https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx en-us 2019-10-27 08:19:04 UTC 2019-10-27 20:22:39 UTC hello@padlet.com laurendouglascgsc https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/402983932 2019-10-27 08:29:34 UTC https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/402983932 laurendouglascgsc https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403010914 The White Cliffs of Dover are in important coastal landscape in England. They are a part of the north downs formation which is the name of the part of the English coastline that faces France. The cliffs reach up to 350 meters and the cliff face is a beautiful white colour. They are very unusual because they are made from chalk and black flint. The chalk is a very finely grained pure limestone. The cliffs formed gradually over millions of years of the building up of the layers of chalk. A lighthouse from Roman times has been excavated there as well as the remains of towns and castles. There is no beach here only the rough Baltic Sea pounding straight on to the cliffs. In fact experts think that the British name avilon which translates to white comes from the White Cliffs of Dover. The cliffs also have many caves and arches as a part of them as well. There are also a few stacks out in the ocean close to the cliffs but are all below sea level and unable to be seen with the eye, the white cliffs are a natural English icon and world renowed for their beauty.

]]> 2019-10-27 13:43:29 UTC https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403010914 laurendouglascgsc https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403014294  | A riverine landscape in Australia is the Murray Darling Basin. It is found along the Murray River - longest river in Australia. The Murray Darling Basin has many inland riverine wetlands. In Australia, most of the riverine wetlands are in the eastern part of the country because there are more rivers here and the rainfall is higher. When there is a lot of rain and the river floods, the Murray Darling Basin is able to store the flood waters. This means that it’s a place that birds and animals can still survive during droughts. It is prime agricultural land and is called Australia’s food bowl – 39% of agricultural products are grown here. Nearly all of the rice grown in Australia is grown in the Murray Darling Basin as well as crops such as grapes, vegetables, citrus fruits, stone fruits, cotton and dairy farms. These are able to be sustained because of the water diverted from the Murray Darling Basin for irrigation. Due to the effects of drought and farming, the Murray Darling Basin is under enormous strain. There is reduced quality of the water, rivers are running dry and water storage has decreased. This means fish are dying and there isn’t enough water for farming.  ]]> 2019-10-27 14:15:54 UTC https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403014294 laurendouglascgsc https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403014484  |  | The Mekong River Delta is another riverine landscape. It is a region in southern Vietnam that forms a triangle and stretches between Ho Chi Minh City and Cambodia. The waters of the Mekong River Delta are very murky looking because its waters have travelled from the Himalayas, and then all the way through China, Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia. The Mekong River floods every year between July and October.There are many different species birds, animals and unique fish inhabiting the Mekong River Delta, including a giant freshwater stingray, giant catfish, giant river carp and giant pangasius, a shark like catfish. It is only second to the Amazon Basin for its diversity. More than 70 million people live along the Mekong River Delta, including farmers who rely on its for farming because it is so fertile and for irrigating their crops. Therefore, the Mekong River Delta is an important area for agricultural in Vietnam and produces a third of all of Vietnam’s food. It has the world’s largest fishery and also used for irrigation, fishing, transport and generating power. Unfortunately the water in the Mekong River Delta has turned black because of heavy pollution in southern Vietnam, killing fish and other marine life.  ]]> 2019-10-27 14:17:33 UTC https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403014484 laurendouglascgsc https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403014749 A hot deserts landscape in Australia the Simpson Desert, located in the centre of Australia and spanning across the borders of three states: Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland.  The Simpson Desert is 170,000 square kilometres in size and is Australia’s fourth largest desert. It is a red, sandy plain and features some of the longest parallel sand dunes in the world, some reaching 200 kilometres long. It also has salt lakes. The formation of the Simpson Desert began 270 million years ago after all the glaciers had melted. The melted water carried sand and small stones which ended up in holes and dints in of the ground and formed a layer. A freshwater lake was above it. A cycle of sedimentary deposits continued until 1.8 million years ago when the climate changes and the lakes dried up. Then it became dry and extreme. Because it is difficult to survive in such an arid climate there are not much plant life or many animals living in the Simpson desert. However, some plants and animals have adapted to live here for example the Spinifex plant and the Spinifex Hopping Mouse which doesn’t drink water but gets its water from its diet of roots and insects.

]]> 2019-10-27 14:19:51 UTC https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403014749 laurendouglascgsc https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403014952 The Sahara Desert is a hot desert, located in northern Africa. It is the largest hot desert in the world. It is 9,200,00 square kilometres and spans 12 countries, including Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria, Chad, Mali and Western Sahara. Scientists believe the Sahara Desert is growing larger because of the effects of climate change. The Sahara Desert has a variety of features. These include vast sand dunes, which cover approximately 25 per cent of its area, salt flats, plains, mountains and plateaus. Despite it being such a harsh place to live, approximately 2.5 million people live in the Sahara Desert. Many are nomads who move from one place to another with their herds of animals, like goats and camels and some live permanently near places with water supplies. It is one of the hottest and driest regions in the world with average summer temperatures from 36 to 46 degrees Celsius. Plant life is sparse with heat-tolerant and drought-tolerant grasses, shrubs and small trees. Some animals have adapted to live in there. These include barbary sheep, baboons, hyenas, gazelles, jackals and foxes, ostriches, raptors and lizards. They get their water from the plants they eat or the blood from their prey.

]]> 2019-10-27 14:21:20 UTC https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403014952 laurendouglascgsc https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403015010  | A mountain landscape in Australia is the Blue Mountains in New South Wales. It is unique because its landscape has been formed by a combination of uplifts, igneous activity, erosion, sedimentary deposits and metamorphic changes. More than 50 million years ago two tectonic plates beneath the earth’s surface pushed against each other. Sometime after this, there were lava flows from volcanoes, so large areas of the Blue Mountains are covered with basalt. Overtime, spectacular gorges and deep valleys have been cut into the mountain landscape by wind, rain and the effects of the earth heating and cooling. The movement of rivers of water has caused erosion and huge sandstone blocks, a feature of the landscape, to fall from cliff faces. It has a sandstone plateau. Even though sandstone is fairly strong against erosion, the softer shales and coals beneath it have less resistance. One of the most famous sandstones features of the Blue Mountains are the three sisters. This rock formation was caused by wind, rain and rivers which, over time erode the cliffs of the Jamison Valley. The Blue Mountains has approximately 10,000 square kilometres of forested landscape and is densely populated by eucalyptus trees. The highest peak, Mount Boyce is 1,093 meters.  ]]> 2019-10-27 14:22:01 UTC https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403015010 laurendouglascgsc https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403015081 The Himalayas are a mountain landscape in Asia. They separate Tibet and Nepal. They have a very mountainous landscape which consist of low altitude steep cliffs, peaks, and rocks.  The whole mountain range formed due to the collision of the Indian and eurasian tectonic plates around 50 million years ago at that time India was a separate island disconnected from the mainland and was located off the Australian coast.  The Himalayan mountains also include some of the world highest peaks, and of course Mount Everest at 8848 meters above sea level. Due to the height, the mountains are topped with snow. It is impossible to live at the top of these mountains due to the high altitude. It is possible to live at the base but it has extremely harsh living conditions due to the fact that the Himalayas are right on a fault line and have many earthquakes. Landslides are also common due to the steep slopes. Some animals that live in the mountains are the snow leopard the red panda and many kinds of bears. and Commonly the domestic yak, and other domesticated animals such as goats, chickens, ducks and cows as well as dogs and cats are found in the Himalayas.

]]> 2019-10-27 14:22:41 UTC https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403015081 laurendouglascgsc https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403015160 There are no polar landscapes in Australia. The nearest polar landscape is Antarctica which is centred on the South Pole. There are 12 countries in Antarctica, including Australia who have signed the Antarctic Treaty. It is 6,400 kilometers from Australia and is a landmass surrounded by water. It is nearly totally covered in ice and snow – 98 percent – with a landscape of icy mountains, glaciers, sheets of ice and icebergs. The whole area covers almost 14 square kilometres and is divided into three major areas, West Antarctica, East Antarctica and the Antarctica Peninsula. The ice and snow are made from fresh water. The ice is incredibly thick and is even up to four kilometres thick in some places. The Antarctic polar landscape is a desert as it doesn’t rain or snow much there. If it does actually snow, the snow doesn’t melt. Over time it builds up to become large, thick sheets of ice. The sheets of ice hold sixty to ninety percent of the world’s fresh water. Each winter its total surface doubles because ice forms around the coastline. The average temperature in summer is -28 degrees Celsius and average temperature in winter is -58 degrees Celsius. There is practically no vegetation growing. 

]]> 2019-10-27 14:23:24 UTC https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403015160 laurendouglascgsc https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403015619 The Arctic is a polar landscape centred in the North Pole and is part of the land masses of Europe, North America and Asia. It is a vast area of ice and snow. It is sea surrounded by land and is only a few meters above sea level. The ice is only about one meter to two meters in thickness and is made from frozen sea water with snow on top. The ice is usually flat and smooth but can sometimes be rough, because sometimes it breaks up and then refreezes. The ice in this polar landscape is moving, sometimes at walking pace and sometimes as slowly as snail’s pace. The Arctic polar landscape is very varied.  It has hills, mountains, large rivers, lakes, and areas of tundra. These unique treeless expanses are and cold and windy covered in snow for most of the year but can have flowers in summer. There are also other kinds of plant life including shrubs, grasses and mosses, which provide food for animals such as reindeer, lemmings, arctic hares and squirrels. There are also larger animals such as polar bears. The average temperature in summer is 0 degrees Celsius and the average winter temperature is -30 degrees Celsius. 

]]> 2019-10-27 14:27:13 UTC https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403015619 laurendouglascgsc https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403015730 A karst landscape in Australia is the Mole Creek Karst National Park in Tasmania, on the slopes of the Great Western Tiers, east of the Mole Creek. It was formed about 500 million years ago when Tasmania was still part of the supercontinent called Gondwana and was covered by a shallow sea. This karst landscape is made from a layer of limestone which is 100 meters thick as well as other sedimentary rocks. It also has alluvial which are made from mudstone and sandstone. There are also alluvial It has more than 300 caves and these are incredible limestones formations. It also has subterranean streams and huge caverns as well as stalactites, stalagmites, columns and glow worms. One of the main caves, called the King Solomons cave has an extensive network of sediment deposit and stalactites and stalagmites. Another cave, the Marakoopa cave, has two underground streams, large caverns with amazing crystals, rim pools, delicate formations and beautiful colours - and a fantastic display of glow worms. The caves also have many other unique creatures that never see the light of day and have been able to adapt to living without light. The area also has a cool and mild climate. 

]]> 2019-10-27 14:28:08 UTC https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403015730 laurendouglascgsc https://padlet.com/laurendouglascgsc/hgseigwa7ytx/wish/403026452 A karst landscape in China is the South China Karst. It is an extensive 176,228 hectares and spreads across the Chinese provinces of Guanxi, Guizhou and Yunnan. It is a humid tropical to subtropical karst landscape and features some significant types of karst landforms. These include formations that are tower karsts, pinnacle karsts and cone casts.  It The landscape also has large cave systems, natural bridges and gorges. One of the most spectacular landforms in the South China Karst is the  Shilin or ‘stone forests’. Covering an area of five square kilometres, these karst formations were formed more than 270 million years ago by water and wind erosion.  They are huge rock pillars, made from limestone in a network of labyrinths, likes mazes. Some of the stone columns are two meters high and some are as high as 30 meters. The Shilin karst landscape also has caves, waterfalls, ponds, a lake within an island and an underground river.  Naigu Stone Forest and Suoge Village are two of the smaller individual stone forests that are part of the South China karst landform. They are so significant that they are a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site.

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