Name, Location, Climate, Landforms, and Regions of

PennsylvaniaLesson 1 & 2

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

• Commonwealth• Square mile• Panhandle• Humid continental• Region

• Landforms

• Hills• Ridge• Valley• Plateau

• 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– Panhandle – A narrow projection of a larger

territory

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

Review Questions

• Review Questions - – Answer questions 1-7 on page 7– Answer questions 1-6 on page 10