Banff National Park

High school (ages 12+)
Geography

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/banff-national-park

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. How big is Banff National Park?6,641 square kilometers (2,564 sq mi) of mountainous terrain
2. When was Banff National Park built?1885, making it Canada's first national park
3. What is the ecoregions?Montane, subalpine, and alpine
4. What is the annual visitors?Over 3 million visitors annually, with millions more passing through
5. How were the mountains in Banff formed?The mountains were made by a huge earthquake event called the Laramide Orogeny about 80 to 55 million years ago. Old rocks were pushed east, folded, and faulted to create the rugged peaks.
6. What is the Columbia Icefield?The Columbia Icefield is the biggest continuous glacier in the Rocky Mountains. It melts water that feeds rivers and creates the park’s famous turquoise lakes.

Laramide Orogeny: A major mountain-building event that formed the Rocky Mountains between 80 and 55 million years ago.
Ecological Integrity: The state of a natural environment being whole, healthy, and functioning as it should.
Sedimentary Rocks: Rocks formed from the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles on Earth's surface.