Answer Key Contents
Introduction to Answer Key v
Exercise 1 Metric Conversions 3
Exercise 2 Location 7
Exercise 3 Time 13
Exercise 4 Map Scale 17
Exercise 5 Map Projections 23
Exercise 6 Isolines 27
Exercise 7 Landscape Analysis with Google Earth™ & The National Map 35
Exercise 8 Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing 41
Exercise 9 Earth-Sun Relations 49
Exercise 10 Solar Angle 55
Exercise 11 Insolation 61
Exercise 12 Temperature Patterns 67
Exercise 13 Air Pressure 75
Exercise 14 Wind 81
Exercise 15 Humidity 89
Exercise 16 Adiabatic Processes 95
Exercise 17 Stability 101
Exercise 18 Midlatitude Cyclones 109
Exercise 19 Weather Maps 117
Exercise 20 Weather Satellite Images 127
Exercise 21 Doppler Weather Radar 135
Exercise 22 Hurricanes 141
Exercise 23 Climate Classification 153
Exercise 24 Weather Variability and Climate Change 171
Exercise 25 Groundwater 179
iii
,Exercise 26 Biomes and Ecological Land Units 185
Exercise 27 Soils 193
Exercise 28 Contour Lines 201
Exercise 29 U.S. Geological Survey Topographic Maps 205
Exercise 30 Topographic Profiles 209
Exercise 31 U.S. Public Land Survey System 215
Exercise 32 Aerial Photographs and Stereograms 221
Exercise 33 Plate Tectonics 229
Exercise 34 Volcanoes 237
Exercise 35 Volcanic Calderas 245
Exercise 36 Faulting 251
Exercise 37 The San Andreas Fault 257
Exercise 38 Mass Wasting 265
Exercise 39 Drainage Basins 273
Exercise 40 Floodplains 281
Exercise 41 Stream Drainage Patterns 287
Exercise 42 Stream Rejuvenation 293
Exercise 43 Flood Recurrence Intervals 299
Exercise 44 Karst Topography 305
Exercise 45 Desert Landforms 311
Exercise 46 Sand Dunes 321
Exercise 47 Continental Glaciation 327
Exercise 48 Alpine Glaciation 337
Exercise 49 Coastal Landforms 349
Appendix II Math Skills Practice Worksheet 364
iv
, Introduction to Answer Key
TO THE TEACHER
This Answer Key includes all of the exercise problem sets found in the Physical Geograph
Laboratory Manual 12th edition by Darrel Hess, that accompanies the textbook McKnight’
Physical Geography: A Landscape Appreciation, 12th edition, by Darrel Hess. However, only th
problem set pages themselves are included in this Answer Key—the page numbers match those in
the Lab Manual, so there are gaps in the page number sequence. The answers provided are thos
that I have written in my copy of the Lab Manual. These answers are offered as a guide only—in
some cases other answers may also be correct.
New To The 12th Edition Lab Manual: This new edition of the Lab Manual retains all of th
exercises found in the previous edition, along with new exercises on Groundwater (Exercise 25
and Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing by Ryan Jensen (Exercise 8; replacing
the previous exercise on GIS). In addition, many exercises and problem sets underwent majo
revisions, including Landscape Analysis with Google Earth™ and The National Map (Exercise 7)
Doppler Weather Radar (Exercise 21), Weather Variability and Climate Change (Exercise 24)
Biomes and Ecological Land Units (Exercise 26), Aerial Photographs and Stereograms (Exercis
32), Mass Wasting (Exercise 38), and Flood Recurrence Intervals (Exercise 43).
At the suggestion of instructors, the order of exercises has been adjusted slightly, grouping
the exercises on topographic map and aerial photograph interpretation in the middle of the Lab
Manual, just before the sections on geomorphology where these skills are called for.
In addition to the 16 pages of color topographic maps included in previous editions of th
Lab Manual, 16 additional pages of color maps and images are now included. Many topographi
maps that were “grayscale” in the previous edition are now in color, along with additional colo
aerial imagery.
QR Codes and Lab Manual Internet Site: The QR (Quick Response) codes that accompany
many exercises give students access to Lab Manual Internet content wherever they can use
smartphone or other mobile device. By scanning the QR codes, students can view color maps
satellite movie loops, color photographs, and Google Earth™ “videos” needed to complete nearly
all of the Internet-based problems in the Lab Manual. The Lab Manual Web sit
(www.MasteringGeography.com) also provides all of the content accessed with the QR codes
along with KMZ files for the problems using Google Earth™.
The URLs of the recommended Web sites are provided for each Internet exercise, bu
because the Internet changes over time, the URLs printed in the Lab Manual may become out o
date or better sites might become available in the future. Feel free to recommend different, o
additional, Internet sites to your students.
v
, SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING LAB SESSIONS
Most instructors try to keep the amount of lecture in a laboratory session to a minimum,
leaving as much time as possible for working through the problems. If your students read the
background information for each exercise before attending a lab session, often a quick review and
overview of the exercise problems is all that is needed—this is especially true for exercises based
on material that has been covered in detail in the lecture course. In a few cases, however, a more
detailed introduction is required—I find this true with topics such as weather maps, satellite images,
topographic maps, and aerial photographs and stereograms.
I encourage students to work together in pairs or small groups during lab sessions. I find
that students enjoy this kind of collaborative learning. However, this approach does require careful
monitoring on your part—occasionally one assertive student will lead a group astray or will simply
do all of the work. You should clarify your policies on collaborative work early on.
SAMPLE LABORATORY COURSE SYLLABUS
For greater flexibility, many major topics in the Lab Manual are covered over several
exercises and the problems for most exercises are divided into two or more parts. The length and
difficulty of the problem sets vary greatly from exercise to exercise. It is doubtful that students will
have time to complete all of the problem sets in all of the exercises over the course of a single
quarter or semester. The exercises and problem sets you choose may depend on the time available,
the material being emphasized in lecture, and perhaps local interest. When selecting exercises to
use in your lab sessions, consider the following suggestions:
There are several skills that students will be called upon to use repeatedly. For example, the
interpretation of various kinds of isolines will be required throughout the first half of the
manual, and the interpretation of contour lines, the construction of topographic profiles, and
the use of stereograms is required in the second half. If Google Earth™ is used for landform
analysis, Exercise 7 (Landscape Analysis with Google Earth™ and The National Map)
should be assigned before students begin more detailed landform analysis problems.
While most exercises are designed to stand alone, in a few cases one exercise builds upon
the previous one. For example, the exercise on adiabatic processes (Exercise 16) assumes an
understanding of relative humidity (Exercise 15); the exercise on stability (Exercise 17)
assumes an understanding of adiabatic processes; and the exercises on weather maps and
satellite images (Exercises 19 and 20) assume an understanding of midlatitude cyclones
(Exercise 18).
Local or regional interest may influence which exercises you choose. For example, here in
California, exercises on the San Andreas Fault and alpine glaciation are more immediately
relevant to my students than those on hurricanes or continental glaciation. Since many of
the problem sets are broken into several parts, you can emphasize some topics more than
others simply by adding or deleting parts of problem sets.
Note that many of the problem sets may be completed using either S.I. units or English
units—be sure to specify which units you wish your students to use.
vi
