Texas Geography is: The study of Texas Texas Geography is: The study of Texas and the people who live in it.and the people who live in it.

Texas Landforms: Texas has mountains, plains, valleys, rivers, plateaus, escarpments.Texas Climate is the average weather of a location. Texas is so large it has more than one climate!Resources: soil, plant & animal life, water timber, grass, oil and gas, rock, sand, etc.:(What we need to survive!)

Geography (Landforms, Climate, Resources) affects how we live:

What we eat,

what we wear,

what kind of tools we use,

what kind of house we live in,

how we travel.

A Comanche CampDrawing by:James E. Taylor

AbsoluteAbsolute Location: absolutely Location: absolutely where you are!where you are!

• Lines of longitude: run north and south & are called meridians. (from Pole to Pole)

• Lines of latitude: run horizontally around the earth east to west. (Equator)

• The Earth is divided into hemispheres: Northern and Southern, but also Eastern and Western. N W E

• S

• Absolute location: Exact location on the Earth by latitude and longitude.– Example: Tyler is located at ____degrees

___latitude and ____degrees ___ longitude

• Relative location: The location of one place in relationship to another location.– Houston is south of Tyler.

Resources: what we need to liveResources: what we need to live

Cause---

• People use resources to live: for food, shelter, clothing, tools

Effect---• Resources can be

depleted• Pollution

American Indians valued the landand its resources.Do we value the land and resources today?

Drawing of Plains Indians by James E. Taylor

Human-Environment Human-Environment Interaction:Interaction:

1. 2 ways people use the environment and change it for better or worse:

a. b.2. 2 ways the physical features affect

people:a.b.

Climate of TexasClimate of Texas

• Middle Latitudes (between North Pole and Equator) gives Texas mild winters and hot summers

• Gulf Air Stream brings warm moist air from Gulf of Mexico over Eastern Texas causing rain, humidity, warmer winters

• Warm, moist Gulf air meets Cold, dry air from the North causing violent storms and tornadoes

Middle Latitudes Gulf Air over Texas

Topography and ElevationTopography and Elevation• Sea Level at Gulf Coast• Rising in elevation from the coast to the

west• Coastal Plains on the coast• Plateaus or Tablelands start in the western

half of Texas, formed by escarpments where land is pushed upward on a fault line

• Mountains farthest West

EscarpmentsEscarpments

• Balcones Escarpment created the Edwards Plateau west of Austin, part of it is known as the Texas Hill Country

• Cap Rock Escarpment created the Llano Estacado and the Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle

CaprockEscarpment

Balcones Escarpment

Water ResourcesWater Resources• Gulf of Mexico provides sea ports for

shipping and seafood

• Rivers provide water for transportation, drinking, irrigation

• Have been dammed to provide reservoirs or lakes which meet Texas’ water needs

• Droughts are times of little rain.

Texas AquifersTexas Aquifers

• Underground reservoirs hold much of Texas water resources.

• Major aquifers:– Balcones Aquifer under the Edwards Plateau– Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer under East Texas– Ogalalla Aquifer under the High Plains of the

Panhandle

• Aquifers provide water through springs which seep out of the ground, forming rivers and streams

• Water is pumped out of aquifers to provide irrigation and water needs of population

• Can’t be refilled without rain.

• Conservation practices insure enough water for future needs.