THE PALOUSEWe’ve seen this region over and over again throughout this course. I’m

sure there are other places that can accomplish the same ends, but to me it is the Palouse biome of southeastern Washington and western Idaho that

best exemplifies and is explained by almost every aspect of the social science that is geography. This is the only comprehensive section of the Final Exam and is meant to assess how well you’ve come to understand the interplay of elements in the social science of geography that makes a

place like the Palouse so fascinating to a geographer.

What you’ll be asked to do is to is describe the processes and factors that the slides below illustrate. Go back in your notes and review the context of each of these slides and how they illustrated a geographical phenomenon or process that made the Palouse what it is. Hint: the geomorphology of

Washington created the conditions necessary to create the erosive process and weather patterns that makes the Palouse the best place in

the world for a certain type of agriculture, which in turn impacts the human geography of the region.

Mt. St. Helens

Mt. Hood

Three Sisters

Mt. Shasta Crater Lake

D. Hardin

CONVERGENT PLATE BOUNDARYContinent vs. Oceanic crust

Cascade Range

Olympic Range Mt. RainierViews from Seattle

IMPORTANT TOREMEMBER!

Palouse biomeGEOMORPHOLOGY

WINDLoess

Palouse

D. Hardin

winds

IMPORTANT TOREMEMBER!

Palouse biome

EROSION

D. Hardin

Uplift & PrecipitationOrographic uplift

WEATHERFarmville, VA

44” rain27.4% days clear/43.8% cloudy

Forks119” rain

14% days clear/65.5% cloudy58.1% days with some rain

Seattle37” rain

15.9% days clear/61.9% cloudyYakima8” rain

29.9% days clear/44.9% cloudy

Pullman21” rain

Spokane17” rain

23.6% days clear/52.3% cloudy

IMPORTANT TOREMEMBER!

Palouse Biome

Uplift & PrecipitationOrographic uplift

D. Hardin

WEATHER

Palouse Biome

IMPORTANT TOREMEMBER!

BIOMES

D. Hardin

IMPORTANT TOREMEMBER!

GRAIN FARMINGGRAIN FARMINGPalouseAGRICULTURE

GRAIN FARMINGGRAIN FARMINGPalouse

Population densityIMPORTANT TO

REMEMBER!POPULATION

Loessdeposits

Fewer than 5

Palouse Biome

D. Hardin

GRAIN FARMINGGRAIN FARMINGPalouse

Population decline

IMPORTANT TOREMEMBER!

POPULATION

Loessdeposits Palouse Biom

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