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 will give coastal cities water for thousands of years to come, since the aquifers are huge
   • The pipelines serve coastal cities, but the water refills too slowly to last forever
3. 2.

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

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

4. 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."

5. 3.

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

   • It stopped farming and now imports its whole food supply from other countries
   • It grew wheat with pumped groundwater, then cut back as the groundwater ran short
   • It stopped growing wheat because wheat cannot grow in the desert, where the soil is poor
   • It cut wheat growing first, then paid farmers to grow more once rain returned
6. 4.

   Why might a farmer and a water planner view the wheat program differently, Bo asks?

   • The farmer wants the wells to run dry soon; the planner wants to keep them pumping for many years
   • The farmer earns a living from wheat today; the planner counts how long the groundwater can last
   • Wheat grows well in sand, so the farmer and the planner agree on its worth
   • The planner owns the wells, so the farmer has no say in the program or in how much water is used
7. 5.

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

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

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.

   Why could trouble at Hormuz raise fuel prices in far-off countries, Tala asks?

   • Far-off countries would lose their oil at once, because Hormuz carries the world's whole supply
   • Hormuz joins the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, so Black Sea oil would stop
   • Higher prices abroad would block the strait and make oil harder to ship
   • Much of the Gulf's oil passes through it, so less oil would reach buyers and prices could rise
10. 7.

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

    • Hormuz, because it carries more oil than the other two passages on the card
    • Tanger Med, because it sits on the Strait of Gibraltar where those ships already pass
    • Istanbul, because the Bosporus joins the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea by a short route
    • Istanbul, because it is the biggest city named 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 that the Sahara is sand everywhere, since the traveler saw it first-hand
    • As false, since a diary is a weaker source than any photo
    • As true for the route taken, but Photo 2 shows other parts of the Sahara are rock
    • As proof about the Rub' al Khali, since it also describes dunes
13. 9.

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

    • Wadis are dry riverbeds, so no water runs in them unless the sea floods in
    • Water rises up out of the ground, since wadis sit above springs that fill after rain
    • The sand dunes in Photo 1 melt into water when the sun is strong, and the water runs downhill
    • A storm far upstream sends rain down the channel, and hard dry ground soaks up little
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 rock plateau, because bare rock stays put, unlike dunes or a crust over soft mud
    • Any of the three, since a desert is dry and dry ground is firm
    • 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