Name, Location, Climate,
Landforms, and Regions of
Pennsylvania
Lesson 1
5 Themes of Geography
• 1. Location – location of city or your community
• 2. Place – where something is in relation to its
surroundings ex. City in contrast to smaller
communities
• 3. Human-Environment Interaction – how
people depend on the environment or change
land
• 4. Movement – connection between places and
patterns of movement
• 5. Region – ex. Tourist, political, business, rural,
urban, suburban, or even school district
Vocabulary – 3 minutes to copy into your
notes, leave spaces between words
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Square mile
Humid continental
Nor’easter
Drought
Lake Effect
Regions
Landforms
Plain
Ridge
Plateau
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Watershed
Wetlands
Hydroelectric power
Natural resource
Renewable
Non renewable
Loam
Fossil fuels
Anthracite
bituminous
• 1681 – name of state provided by William
Penn and the King of England.
– Penn wanted to call colony “Sylvania” (woods)
– King added Penn in honor of William’s father
• Penn’s woods
• Commonwealth – founded for the common
good or wealth of its people
– Pennsylvania is one of only four states that carry
title – Massachusetts, Virginia, and Kentucky
View with surrounding states and waterways
Location
• Pennsylvania is 45,333 square miles
– Square mile – a distance calculated by
multiplying one mile in width by one mile in
length
• 302 miles wide and 158 miles length
Climate
• Humid continental – type of climate that
offers four distinct seasons – winter, spring,
summer, fall
• Adequate rainfall and is suitable for farming
• Average temperatures
– July – 76 ̊ in southeast, 68 ̊ along Lake Erie
– December – 31 ̊ in southeast, 24 ̊ along Lake Erie
– Record high – 111 ̊
Record low - -42 ̊
Landforms and Regions
• 5 distinctive geographic regions
– Regions – Areas which have at least one
characteristic
– Each region has common landforms and
elevations
– Landform – land surfaces with natural features
such as plains, hills, valleys, mountains, plateaus.
5 Landform Regions of Pennsylvania
← ATLANTIC
COASTAL PLAIN
Atlantic Coastal Plain
• Along Eastern Coast of United States
• Elevation ranges from 26 feet above sea level
to sea level
• Contains the city of Philadelphia
PIEDMONT
Piedmont
• Southeast region between Philadelphia and
Harrisburg
• Reaches elevation of 600 feet above sea level
• Includes some of the most fertile soil in the
United States
• Allentown, Reading, Lancaster, York
• Farms, fields, and forests
RIDGE AND VALLEY
Ridge and Valley
• Hills – land with a rounded elevation
• Ridges – a range of hills or mountains
• Valleys – long depressions between ranges of
hills or mountains
• Contains the Appalachian Mountains –
mountain chain that runs from Georgia to
Maine
• Ridges and valleys have individual names
• Mt. Davis – state’s highest elevation at 3,213
feet above sea level, located in southern
Somerset County
• Pennsylvania mountains are low in elevation
to other parts of the country
ALLEGHENY PLATEAU
Allegheny Plateau
• Covers 60% of Pennsylvania
• Plateau – an elevated section of land that is
relatively level in elevation
– Elevations range from 700 to 2,500 feet
• Pocono Mountains – formed by glacial forces
←ERIE PLAIN
Erie Plain
• Northwest corner of state along Lake Erie
– Only 4 miles wide, stretching from shoreline
• Soil is rich in sand and silt
• Erie – Pennsylvania’s third largest city
Packet Questions
• Lesson 1 – questions 1, 4, 5, 6 & 7
• Lesson 2 – questions 1, 3, 4 & 5
• Lesson 3 – questions 2, 3, 5 & 6
• Lesson 4 – questions 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 & 11