4 9 earth and water, high and low

Printed in the United States of America.. 8 ©Steve Dunwell/Index Stock Imagery 9 ©Jake Rajs/Getty Images 10 ©Digital Vision 11 ©Iain Davidson Photographic/Alamy 13 ©NASA/Corbis 14 ©Getty

Earth and Water,

High and Low

ISBN 0-328-14840-7

ì<(sk$m)=beieaa< +^-Ä-U-Ä-U

Fascinating Facts

• American writer Mark Twain described

the shape of the Mississippi River as “a

long, pliant [easily bent] apple-paring

[peeling].”

• Each of the Great Lakes ranks among

the fourteen largest lakes in the world.

• Rain forests grow in parts of the West

near the Pacific coast

Genre Comprehension Skill Text Features

Contrast

• Maps

• Captions

Scott Foresman Social Studies

Earth and Water,

High and Low

ISBN 0-328-14840-7

ì<(sk$m)=beieaa< +^-Ä-U-Ä-U

Fascinating Facts

• American writer Mark Twain described

the shape of the Mississippi River as “a

long, pliant [easily bent] apple-paring

[peeling].”

• Each of the Great Lakes ranks among

the fourteen largest lakes in the world.

• Rain forests grow in parts of the West

near the Pacific coast

Genre Comprehension Skill Text Features

Contrast

• Maps

• Captions

Scott Foresman Social Studies

ISBN: 0-328-14840-7

Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc

All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America This publication is protected

by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited

reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form by any means,

electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise For information regarding

permission(s), write to: Permissions Department, Scott Foresman, 1900 East Lake Avenue,

Glenview, Illinois 60025.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V0G1 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05

Vocabulary region plain landform desert mountain erosion volcano wetland prairie waterway glacier

Write to It!

Which waterway or landform would you most like to see? Write a paragraph explaining your choice Include at least three reasons for your choice

Write your paragraph on a separate sheet

of paper.

Maps

MapQuest, Inc.

Photographs

Every effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for photographic material The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.

Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Scott Foresman, a division of Pearson Education.

Photo locators denoted as follows: Top (T), Center (C), Bottom (B), Left (L), Right (R), Background (Bkgd) Opener: ©Transparencies, Inc.

2 ©David Edwards/NGS Image Collection

4 ©David Muench/Corbis

5 ©Corbis

6 ©DK Images

7 ©Transparencies, Inc.

8 ©Steve Dunwell/Index Stock Imagery

9 ©Jake Rajs/Getty Images

10 ©Digital Vision

11 ©Iain Davidson Photographic/Alamy

13 ©NASA/Corbis

14 ©Getty Images

15 ©Scott Smith/Index Stock Imagery

In this book you will learn about different

areas of the United States You will also

read about some of the natural features

that are found in those areas

Editorial Offices: Glenview, Illinois • Parsippany, New Jersey • New York, New York Sales Offices: Needham, Massachusetts • Duluth, Georgia • Glenview, Illinois Coppell, Texas • Sacramento, California • Mesa, Arizona

by ANN ROSSI

Earth and Water, High and Low

Areas in the United States

People sometimes talk about different areas in the

United States They divide the United States into these

regions: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest,

and West

The natural features in each region make it special

For example, plains are a landform in the Midwest

A desert is a landform in the Southwest.

You can see rock formations like this one in the Southwest.

IA

MN ND MT

WY

CO

NM AZ UT ID

WA

OR

NV CA

SD

NE

KS

OK

TX

WI

PA

VA DC NC SC

KY TN GA AL

FL

MS LA AR MO

WV NY

VT NH ME MA RI CT NJ DE MD MI

C A N A D A

M E X I C O

R O C Y M U T IN S

A PP

A LA

IA N

M O

N T

A IN S

AT N C O

ST A L

IN

COLORADO PLATEAU

C o

lo ra do

Oh io

Missouri R.

R.

M is

ss ip

p i R

Gulf of Mexico

ATLANTIC OCEAN

PACIFIC OCEAN

0 200 400 Kilometers

N

PACIFIC OCEAN

HI

0 100 Kilometers

PACIFIC OCEAN

AK

C A N D A

Northeast Southeast Midwest Southwest West

Key

3

Many kinds of rivers and landforms are found in more than one region For example, rivers are found in all

regions Almost every region has a mountain range

You will read about some of the landforms in the United States

This map shows the five regions of the United States.

Regions of the United States

Mountains are usually steep and have sharp or rounded

peaks Forces within Earth form mountains Erosion

caused by wind and rain shape them

The Rocky Mountains are in the West They are the

largest mountain system in North America The highest

peaks in the Rocky Mountains are in Colorado Many

peaks are more than 14,000 feet (4,267 meters) high

Mount Elbert is the tallest peak in the Rocky Mountains.

5

The Cascade Range is another mountain range in the West Most of the peaks in the Cascade Range are

volcanoes Mount St Helens is a volcano in the Cascade

Range For more than 120 years, Mount St Helens was quiet Then, in 1980, it erupted In October 2004, Mount St Helens erupted again

Mount St Helens is located in Washington.

A volcano may erupt when magma, or melted

rock, gathers underground in a magma chamber

Pressure from within Earth forces the magma up

The volcano then erupts lava and clouds of steam,

erupts onto Earth’s surface

Ash cloud

Feeder pipe Lava

Magma chamber

Inside a Volcano

7

Mount Mitchell is located in the Black Mountains.

The Appalachian Mountains are the oldest mountain system in North America They are part of a large mountain system The Appalachians are in the eastern part of the United States

Several mountain ranges in the Northeast and the Southeast make up the Appalachian Mountains The tallest peak of the Appalachians is Mount Mitchell It is 6,684 feet high (2,037 meters)

This part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain is in the Northeast.

Plains and Prairies

A plain is a large area of fairly flat land Plains are

found in many regions of the United States The Atlantic

Coastal Plain lies along the East Coast

This part of the Great Plains is located in the Midwest.

The Gulf Coastal Plain curves along the Gulf of Mexico Both the Gulf Coastal Plain and the Atlantic

Coastal Plain have many kinds of wetlands Swamps

and marshes are wetlands Rivers flow from inland areas through the coastal plains to the ocean

A prairie is a fairly flat plain covered mainly by tall

grasses Prairies stretch across the Midwest from Canada

to Texas Different types of grasses grow in the rich prairie soil

Rivers and Lakes

The Mississippi River is the largest river in North

America It is an important waterway The Mississippi

River begins in Minnesota and flows south to the Gulf of

Mexico

The Rio Grande and the Colorado River both begin

in the West, in Colorado They are also important to the

Southwest The Rio Grande forms the border between

Texas and Mexico The Colorado River forms the border

between Arizona and California Both rivers are used to

bring water to the dry Southwest The Colorado River is

also an important source of water for southern California

The Mississippi River is a busy waterway.

11

The Rio Grande flows through New Mexico.

To A

an tic

Oc ea n

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Lake Superior

M ic ig n

Lak e O

nta rio

La ke

Er ie

Lake Huron

Ill in o

R iv er

St L aw

re n ce

Ri ve r

M iss iss ip

p i Riv er

MI WI

IA

MN

IL

MO

WV

KY

VA

PA

NY

RI CT MA

VT NH ME

NJ

DE MD

C A N A D A

N

Key

National border State border River

12

Lakes are also important waterways The Great Lakes

are a chain of five lakes in the northern United States

Sheets of moving ice called glaciers created these lakes

long ago The Great Lakes are part of a major waterway

that connects the Midwest with other areas

The Great Lakes, rivers, and canals combine to form

a network of waterways.

The Great Lakes

The Finger Lakes are much smaller than the Great Lakes The Finger Lakes are not linked Long ago the Finger Lakes were rivers They are located in the Northeast

The Finger Lakes in New York State, as seen from above, look like fingers on a hand.

Deserts and Other Places

In the United States, deserts are found in the West and

Southwest The Mojave (moe-HA-vee) Desert is part of a

larger desert area called the North American Desert The

dry Mojave gets only a few inches of rain each year

The Mojave Desert is part of the North American Desert

Deserts, volcanoes, rivers, lakes, mountains, plains, islands, and wetlands—all these landforms and

waterways are in the different regions of the United States From the mountains to the coastal plains, they are what shape the United States

The Atlantic Coastal Plain is located on the East Coast

Glossary

desert an area that gets very little rain

erosion the wearing away of rock by water

and wind

glacier huge sheets of ice that cover land

landform a natural feature of the earth’s surface

mountain a very high landform, often with

steep sides

plain an area of flat land that often is covered

with grass or trees

prairie an area where grasses grow well, but trees

are rare

region an area in which places share similar

characteristics

volcano a mountain with an opening through

which ash, gas, and lava are forced

waterway a system of rivers, lakes, and canals

through which ships travel

wetland land that is covered with water at times

ISBN: 0-328-14840-7

Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc

All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America This publication is protected

by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited

reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form by any means,

electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise For information regarding

permission(s), write to: Permissions Department, Scott Foresman, 1900 East Lake Avenue,

Glenview, Illinois 60025.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V0G1 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05

Vocabulary region plain landform desert mountain erosion volcano wetland prairie waterway glacier

Write to It!

Which waterway or landform would you most like to see? Write a paragraph explaining your choice Include at least three reasons for your choice

Write your paragraph on a separate sheet

of paper.

Maps

MapQuest, Inc.

Photographs

Every effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for photographic material The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.

Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Scott Foresman, a division of Pearson Education.

Photo locators denoted as follows: Top (T), Center (C), Bottom (B), Left (L), Right (R), Background (Bkgd) Opener: ©Transparencies, Inc.

2 ©David Edwards/NGS Image Collection

4 ©David Muench/Corbis

5 ©Corbis

6 ©DK Images

7 ©Transparencies, Inc.

8 ©Steve Dunwell/Index Stock Imagery

9 ©Jake Rajs/Getty Images

10 ©Digital Vision

11 ©Iain Davidson Photographic/Alamy

13 ©NASA/Corbis

14 ©Getty Images

15 ©Scott Smith/Index Stock Imagery

In this book you will learn about different

areas of the United States You will also

read about some of the natural features

that are found in those areas