Landforms, water and resources of the Middle East and North Africa

Grade 6 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Card I (three sources on Libya's Great Man-Made River; summaries written for this sheet from published descriptions). Source 1, the project's aim: pipelines carry water from wells in the desert south to cities on the coast, where most people live. Source 2, a university hydrologist: the water in these aquifers fell as rain thousands of years ago, when the Sahara was wetter; rain today adds very little, so pumping uses water faster than nature refills it. Source 3, a map note: most of Libya is desert, and the main cities and farms lie along the coast.

2. 1.

   Which claim do Sources 1 and 2 together support, Kira asks?

   • Rain fills the aquifers faster than the pipelines can pump the water out
   • The pipelines bring water to coastal cities, so the water problem there is solved
   • The pipelines serve coastal cities, but the water refills too slowly to last forever
   • The pipelines will give coastal cities water for thousands of years to come, since the aquifers are huge
3. 2.

   Which source is best for how fast the aquifers refill, and why, Jun asks?

   • Source 3, because a map note is checked by mapmakers and cannot leave out facts about water
   • No source can help, because any source written after the project began is unreliable
   • Source 2: a hydrologist studies how water moves underground, while Source 1 states the project's aims
   • Source 1, because the people who built the project must know the most about everything it touches
4. 3.

   If pumping stays faster than refilling, what is the most likely long-run result, Milo asks?

   • Rain returns to the Sahara, since pipes carry moisture back into the air
   • The water table falls, wells must go deeper, and water gets costlier or runs low
   • The water table rises, since pumping pulls more water down from the desert into the wells
   • The aquifers refill within a few years, since pumping stirs up the rock

5. Use this

   Card J (three sources on Saudi Arabia's wheat; summaries written for this sheet from published reports). Source 1: in the 1980s the government paid farmers to grow wheat in the desert with sprinklers that turn in a circle (center-pivot irrigation), fed by wells that pump ancient groundwater. Harvests grew, and in the 1990s the country sold some wheat abroad. Source 2: by the 2010s the government said the program used too much groundwater, and it moved to end local wheat buying and import more wheat. Source 3, a farmer (invented): "The wells my family dug give less each year, so we dig deeper."

6. 4.

   How did Saudi Arabia's wheat policy change, and what pushed the change, Zee asks?

   • It grew wheat with pumped groundwater, then cut back as the groundwater ran short
   • It cut wheat growing first, then paid farmers to grow more once rain returned
   • It stopped farming and now imports its whole food supply from other countries
   • It stopped growing wheat because wheat cannot grow in the desert, where the soil is poor
7. 5.

   A student claims: "The wells show groundwater is renewable, like rain." How does Card J bear on that, Luz asks?

   • It supports the claim: the wells worked for decades, so they must refill quickly after pumping
   • It weakens the claim: the card says rain in the 2010s filled the wells again
   • It supports the claim: the farmer still gets some water, so supply returns
   • It weakens the claim: ancient groundwater refills slowly, and the wells are giving less

8. Use this

   Card K (map key, three sea passages). The Bosporus is a narrow strait through the city of Istanbul; it links the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara. The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow sea exit from the Gulf to the open ocean; much of the Gulf's oil is shipped through it. The Strait of Gibraltar lies between Spain and Morocco, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea; Tanger Med, a large port, sits on Morocco's side.

9. 6.

   What do the three passages on Card K have in common, Ari asks?

   • Each is a narrow gap that ships must use to reach a larger sea or the open ocean
   • Each is a canal that people dug to join two seas together and shorten a trip
   • Each has a big port city on both banks, which is why ships must pass through
   • Each lies on the Atlantic Ocean's coast, so the three open to that ocean
10. 7.

    Which place on Card K can best serve ships moving between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and why, Noah asks?

    • Tanger Med, because it sits on the Strait of Gibraltar where those ships already pass
    • Istanbul, because it is the biggest city named on the card
    • Istanbul, because the Bosporus joins the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea by a short route
    • Hormuz, because it carries more oil than the other two passages on the card

11. Use this

    Card L (photos and a diary). Photo 1, Rub' al Khali (Arabian Peninsula): rolling sand dunes that shift in the wind. Photo 2, central Sahara (Algeria): a bare rock plateau with gravel plains. Photo 3, Dasht-e Kavir (Iran): a flat crust of salt, thin in places over soft mud. Note: a wadi is a dry riverbed that fills with fast water after a heavy storm. Diary (invented): "I crossed the Sahara by camel for three weeks, and all I saw were dunes."

12. 8.

    How should you use the traveler's diary alongside the photos, Esme asks?

    • As proof about the Rub' al Khali, since it also describes dunes
    • As proof that the Sahara is sand everywhere, since the traveler saw it first-hand
    • As true for the route taken, but Photo 2 shows other parts of the Sahara are rock
    • As false, since a diary is a weaker source than any photo
13. 9.

    Why can a dry wadi suddenly fill with fast water, Pia asks?

    • Water rises up out of the ground, since wadis sit above springs that fill after rain
    • Wadis are dry riverbeds, so no water runs in them unless the sea floods in
    • A storm far upstream sends rain down the channel, and hard dry ground soaks up little
    • The sand dunes in Photo 1 melt into water when the sun is strong, and the water runs downhill
14. 10.

    A road builder chooses between dunes, a rock plateau and a salt crust. Which choice does Card L best support, Ren asks?

    • The dunes, since sand is soft and easy to flatten into a road that drivers can use
    • The salt crust, since a flat surface is the firmest kind of ground to build a road on
    • Any of the three, since a desert is dry and dry ground is firm
    • The rock plateau, because bare rock stays put, unlike dunes or a crust over soft mud