Chapter 9 Reading Guide
Global Geography 12
Page 208 – 216
1. What is a resource?
In general terms, resources are anything that is useful.
2. What is a natural resource?
Materials found in nature that can be used to make a profit.
3. Name and describe the two categories of natural resources.
Renewable resources are materials that can be replaced by nature within
a relatively short period of time (fifty years or so)
Non-renewable resources are materials that cannot be replaced by
nature, or only replaced over a very long period (geologic time scale).
4. Define human resources and give an example.
Human resources are the abilities of people to do useful work.
5. What three characteristics demonstrate a high standard of living?
In order to create a high standard of living within a country, there must be:
 Enough people to fill the labour needs and provide a domestic
market to buy the goods and services
 People who are healthy and able to work and raise families
 People who have access to education and training to do valuable
work
6. What is the main idea of the diagram in Figure 9.8?
The diagram illustrates how poverty is passed on from one generation to
the next:
poor families cannot provide adequate nutrition, disease prevention and
mental stimulation
children do not survive or cannot benefit from education
children cannot pursue higher paying jobs due to low education and
focus on basic survival
7. Describe two relationships that can be found between Figure
9.10(worldwide GNP per capita) and 9.11 (worldwide literacy rates)
The areas with lowest per capita GNP also have the lowest literacy
rates.
Pages 221 – 229
1. What is meant by uneven distribution of resources?
The natural resources are not spread equally among all countries.
Land Resources
2. What are some natural causes of uneven distribution of resources?
The reason natural resources are located in certain areas depends on
physiography (landscape), climate and geologic history.
3. What factors affect the distribution of agriculture? Explain each factor in
a sentence.
 Farming can only happen where the climate has the right
conditions of temperature and rainfall to provide a good growing
season.
 Farming requires low relief (relatively flat land) because
temperatures fall at higher elevations in mountainous or steep
areas and soil erodes quickly (unless the land is terraced).
 Farming can only occur where the geology provides deep soils that
contain necessary mineral nutrients.
 Human settlement tends to spread from cities and urban areas take
over productive farmland.
4. What is lapse rate and how does it affect agriculture?
Lapse rate is the rate that temperature drops as you go up an elevation
such as a mountain.
5. In at least a complete sentence for each, define commercial, small
holding and subsistence farming.
Commercial farming is large-scale farming for profit, where most of the
crop is sold for cash and advanced equipment is used.
Small holding is farming with a combination of machinery and livestock
where part of the crop is used to feed a family and the rest is sold for cash.
Subsistence farming is small scale, on land with less suitability for growing,
where most of the labour is provided by the family which depends on the
crop for food.
6. Explain several reasons why most of France has commercial farming, but
Mauritania has subsistence farming.
Farmers in France have education and wealth, allowing them to borrow
money to buy equipment to establish productive farms and make the
most optimal use of the land. France has a good climate for farming and
farmers can correct the soils with fertilizers and other additives, provide
irrigation if there isn’t enough moisture , and buy the best seeds that will
produce good crops.
In Mauritania, climate and soils are less suitable, farmers have no access
to services (like education or training from a government department of
agriculture) that might allow them to improve the land and no access to
capital (money they could borrow).
7. Compare Figure 9.15 and 9.17. What type of soil is found where most
commercial farms are located?
Commercial farms are mainly found in areas with forest and grassland
soils.
Water Resources
8. Why is unsafe drinking water such a problem?
Around the world, unsafe drinking water causes diseases (3-5 million
deaths each year, 80% of diseases in LDCs)
9. Using the map in Figure 9.20 and the map in the front cover of your text,
identify three countries that have a chronic water shortage, three that
have water scarcity and three countries where 100% of the population
has access to safe water.
Chronic water shortages occur in:
Algeria, Egypt, Libia, Tunisia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United
Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel
These countries are probably using up water faster than nature returns it to
lakes, rivers and aquifers
Water scarcity occurs in: Peru, Iran, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rawanda
South Africa, Zimbabwe, United Kingdom, Belgium, Iran, S. Korea
100% of the population can get clean water:
Canada, Iceland, Norway, France, Costa Rica, Finland Italy
Mineral Resources
10. What three factors control whether to open a mine or not?
The creation of a new mine depends on
 the extent (total amount) and concentration of the mineral;
 the price the mineral will bring;
 and the cost of extracting, processing and transporting the mineral.
11. Describe several differences between open-pit and underground mines.
An open pit mine is basically a large hole in the ground. The rock is removed
in layers from the surface. It affects a larger area of the surface, so it has
more impact on the local environment.
An underground mine involves shafts (tunnels) underground and is much
more dangerous and expensive.