Landforms, rivers and resources of East and Southeast Asia

Grade 6 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Four landscapes of East and Southeast Asia

   Place	Landscape	Weather
   Mongolia's steppe and the Gobi	wide, dry grassland and desert on a high plateau, far from any sea	cold winters, warm summers, little rain
   Tibetan Plateau, western China	the largest high plateau on Earth, about 4,500 m above sea level on average	cold all year, thin air, dry
   Mekong Delta, Vietnam	flat land at the river's mouth, close to sea level	warm all year, with a wet season and a dry season
   Honshu, Japan	an island where mountains cover most of the land; flat plains lie mostly along the coast	cool winters, warm and humid summers

   Model rule: air is about 6.5°C cooler for every 1,000 m of height.

2. 1.

   Herds graze on Mongolia's steppe far more than crops are grown there. Which fact on card A best explains that, Ari asks?

   • Thin air at 4,500 m keeps crops from growing there, but not the grass
   • Its winters are warm, so herd animals can stay outdoors the whole year
   • It is flat land close to sea level, which is good for grazing animals
   • Wide, dry grassland with little rain suits grass better than crops
3. 2.

   Rice is grown in flooded fields. Which pair of facts on card A makes the Mekong Delta a good place for it, Esme asks?

   • Flat land, but a cold climate with snow most of the year
   • Mountains with steep slopes, and cool, dry summers
   • Flat land, but a dry climate with very little rain through the year
   • Flat land near sea level, and a warm climate with a wet season
4. 3.

   Mountains cover most of Honshu, and flat plains lie along its coast (card A). What does that suggest about where its cities grew, Jun asks?

   • On the highest peaks, where there is the most room
   • On the coastal plains, where flat land is easiest to build on
   • Far inland in the mountains, away from the sea
   • Spread evenly over the whole island, since mountains do not matter
5. 4.

   Suppose a summer day on Honshu's coast is 28°C (made up). Using card A's rule, about what is the air temperature on a mountain 2,000 m above it, Kira asks?

   • About 15°C
   • About 41°C
   • About 21.5°C
   • About 1.5°C
6. 5.

   Luz's note says, "All of Honshu is flat farmland." Which fix is supported by card A?

   • Honshu is mostly flat, except for a few low hills in the far north
   • Honshu is a dry desert, so there is very little farmland on it
   • Honshu is an island, so it has no flat land anywhere on its coasts
   • Mountains cover most of Honshu; flat land lies along the coast

7. Where three rivers start and end

   River	Where it starts	Where it ends
   Yangtze	the Tanggula Mountains, high on the Tibetan Plateau in the west	the East China Sea, at sea level in the east
   Mekong	highlands of the Tibetan Plateau in the northwest	the South China Sea, through a delta in the south of Vietnam
   Yellow River	the Bayan Har Mountains, high in the west	the Bohai Sea, at sea level in the east

   Water flows downhill, from higher land toward lower land. A river that slows near the sea drops the silt it carried. A delta is low land built from that silt where a river meets the sea.

8. 6.

   The Mekong starts in the northwest highlands and ends in the south of Vietnam (card B). Which way does it flow overall, Noah asks?

   • Toward the west, because the Yangtze and Yellow River flow east
   • Toward the east, because rivers end in the east
   • Toward the south, from the northwest highlands to the delta
   • Toward the north, from the delta up into the highlands
9. 7.

   Pia stands at the start of the Yellow River and at its end (card B). Which statement is true about the land height at the two places?

   • The start is higher than the end, since the river runs down to the sea
   • Both are at the same height, since a river stays level along its length
   • The start is lower, since mountains are near the sea
   • The end is higher than the start, since the river climbs toward the sea
10. 8.

    Which two rivers on card B both start high in the west and end at the sea in the east, Ren asks?

    • The Yangtze and the Yellow River
    • The Yangtze and the Mekong
    • The Mekong and the Yellow River
    • The three rivers on the card together
11. 9.

    Card B says the Mekong flows through a delta. Tala asks what a delta is.

    • The high mountains where a river starts
    • A narrow sea passage between two bodies of land
    • Low land built where a river meets the sea
    • A waterfall where a river drops from a plateau
12. 10.

    The Mekong Delta is flat land at the river's mouth (cards A and B). What best explains how it formed, Zee asks?

    • The sea level fell, and the old sea floor became dry farmland
    • The river drops the silt it carried where it meets the sea
    • A volcano erupted there long ago and spread ash over the plain
    • Glaciers carved the land flat, and the river followed them