Landforms, rivers and resources of Central and South America and the Caribbean

Grade 6 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Four landscapes of Latin America

   Landscape	What it is like	Where
   Andes	the longest mountain range on land; high, steep and cold near the top	along the west side of South America
   Amazon Basin	hot, rainy lowland covered by rainforest, drained by the Amazon River	northern South America, mostly in Brazil
   Pampas	wide, flat, fertile grassland	Argentina and Uruguay
   Atacama Desert	one of the driest places on Earth	the Pacific coast of northern Chile, west of the Andes

   To drain means to carry water out of an area.

2. 1.

   Ari says the Amazon Basin and the Atacama Desert are opposites. Which two facts on card A show that?

   • One is hot, rainy rainforest; the other is among the driest places on Earth
   • One is flat grassland, and the other is a high mountain range, as card A shows
   • Both lie along the Pacific coast, but one is much larger than the other
   • Both are drained by the Amazon River, but in different seasons of the year
3. 2.

   Cattle graze and wheat grows in wide fields in Argentina and Uruguay. Which fact on card A best explains why, Bo asks?

   • The Pampas are wide, flat, fertile grassland, good for grazing and crops
   • The Pampas are a dry desert, so the wheat there needs no water
   • The Pampas are thick rainforest, which gives the cattle plenty of shade
   • The Pampas are steep mountains, which keep the cattle from wandering off
4. 3.

   Jun's note says, "The Atacama Desert is a rainforest on the Atlantic coast." Which fix uses card A?

   • A very dry desert on the Pacific coast of northern Chile
   • The Atacama is a flat grassland between Argentina and Uruguay
   • The Atacama is a very dry desert on the Atlantic coast of Brazil
   • The Atacama is a rainforest on the Pacific coast of Chile
5. 4.

   Card A says the Amazon River drains the Amazon Basin. What does it mean for a river to drain a basin, Kira asks?

   • It carries water out of the basin toward the sea
   • It turns the basin into a desert by taking the water away
   • It stops rain from falling on the basin, so the basin stays dry
   • It brings water into the basin from the sea, the other way round
6. 5.

   Luz compares the Andes and the Amazon Basin on card A. Which comparison is supported?

   • The Andes are high and cold near the top; the basin is hot, rainy lowland
   • The Andes are hot rainforest; the Amazon Basin is high and cold, mountain land
   • Both are cold, high and dry places, with little rain falling on either
   • The Andes lie on the east side and the Amazon Basin on the west side

7. Where three rivers start and end

   River	Where it starts	Where it ends
   Amazon	slopes of the Andes in Peru that face east, high above sea level	the Atlantic Ocean, on the north coast of Brazil
   Magdalena	the Andes in southern Colombia, high above sea level	the Caribbean Sea, on Colombia's north coast
   Paraná	highlands in central Brazil, above sea level	a wide estuary on the Atlantic coast, to the south, between Argentina and Uruguay

   Water flows downhill, from higher land toward lower land. An estuary is a river's wide mouth.

8. 6.

   The Amazon starts high in the Andes of Peru, close to the Pacific, yet it ends in the Atlantic (card B). Why does it flow east, Milo asks?

   • Rivers in South America flow east, wherever in the mountains they start
   • The Pacific is higher than the Atlantic, so the water avoids it
   • It flows uphill over the top of the Andes to reach the Atlantic Ocean
   • East-facing slopes lead downhill toward the Atlantic
9. 7.

   The Paraná starts in highlands in central Brazil and ends in an estuary to the south, between Argentina and Uruguay (card B). Which way does it flow overall, Pia asks?

   • Southward, from the Brazilian highlands toward the estuary
   • Northward, because the rivers on the card flow north like the Magdalena
   • Westward, toward the Pacific Ocean, over the Andes
   • Northward, from the estuary at the sea up into the highlands
10. 8.

    Using card B, which two rivers flow in opposite directions, one north and one south, Ren asks?

    • No two rivers, because the three flow the same way
    • The Magdalena and the Paraná
    • The Amazon and the Magdalena
    • The Amazon and the Paraná
11. 9.

    Tala's note says, "All rivers in South America flow south." Which fix is supported by card B?

    • Rivers in South America flow east, since the Atlantic lies in the east
    • Rivers in South America flow north, since the Andes lie in the north
    • Rivers flow south in the winter months and north in the summer months
    • Rivers follow the slope: the Amazon flows east, the Magdalena north
12. 10.

    Card B says the Paraná ends in an estuary. What is an estuary, Zee asks?

    • A canal built by people between two rivers, with locks
    • The high place where a river begins, high in the mountains
    • The wide mouth of a river, where it meets the sea
    • A waterfall where a river drops from a cliff into a pool