Mima mounds

High school (ages 12+)
Geography

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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/mima-mounds

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. What is the geomorphological classification?Natural, low-relief, dome-shaped mounds composed of unstratified sediment
2. What is the typical diameter?3 meters (9.8 ft) to over 50 meters (160 ft)
3. How big are Mima mounds?Mima mounds can be as small as 3 meters across and only a few inches tall, or as large as 50 meters wide and more than 2 meters high. Their size varies a lot from one mound to another.
4. Why do scientists think pocket gophers made Mima mounds?One idea is that pocket gophers dig and move a lot of soil. Over many years, their digging could pile the soil into the round shapes we see today.

Bioturbation: The disturbance of sedimentary layers by the activities of organisms, such as burrowing animals.
Coppice Dunes/Nebkhas: Small sand dunes formed by wind deposition around a stabilizing plant or clump of vegetation.
Gilgai: An Australian term for the microrelief or microtopography of soil surfaces formed by shrink-swell clays, creating a pattern of mounds and depressions.
Geomorphology: The scientific study of landforms and the processes that shape them.