Southern Alps

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/southern-alps

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 location?Dominating the western two-thirds of New Zealand's South Island
2. What is the geological formation?Result of tectonic plate collision (Pacific Plate subducting beneath the Australian Plate)
3. Why do the Southern Alps have so many sharp peaks?The mountains keep getting pushed up by the Pacific Plate sliding under the Australian Plate, and then weather and rivers carve them into sharp shapes.
4. How does the Southern Alps affect rivers on the island?The main ridge, called the Main Divide, splits water flow: rivers on the west go to the Tasman Sea and make fiords, while rivers on the east flow to the Pacific Ocean through the Canterbury Plains.

Tectonic Plates: Massive, irregularly shaped slabs of solid rock that make up the Earth's crust and upper mantle.
Subduction: The process where one tectonic plate moves under another and sinks into the Earth's mantle.
Watershed: An area of land where all the precipitation drains off into a common outlet, such as a river, bay, or other body of water.
Rain Shadow: A region of significantly reduced rainfall on the leeward side of a mountain range, caused by the mountains blocking moist air.