What You'll Learn 1:

• How the process of weathering breaks down rocks and how erosion transports weathered materials from one place to another.
• How soil is formed and why soil is an important natural resource.
  

Why It's Important 1:

The process of weathering and erosion change Earth's landforms and from soul, an important natural resource.

Key Vocabulary 1:

Key Concepts/Understandings 1:

• Distinguis between weathering and erosion.
• Identify variable that affect the rate of weatthreing.
• Analyze the impact of living and nonliving things on the processes of wearthering and erosion.
• Describe how soil forms.
• Expalin the relationship between the organic and inorganic components of soil.
• identify soil characteristics.
• Recognize soil horizons in soil profile.
  

What You'll Learn 2:

• How the processes of mass movements, wind, and glaciation change landscape features.
• What external features on Earth's surface are caused by mass movements, wind, and glaciers.
  

Why It's Important 2:

Earth's external processes shape its surface. Some of the processes, such as landslides and avalanches, represent hazards.  mass movements, wind, and glaciers change the landscape and have an impact on human populations in many regions.

Key Vocabulary 2:

Key Concepts/Understandings 2:

• Identify factors that affect mass movements.
• Relate how mass movements affect people.
• Analyze the relationship between gravity and mass movements.
• Describe conditions that contribute to the likelihood that an area will experience wind erosion.
• Identify wind-formed landscape feature.
• Describe how dunes form and migrate.
• Explain the effects of wind erosion on human activities.
• Explain how glaciers form.
• Compare and contrast the conditions that produce valley glaciers and those that produce continental glaciers.
• Describe how glaciers modify the landscape.
• Reocognize glacial landscape features.
  

What You'll Learn 3:

• What landscape features on earth are formed and changed by surface water.
• How surface water moves materials and impacts humans.
  

Why It's Important 3:

Landscape features formed by surface water are among the most numerous and visible features on Earth.  Running water has the greatest impact on humans because we depend on streams for diringing-water supplies and irrigation.  Humans also expereience the negative efferts of floods.

Key Vocabulary 3:

Key Concepts/Understandings 3:

• Expalin how surface water can move weathered materials.
• Explain how a stream carries its load.
• Describe how a floodplain develops.
• Describe some of the physical features of stream development.
• Expalin the process of rejuvenation in stream development.
• Expalin the formation of freshwater lakes and weatlands.
• Describe teh process of eutrophication.
• Recognize the effects of human activity on lake development.
  

What You'll Learn 4:

• How large amonds of water are stored underground.
• How groundwater dissolves limestone and forms caves and other natural features.
• How groundwater is removed from teh ground by humans and what problems endanger our groundwater supply.

Why It's Important 4:

Groundwater provides dinking wate rfor half of the world's population and is a major source of the water used by agriculture and industry.  However, groundwater supplies are threatened by ovreruse and polllution.

Key Vocabulary 4:

Key Concepts/Understandings 4:

• Describe how groundwater is stored and moves underground.
• Explain what an aquifer is.
• Expain how groundwater dissolves and deposits rocks and minerals.
• Describe how caves form and how karst topography develops on Earth's surface.
• Relate the different types of springs to common systems fo awuifers.
• Expalin how groundwater is withdrawn from aquifer systems by wells.
• Describe the majoyu problems that threaten ground water supplies.