Louisiana’s Physical & Cultural Geography / Name: _________________
Louisiana Symbols
• Flag / Motto:
• Bird:
• Flower:
• Tree:
____________________________________
____________________________________
____________________________________
_____________________________________
Louisiana is a coastal plain
• Louisiana is the only state made up ENTIRELY by the ____________________________
Low & flat region created by ____________________________
Deltas
• Land created from _____________________Where the Mississippi River meets the Gulf of Mexico.
Coastal Marshes
• _______________________ formed by river sediment deposited along the coast.
Brackish
• Fresh & __________________ mixed together
Coastal Erosion
• Land is disappearing.
– LA loses ___________________ per year, 2 football fields per hour
_____________________destroyed 64,000 acres in one day.
Salt Domes
• ___________________________ once covered Louisiana.
• When it dried massive salt domes were left standing, Most are about 10 miles below the Earth.
Some jut above the marsh in high columns = Why they are called islands.
_______________________ (where Tabasco is made)
Earthquakes in Louisiana
• Louisiana experiences frequent ________________________.
• Most are so small and go unnoticed
• _________________ – earthquake in Missouri shook buildings in New Orleans
• 1964 – Alaskan earthquake caused ______________________ from the Gulf of Mexico.
Louisiana Waterways and Cities
Physical vs. Cultural Geography
_________________________-Study of landforms, oceans, weather and climate.
__________________________l - Study of how people have interacted with, changed and
adapted to different places on earth.
Cities
• Most Populated - ______________________________
• Built in 1718 by Bienville, under French Rule
• Oldest - ___________________________
• Build by St. Denis under French Rule in 1714
• Capitol - _______________________________
• Meaning “Red Stick.” Named by Iberville.
Other Important Cities
• Northern area
• ___________________________ & Monroe
• Southwest
• Lafayette and ______________________________
• Central
• Alexandria
Mississippi River
• Largest river in the ______________. and ______________largest in the world.
• Starts in ____________________and empties into the _____________________________.
• 375 billion gallons flow through LA each day.
Atchafalaya River
• The longest ____________________ of the Mississippi River.
– Flows into the ________________________ at Morgan City.
• Atchafalaya Basin is the largest swamp in the US
– 23 million pounds of ________________________ per year
– Habitat of the _________________________________
Gulf of Mexico
• Our southern border
• Greatly affects our climate. Ex. ________________________
• Resources
– Food,________________, Natural gas
Controlling the Water
• __________________and levees are always a concern for the people of Louisiana.
• ___________________are to protect us from flooding.
– They also create problems.
• By controlling water with levees, we create high levels of water inside levees.
– LEVEES CAN BREAK. Ex. Hurricane Katrina.
– Does not allow __________________deposit and increases erosion
Spillways
• Manmade and created to_________________ water to prevent flooding.
– 2 in Louisiana
• ____________________ Takes water from the Mississippi and deposits it in Lake
Pontchartrain
• ______________________ Diverts water to the Atchafalaya Basin
– Not opened very often
Hurricanes
Hurricanes the Basics
• Hurricane comes from the Indian word “__________________ the name of an Indian god.
• Large violent storms that start in the moist air of the __________________________________________
• Louisiana’s Gulf Coast location makes it vulnerable to hurricanes.
Storm Formation
• Storm name changes as it ___________________.
– ____________________ – if it lasts 24 hours
– ____________________ – lasts more than 24 hours and winds are less than 39 mph
– ___________________ – Winds reach 39 mph or higher
– ___________________ – Winds reach 74 mph or higher.

Called the _____________________________
Hurricane Layout
• Storm gathers strength from the ________________________.
• Circulates in a spiraling ___________________________motion around an ______________.
– The eye is the center of the storm and has_________________winds a blue sky.
– _______________________ is the center of circulation and extremely dangerous.
• Storms can be 40,000 feet high and 400 miles wide.
Hurricane Damage
• Violent ________________, Torrential rains, ______________________________
• _____________________
– High winds push walls of water on shore
– The most violent part of hurricanes.
– Can travel many miles______________________
– 90% of people killed by hurricanes are killed by the storm surge.
Naming Hurricanes
• Starting naming hurricanes (female names) in the _________________
• By 1979 male names were also used
• Extremely powerful storms’ names are _________________. Ex: Katrina, Camille, & Georges…
Powerful Hurricanes to Hit Louisiana
• Audrey 1957, Andrew 1992, Katrina & Rita 2005