours take you on flyovers of key locations discussed in the text.
StudySpace student website and ebook icons in each GeoTour connect your to the text and online review materials.
Dialogue boxes accompanying each site include text, figures, photos.
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Geotour 17: Desert Landscapes
Deserts and Desert Features
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| 1a. A desert is a region that is so arid that it contains no permanent streams, except for those that bring water in from temperate regions elsewhere.
Check and double-click placemark Problem 1a to fly to the Pyramids of Giza. These structures are located in the largest desert in the world (the desert covers most of northern Africa). What is the name of this desert?
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| 1b. Which desert is the driest place on Earth (it received no rain at all between 1570 and 1971!) Check and double-click placemark Problem 1b to fly there.
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| 1c. Check and double-click placemark Problem 1c. What direction did the wind blow to create this dune?
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| 1d. Check and double-click the Tarim Basin polygon to fly to this desert in China. Use the Measuring Tool and the Polygon tab to trace the Tarim Basin polygon in order to estimate the size of the Tarim Basin (sq km).
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| 1e. Check and double-click placemark Problem 1e. Why does the north-flowing intermittent stream terminate in the middle of the desert, even though the land slopes gently north?
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| 1f. Check and double-click the placemarks for Problem 1f to fly to Ayers Rock in Australia. Use the Hand Tool to determine the relief (in m) of this outcrop between the placemarks.
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| 1g. Ayers Rock is an erosional remnant of one limb of a regional syncline (the lines across the rock are steeply dipping beds). What term is used to described such resistant erosional remnants that stand out in relief above the alluvium?
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| 1h. Check and double-click placemark Problem 1h to fly to Death Valley, CA. What is the highlighted feature?
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| 1i. Check and double-click placemarks Problem 1i. What are the highlighted features?
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| 1j. Check and double-click placemark Problem 1j. What is the highlighted feature?
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| 1k. Check and double-click placemark Problem 1k. What is the highlighted feature?
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Water Use in Arid Regions
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| 2a. Water usage in arid regions is becoming an increasingly important issue.
Check and double-click the placemarks for Problems 2a-i and 2a-ii to fly to the Phoenix, AZ area. How are the areas highlighted by the placemarks different?
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| 2b. What are the features highlighted by the placemarks for Problem 2b?
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| 2c. What is the feature highlighted by placemark Problem 2c?
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| 2d. Follow the feature in Problem 2c to the west (continue across the tunnels/pipelines that look like gaps). Where does it ultimately originate (the placemarks for Problem 2d mark the ends of a long tunnel)?
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| 2e. Check and double-click the “Aral Sea, Central Asia” historical animation. Click the clock in the menu bar and pan through the historical imagery of the Aral Sea as water has been diverted for human uses instead of flowing into the sea. Comparing Dec 1973 to Mar 2007, what happened to the sea?
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