Waterforms of Pennsylvania

1. Waterforms of Pennsylvania Lesson 2

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

3. 5 Landform Regions of Pennsylvania

4. Vocabulary – 3 minutes to copy into your notes, leave spaces between words • Tributary • Reservoirs • Freight • Commerce • Headwaters • Source • Waterbed • Mouth • Wetlands • Hydroelectric Power • Glacial forces

6. Rivers and Tributary Systems • 45,000 miles of rivers, tributaries, and 256 lakes. • Tributary – smaller stream flowing into a larger stream of lake • Reservoirs – an artificial lake where water is stored and collected for water supply • 3 major river systems • Western Pa – 3 rivers • Susquehanna River • Delaware River

7. Western PA River Systems • Allegheny River Headwaters • Begins in Pennsylvania, flows into New York, and back into PA. Flows southward towards Pittsburgh • Monongahela River • SW Pennsylvania, begins in West Virginia and flows northward to Pittsburgh. • Youghiogheny River – starts in Maryland, flows into the Monongahela. Wild river – white water rapids.

9. Ohio River • Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers meet in Pittsburgh to form a third river – Ohio River. • Important in the development of PA and other states they were used as transportation routes for commerce (freight). • Commerce – the exchange or buying and selling of commodities • Freight – Cargo

10. Susquehanna River System • Headwaters starts in New York, flowing southward through the entire state. • Headwaters – source of a stream • Source – the beginning of a stream of water • Major tributaries: • West Branch of the Susquehanna • Juniata Rivers • Serves as a watershed for central PA • Watershed – geographic area or region into which all the creeks and tributaries flow into a large river.

12. Too shallow to allow travel. • Mouth of the Susquehanna River is Chesapeake Bay • Mouth – part of a river where its water empties into another body of water.

13. Delaware River System • Begins in New York • Forms a natural border between Pennsylvania and New Jersey • Two major tributaries: • Lehigh River • Schuylkill River • Philadelphia is a major deep-water port located on the Delaware River • Large ocean ships use this port

15. Lakes and Wetlands • More than 2,000 small lakes in PA • Only 76 of them exceed 20 acres in size • Natural lakes created by glacial forces – created by force when glaciers once covered northern Pennsylvania, digging holes which later became lakes.

16. Wetlands – lowland area, such as a marshy or swampy place, that holds moisture. • Excellent habitat for wildlife. • 200,000 acres of wetlands in PA, mainly located in the northeast and northwest.

17. Reservoirs and Dams • Reservoirs – An artificial lake where water is stored and collected for a water supply. • Helps keep water flowing at a steady pace during drier times and prevents flooding after large storms or winter melt. • Hydroelectric Power – producing electric by harnessing the power of flowing water • Other uses include recreation – fishing, boating, swimming, and water-skiing, for Pennsylvanians and tourists.

18. Review Questions • Answer questions 1-6 on page 9